Questions & Answers about Egész nap a parkban sétálunk.
Word by word:
- Egész = whole, entire, all
- nap = day
- egész nap together = all day (long)
- a = the (definite article)
- park = park
- -ban = in (inessive case ending)
- parkban = in the park
- sétálunk = we walk / we are walking (verb sétál “to walk (leisurely)” + -unk “we”)
So the Hungarian order is roughly:
Egész nap – all day
a parkban – in the park
sétálunk – we walk / are walking
Hungarian naturally puts time and then place before the verb, whereas English would more often say “We walk in the park all day.”
Hungarian is a “pro‑drop” language: subject pronouns (I, you, we, etc.) are usually omitted because the verb ending already shows the subject.
- sétálunk has the ending -unk, which clearly means “we (do something)”.
- Therefore mi is normally left out:
Egész nap a parkban sétálunk. = We walk in the park all day.
You do say mi when you want to emphasize the subject:
- Mi egész nap a parkban sétálunk.
= It’s *we who walk in the park all day (as opposed to others).*
Hungarian verbs take personal endings instead of separate subject pronouns.
- Verb stem: sétál- (to walk)
- Ending: -unk
-unk here means:
- 1st person plural: we
- indefinite conjugation: used when there is no definite direct object (or no object at all)
So sétálunk literally means “we walk / we are walking”.
You cannot use the definite conjugation here (sétáljuk), because sétálni is used intransitively in this sense (no direct object: you are not “walking something”).
The article a / az (= the) is used much more consistently in Hungarian than in English.
- a parkban = in the park (a specific or known park, or just “the park” as a place you both understand)
- parkban (without article) is rare in standard speech and would feel incomplete here.
You normally:
- use a/az before a specific, concrete place:
a parkban, az iskolában, a boltban - drop the article mainly with:
- proper names: Budapesten, Londonban
- some set expressions (iskolába megyek = I’m going to school, more as an institution)
So a parkban is the natural form: in the park.
-ban / -ben is the inessive case, meaning “in (something)”.
- park
- -ban → parkban = in the park
Hungarian chooses -ban vs -ben based on vowel harmony:
- Words with back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú) → -ban
e.g. parkban, szobában (in the room) - Words with front vowels (e, é, i, í, ö, ő, ü, ű) → -ben
e.g. kertben (in the garden), büfében (in the buffet)
park has the back vowel a, so the correct form is parkban.
-t is the accusative ending, used mainly for direct objects.
In Egész nap a parkban sétálunk:
- egész nap functions as an adverbial of duration (all day), not as a direct object.
- Hungarian commonly uses the bare nominative for this kind of time expression:
- Egész nap tanulok. – I study all day.
- Minden este olvasok. – I read every evening.
You use the accusative -t when the whole time period is treated as an object of the verb:
- Végigvártam az egész napot. – I waited through the whole day.
(the whole day is what you waited through → direct object)
So:
- Egész nap sétálunk. – We walk all day. (duration)
- Az egész napot sétával töltjük. – We spend the whole day with walking. (the whole day is the “thing” you spend)
Yes, Hungarian word order is flexible, but changes emphasis. A key rule:
The mainly emphasized (focused) element usually stands directly before the verb.
Some variants and their typical nuance:
Egész nap a parkban sétálunk.
Focus: a parkban (in the park).
→ All day we walk *in the park (as opposed to somewhere else).*A parkban egész nap sétálunk.
Focus: egész nap (all day).
→ In the park we walk *all day (as opposed to just a little).*Egész nap sétálunk a parkban.
Focus: sétálunk (the action itself; nothing else before it).
→ All day we *walk in the park (as opposed to doing something else there).*Sétálunk egész nap a parkban.
This is also possible; it often sounds a bit more neutral, conversational; the strongest focus is less marked.
In everyday speech, learners are generally safe with patterns like:
- [time] [place] [verb]
- [place] [time] [verb]
and you can fine‑tune emphasis later.
Hungarian has one present tense, which can cover English present simple, present continuous, and often a future meaning when context makes it clear.
- Egész nap a parkban sétálunk.
Depending on context, this can mean:- We walk in the park all day (in general / habitually).
- We are walking in the park all day (today / some specific day).
- We’ll be walking in the park all day (e.g. tomorrow, if already clear from context).
If you want to make the future explicit, you can use fog + infinitive:
- Holnap egész nap a parkban fogunk sétálni.
= Tomorrow we will walk / be walking in the park all day.
But often Hungarian just uses the simple present when a time word (like holnap “tomorrow”) shows it’s about the future.
There is no “to be” verb in this sentence, and nothing is omitted. The main verb here is sétálunk (we walk), so you don’t need “to be”.
You only use the Hungarian “to be” (lenni) in certain structures (e.g. “X is Y”), but in:
- Egész nap a parkban sétálunk.
the structure is simply:
- [time] [place] [main verb]
So the full meaning is already carried by sétálunk (“we walk / we are walking”), not by any omitted “to be”.
parkban is singular: in the park. It normally refers to a specific park that the speakers have in mind, or “the park” as a known location.
If you really mean “in parks (in general)”, you would say:
- parkokban sétálunk – we walk in parks
However, in many real situations, even English “in the park” is understood as a kind of habitual, general place you go to, and Hungarian mirrors that with the singular + article:
- Egész nap a parkban sétálunk.
= We spend all day walking in the (a) park.
So:
- a parkban – in the (a particular) park
- parkokban – in parks (plural, in multiple parks)