Breakdown of Szerintem ez a film rövid, de érdekes.
Questions & Answers about Szerintem ez a film rövid, de érdekes.
Szerintem means “in my opinion / I think”.
It’s built from:
- szerint = according to
- -em = me (1st person singular ending)
So literally: “according-to-me”.
Other forms:
- szerinted – according to you (sg.)
- szerinte – according to him/her
- szerintünk – according to us
- szerintetek – according to you (pl.)
- szerintük – according to them
In practice, szerintem functions like a sentence adverb meaning “I think / in my opinion”.
Yes.
Ez a film rövid, de érdekes. = “This film is short but interesting.”
(a neutral statement of fact)Szerintem ez a film rövid, de érdekes. = “I think this film is short but interesting.”
(clearly marked as your opinion)
In conversation, Hungarians often leave out szerintem if the opinion is obvious from context, just like in English.
It doesn’t have to be at the beginning. It’s fairly flexible:
- Szerintem ez a film rövid, de érdekes.
- Ez a film szerintem rövid, de érdekes.
- Ez a film rövid, de szerintem érdekes.
All are grammatical. The nuance:
- At the very start (Szerintem ...) – neutral, common: you’re lightly framing the whole sentence as your opinion.
- After the subject (Ez a film szerintem ...) – still neutral; feels like a parenthetical “I’d say”.
- Before érdekes (... de szerintem érdekes) – you subtly focus your opinion more on the “interesting” part.
In everyday speech, the first two are the most typical.
In Hungarian, in present tense, 3rd person, with a simple “X is Y” statement, the verb van (“to be”) is omitted:
- Ez a film rövid. – “This film is short.”
- A film érdekes. – “The film is interesting.”
You only use van in these cases, for example:
- With location/time:
- A film a moziban van. – The film is in the cinema.
- With existence / there is:
- Van egy új film. – There is a new film.
- In 1st or 2nd person:
- Én vagyok a tanár. – I am the teacher.
- Te vagy a tanár. – You are the teacher.
- With negation or focus in 3rd person:
- A film nincs a moziban. – The film is not in the cinema.
- Nem ez a film az érdekes. – It’s not this film that is interesting.
So Ez a film van rövid is incorrect in standard Hungarian.
In Hungarian, when you use a demonstrative (ez = this, az = that) before a noun, you almost always need the definite article as well:
- ez a film – this film
- az a film – that film
- ezek a filmek – these films
- azok a filmek – those films
Saying ez film sounds ungrammatical in standard Hungarian.
So the pattern is:
> demonstrative (ez/az/ezek/azok) + article (a/az) + noun
> ez a film, az a könyv, ezek a házak, azok az emberek
- ez a film = “this film”, a specific film that’s near in context or situation (you’re pointing at it, or you just mentioned it clearly).
- a film = “the film”, also specific, but without the “this/that” feeling; it’s already known from context, but not being highlighted as this one right here.
Examples:
- Szerintem ez a film rövid. – I think this particular film is short.
- Szerintem a film rövid. – I think the film (the one we’re talking about) is short.
In many contexts both are possible, but ez a film is more explicitly deictic (“this one”).
In Hungarian, predicate adjectives (adjectives used with “to be”: is short, is interesting) have a simple base form in the singular:
- A film rövid. – The film is short.
- A film érdekes. – The film is interesting.
They do not agree in gender (Hungarian has no grammatical gender) and in the singular they don’t show plural marking either.
However, in the plural, predicate adjectives do take a plural ending:
- A filmek rövidek, de érdekesek. – The films are short but interesting.
So:
- singular: rövid, érdekes
- plural (as predicate): rövidek, érdekesek
When adjectives come before a noun (attributive use), they normally do not get a plural ending:
- érdekes film – interesting film
- érdekes filmek – interesting films (no érdekesek filmek)
In this sentence:
- Szerintem ez a film rövid, de érdekes.
The comma is standard because de (“but”) is linking two separate predicates:
- “(it is) short”
- “(it is) interesting”
In Hungarian, when de connects two clauses or two full predicates, a comma before de is the norm, just like in English:
- Sokat beszél, de keveset mond. – He talks a lot, but says little.
When de connects only smaller parts (e.g. words inside a simple phrase), usage can be looser, but in practice, people also tend to keep the comma in written language in cases like adjectives.
Other common words for “but” include:
- viszont, azonban (more like “however / on the other hand”)
- Ez a film rövid, viszont érdekes.
- Ez a film rövid, azonban érdekes.
Rövid mainly means short in length or duration:
- rövid film – short film
- rövid történet – short story
- rövid idő – short time
- rövid út – short trip / short route
- rövid haj – short hair
For a short person, Hungarian normally uses alacsony (“of low height”), not rövid:
- Ő alacsony. – He/She is short (in height).
So:
- Time, text, objects, hair, films, etc. ⇒ rövid
- People’s height ⇒ alacsony
A natural translation is:
- Szerintem ez a film nem rövid, de érdekes.
Structure:
- Szerintem – in my opinion / I think
- ez a film – this film
- nem rövid – not short
- de érdekes – but (it is) interesting
You still omit van:
- not: Szerintem ez a film nem van rövid (incorrect).
- correct: Szerintem ez a film nem rövid.
If you really want to negate the thinking (“I don’t think this film is short …”), you’d usually rephrase:
- Nem gondolom, hogy ez a film rövid, de érdekes.
– Literally: “I don’t think that this film is short, but it’s interesting.”
One natural version:
- Szerintem ez a film nagyon rövid, de elég érdekes.
Breakdown:
- nagyon rövid – very short
- elég érdekes – quite interesting (literally “sufficiently interesting”)
Other options:
- Szerintem ez a film nagyon rövid, de egészen érdekes. – very short but fairly / quite interesting.
- Szerintem ez a film nagyon rövid, de meglepően érdekes. – very short but surprisingly interesting.
In the plural you must mark demonstrative, noun, and predicate adjectives correctly:
- Szerintem ezek a filmek rövidek, de érdekesek.
Details:
- ezek – these
- a – article (still required after the demonstrative)
- filmek – films (plural of film)
- rövidek – short (plural predicate adjective)
- érdekesek – interesting (plural predicate adjective)
Compare:
- singular: Ez a film rövid, de érdekes.
- plural: Ezek a filmek rövidek, de érdekesek.