Learn Hardcore Hungarian: Mikor kell indulni a szállodából?

So the sentence is literally close to:
“When is it necessary to leave from the hotel?” → natural English: “When do we have to leave the hotel?”

Key points about kell + infinitive:

kell itself does not change for person here (it always looks like kell in the present).
The infinitive (indulni) carries the idea of “to leave / to depart”.
The subject (“I / we / you”) is either understood from context or expressed separately (often in the dative: nekem / nekünk
- a possessed infinitive, or with other patterns like el kell mennem).

There’s no word for we or you. How do we know who has to leave?

Hungarian very often leaves out the subject when it is obvious from context.

Mikor kell indulni a szállodából? is structurally like:
“When is it necessary to leave the hotel?”
It doesn’t say who exactly; it can mean:

When do we have to leave the hotel?
When do you (plural) have to leave the hotel?
When does one have to leave the hotel? (generic “people”)

Context (who is speaking to whom) tells you which one applies.

If you want to make the subject explicit, you typically do one of these:

For “we”:
- Nekünk mikor kell indulnunk a szállodából?
  When do we have to leave the hotel?
  - nekünk = “to us” (dative)
  - indulnunk = “our leaving” (verbal noun with 1st person plural ending)
For “I”:
- Mikor kell elmennem a szállodából?
  When do I have to leave the hotel?
  - elmennem = “my going/leaving”

In everyday speech, people often just use the impersonal version (Mikor kell indulni…?) when it’s clear from context that it’s “we” or “you (plural)”.

Could I just say Mikor indulunk a szállodából? instead? What is the difference?

You can, but the meaning changes slightly.

Mikor indulunk a szállodából?
- Literally: “When are we leaving the hotel?”
- Neutral question about when the departure happens (the time of the plan or schedule), without any particular sense of obligation.
Mikor kell indulni a szállodából?
- Literally: “When is it necessary to leave the hotel?”
- Emphasizes obligation / requirement (for example, check‑out time, bus departure, hotel rules).

So:

Use indulunk if you’re just asking about when you are going to leave.
Use kell indulni if you’re asking when you have to / must leave, according to some rule, schedule, or necessity.

Why is indulni used here instead of menni or elmenni?

Hungarian has several verbs that in English can all come out as “go / leave / depart”, but they’re not identical:

menni = “to go” (general movement)
elmenni = “to go away / to leave (from somewhere)”
indulni = “to set off / to depart / to start moving”
elindulni = “to set off / depart” (with the prefix el- adding “away / off”)

In Mikor kell indulni a szállodából?:

indulni highlights the beginning of the journey, the act of setting off.
It is very natural when talking about departure times: buses, trains, trips, or leaving a place to go somewhere.

Common alternatives you might also hear:

Mikor kell elindulni a szállodából?
(Adds el-, very common and fully natural.)
Mikor kell elmennünk a szállodából?
(When do we have to leave the hotel? with explicit we).

All three are possible; indulni / elindulni sound a bit more “departure-focused” than plain menni.

What does the ending -ból in szállodából mean?

The ending -ból / -ből is a case ending meaning “out of / from the inside of”. The case is called elative in grammar terminology.

szálloda = “hotel”
szállodából = “from (out of) the hotel”

So a szállodából literally means “from the hotel (from inside the hotel building)”.

A few more examples:

iskola → az iskolából = from (out of) the school
ház → a házból = from (out of) the house
bolt → a boltból = from (out of) the shop

Vowel harmony decides whether you use -ból or -ből:

Words with mainly back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú) → -ból
- szálloda → szállodából
Words with front vowels (e, é, i, í, ö, ő, ü, ű) → -ből
- kert → kertből (from the garden)

Can we also say a szállodától instead of a szállodából? What is the difference?

Yes, a szállodától is possible, but it has a slightly different nuance.

a szállodából = from (out of) the hotel, emphasizing leaving the interior of the hotel (building, premises).
a szállodától = from the hotel / from the hotel’s location, emphasizing distance from that point or vicinity, not necessarily from inside.

For example:

Elindulunk a szállodából.
= We depart from inside the hotel (we’re in the hotel and leave it).
10 kilométerre vagyunk a szállodától.
= We are 10 km from the hotel (distance measured from the hotel’s location).

With indulni in this particular sentence, a szállodából is the most natural choice because you’re talking about leaving the hotel itself, probably from inside it.

Why is there an a before szállodából? Is that just “the”?

Yes. A is the definite article in Hungarian, equivalent to “the” in English (before consonant sounds).

a szálloda = the hotel
a szállodából = from the hotel

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

a before consonant sounds: a szálloda
az before vowel sounds: az iskola (the school), az autó (the car)

So in your sentence:

Mikor kell indulni a szállodából?
= “When do we have to leave the hotel?” (not a hotel in general, but some specific one both speakers know about).

Is the word order fixed? Can I say Mikor kell a szállodából indulni?

The word order in Hungarian is relatively flexible, but it is used to show focus and emphasis. Question words like mikor usually stand in the focus position, directly before the main verb (here, kell).

Your original sentence:

Mikor kell indulni a szállodából?
Structure:
- Mikor (question word, in focus)
- kell (main verb)
- indulni a szállodából (rest of the predicate)

You can also say:

Mikor kell a szállodából indulni?

This is acceptable and understandable. The meaning is the same; the difference in emphasis is tiny here and usually not important in everyday speech.

The most important rules to respect:

The question word (mikor) comes first.
The main verb (kell) comes after the focused element (here, mikor).
Other parts (like a szállodából, indulni) can move around somewhat after that without changing the basic meaning too much.

What tense is kell here? How would I say this in the past?

In Mikor kell indulni a szállodából?, kell is in the present tense. Hungarian often uses the present tense to refer to future obligations if the future time is clear from context, just like English “We leave tomorrow” can mean a future event.

Mikor kell indulni a szállodából?
= “When do we have to leave the hotel?” (typically referring to some future time)

For the past, you use kellett (past of kell):

Mikor kellett indulni a szállodából?
= “When did we have to leave the hotel?” /
“By what time did we have to leave the hotel?”

So:

kell → present obligation
kellett → past obligation

How do you make this sentence negative, like “When do we not have to leave the hotel?”

To make kell negative, you use nem kell:

Nem kell indulni a szállodából.
= “(We) don’t have to leave the hotel.” / “It isn’t necessary to leave the hotel.”

To turn your question into a negative question:

Mikor nem kell indulni a szállodából?
= “When do we not have to leave the hotel?” / “When is it that we don’t have to leave the hotel?”

Be careful with the meaning:

nem kell = don’t have to / need not (no obligation)
nem szabad = must not / may not (forbidden)

So:

Nem kell indulni a szállodából. → You are not required to leave.
Nem szabad indulni a szállodából. → You must not leave; it’s forbidden.

How would you ask more specifically “At what time do we have to leave the hotel?” instead of just “when”?

For “at what time”, Hungarian uses hánykor (literally “at what hour”).

So you can say:

Hánykor kell indulni a szállodából?
= “At what time do we have to leave the hotel?”

Compare:

Mikor kell indulni a szállodából?
= “When do we have to leave the hotel?” (more general “when”)
Hánykor kell indulni a szállodából?
= “At what clock time do we have to leave the hotel?”

How do you pronounce szállodából, and what do the double l and long á mean?

Szállodából breaks down as: szál–lo–dá–ból (4 syllables), with stress always on the first syllable in Hungarian:

SZÁL-lo-dá-ból

Pronunciation tips:

sz is like English s in see.
á is a long “a” sound, similar to the a in father, but held longer.
ó is a long o (as in British English law, then rounded and lengthened).
Double ll means the l sound is longer (a bit like holding the consonant): szál-llo-dá-ból.

Approximate IPA: [ˈsaːllodɑːboːl]

So:

szálloda = [ˈsaːllodɒ]
szállodából = [ˈsaːllodɑːboːl]

Length (of vowels and consonants) can distinguish words in Hungarian, so the long á and double ll are important.