Breakdown of A barátnőm ma fotót csinál a parkban.
Questions & Answers about A barátnőm ma fotót csinál a parkban.
A here is the definite article, meaning “the”, not “a/an”. So literally you have:
- a barátnőm = the my-girlfriend → idiomatically just “my girlfriend”
In Hungarian, when you use a possessive ending like -m (“my”) on a noun, you normally also use the definite article in front of it, especially when it is the subject or object:
- A házam nagy. = My house is big. (lit. The my-house big.)
- Látom a kutyámat. = I see my dog. (lit. I-see the my-dog.)
So a barátnőm is the standard, natural form.
Also:
- a / az are both “the” (not “a/an”).
- a before consonant sounds: a barátnőm
- az before vowel sounds: az autóm (“my car”)
barátnőm can be broken down as:
- barát = friend
- nő = woman
- barátnő = female friend
- -m = my (possessive suffix, with a linking vowel: barát-nő-m)
So barátnőm = my female friend / my girlfriend.
In practice:
- In modern casual Hungarian, barátnőm almost always means “my girlfriend” (romantic partner).
- For a non-romantic female friend, people often avoid barátnőm and say things like:
- egy lány barátom = a girl who is my friend
- egy nőismerősöm = a female acquaintance
Context decides, but if someone says A barátnőm ma fotót csinál…, listeners will typically understand “my girlfriend”.
ma is an adverb of time. Common, natural positions include:
- A barátnőm ma fotót csinál a parkban.
- Ma a barátnőm fotót csinál a parkban.
Both can be translated as “Today my girlfriend is taking a photo in the park.”
Rough guidelines:
- Putting ma near the beginning keeps the sentence quite neutral and natural.
- Hungarian word order also expresses emphasis. The word directly before the verb is often in focus (emphasized). In
A barátnőm ma fotót csinál a parkban, ma is just before the verb phrase fotót csinál, so you can feel a slight emphasis on “today”:- “It’s today that my girlfriend is taking a photo in the park (not on another day).”
For everyday use at beginner level, you can safely place ma:
- Immediately after the subject: A barátnőm ma …
- At the start: Ma a barátnőm …
The sentence stays correct; only subtle emphasis changes.
The -t ending marks the accusative case, i.e. direct object (“what is being done”).
- fotó = photo (dictionary form)
- fotót = photo as a direct object → “a photo”
In your sentence:
- fotót csinál = (she) makes / takes a photo
Here fotót is the thing being made, so it must get the -t.
Without -t, fotó would not be understood as the direct object here; it would sound incomplete or mean something else (e.g. Ez fotó. = “This is a photo.”).
About the article:
- fotót csinál = she takes a photo / photos (indefinite, non-specific)
- egy fotót csinál = she takes one photo / a single photo (slight emphasis on “one”)
So you need the -t for the object; adding egy is optional and adds a nuance of “one”.
Hungarian has two main verb conjugations in the present: indefinite and definite.
- csinál = he/she does / makes something (indefinite object)
- csinálja = he/she does/makes it / the specific thing (definite object)
Your sentence uses:
- fotót csinál
- fotót is an indefinite object (no article a/az, no demonstrative, no possessive like “my photo”, etc.), so the verb is in indefinite conjugation → csinál.
If you made the object clearly definite, you’d use csinálja:
- A fotót csinálja. = She is doing the photo (that particular one we know about).
- A barátnőm a fotómat csinálja. = My girlfriend is doing my photo.
In A barátnőm ma fotót csinál a parkban, we’re talking about “a photo” in general, so csinál is correct.
Literally:
- fotó = photo
- -t = accusative (direct object)
- csinál = do / make
So fotót csinál = “makes a photo / does a photo.”
This is natural and quite common in everyday speech, but there are also other options:
- fényképez = to photograph, to take photos
- A barátnőm ma a parkban fényképez.
- fotózik = to take photos (more like “to do photography”)
- A barátnőm ma a parkban fotózik.
- (egy) fotót készít = to prepare/make a photo (a bit more formal)
- A barátnőm ma egy fotót készít a parkban.
All of these are understood as “take a photo / take photos”.
fotót csinál is perfectly idiomatic, especially in casual speech.
-ban / -ben is the inessive case, meaning “in / inside”:
- park = park
- parkban = in the park
Choice between -ban and -ben follows vowel harmony:
- If the word has back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú) → -ban
- park → parkban
- ház → házban (in the house)
- If the word has only front vowels (e, é, i, í, ö, ő, ü, ű) → -ben
- kert → kertben (in the garden)
- szék → székben (in the chair)
Also, compare with -ba / -be (movement into):
- a parkban = in the park (location, static)
- a parkba = into the park (movement: “to the park / into the park”)
In your sentence, a parkban simply says where she is taking the photo: in the park.
Hungarian has only one present tense form. It covers both:
- English simple present: “takes”
- English present continuous: “is taking”
So:
- A barátnőm ma fotót csinál a parkban.
can mean either:- “My girlfriend takes a photo in the park today.” (as a scheduled thing)
- “My girlfriend is taking a photo in the park today.” (very natural reading with ma)
To make it clearly “right now”, Hungarians often add most (“now”):
- A barátnőm most a parkban fotót csinál.
= My girlfriend is taking a photo in the park right now.
But grammatically it is still just present tense; there is no separate continuous form.
Yes, Barátnőm ma fotót csinál a parkban is grammatically correct.
However:
With a possessed noun as subject, the neutral, most typical form in everyday speech includes the article:
- A barátnőm ma fotót csinál a parkban.
Leaving out the article (just Barátnőm…) can sound:
- More stylistic, headline-like, or poetic, or
- Slightly more emphatic in some contexts.
So:
- Use A barátnőm… as your default in normal conversation.
- Understand Barátnőm… as a variation you will meet, but it’s less neutral in tone.