Learn Hardcore Hungarian: Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz.

The -n / -on / -en / -ön endings are mainly the superessive case (originally “on” a surface), and they’re also used for time expressions like days of the week:

hétfőn – on Monday
kedden – on Tuesday
szerdán – on Wednesday
pénteken – on Friday

So pénteken literally encodes the meaning “on Friday”, so you don’t add a separate word like on.

Why is there lesz instead of van, and what does lesz mean here?

Lesz is the future tense of van (to be).

van – is / there is / there are (present)
lesz – will be / there will be (future)

In an existential sentence like this (saying something will exist / take place), Hungarian always uses lesz for the future:

Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz.
= On Friday there will be a long meeting.

If you were talking about today, you could say:

Ma hosszú megbeszélés van. – Today there is a long meeting.

So the choice van vs lesz is just present vs future in this kind of sentence.

Why isn’t there a word like there (as in there will be) in the Hungarian sentence?

Hungarian doesn’t use a separate dummy word like there in existential sentences. The structure:

[Time/Place] + [what exists] + lesz/van

already covers the meaning of there will be / there is.

So:

English: On Friday there will be a long meeting.
Hungarian: Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz.

The idea of there is simply implied by the van/lesz structure and the overall word order; no extra word is needed.

Why is there no word for a before hosszú megbeszélés?

Hungarian can use an indefinite article egy, but in existential sentences like this, it is often omitted, especially when the thing is new or not specifically identified:

Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz.
Pénteken egy hosszú megbeszélés lesz.

Both are correct. The version without egy is a bit more neutral and typical in speech.

Including egy can slightly highlight the “one-ness” or separateness of that meeting, but in many contexts the difference is very small. English needs a, Hungarian does not.

Can I change the word order, like Pénteken lesz hosszú megbeszélés or Hosszú megbeszélés lesz pénteken?

Yes, but word order in Hungarian is not free; it affects focus (what is emphasized).

Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz.
– Neutral: on Friday, there will be a long meeting. (Plain statement.)
Pénteken lesz hosszú megbeszélés.
– Emphasis on pénteken: It’s on Friday that there will be a long meeting (not on some other day).
Hosszú megbeszélés lesz pénteken.
– Emphasis on hosszú megbeszélés: A long meeting (as opposed to some other kind of program) is what will be on Friday.

The neutral, “most expected” version for simply giving information is the original:

Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz.

Why is the verb lesz at the end? I thought verbs usually come earlier.

In Hungarian, the typical neutral pattern is:

[time / place] + [subject / predicate noun] + [verb]

In existential sentences like this (there is / there will be X), the thing that exists comes before van/lesz, and the verb normally appears toward the end:

Ma értekezlet van. – Today there is a meeting.
Holnap szünet lesz. – Tomorrow there will be a break.
Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz. – On Friday there will be a long meeting.

You can move elements around if you want to emphasize something, but for a neutral statement, verb-last in this type of sentence is very common.

Why don’t we see a pronoun like it or there? Is anything missing?

Nothing is missing; Hungarian simply uses no dummy subjects like English it or there in sentences of existence.

Instead of:

There will be a long meeting on Friday.

Hungarian uses:

Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz.
(Literally: “On Friday long meeting will-be.”)

There is no silent it or there to “stand in” as subject; the sentence is complete as it is.

Why is van not used in the present tense here? I learned that van is often omitted in the present.

Two separate rules are easy to mix up:

Omission of present ‘van’ in simple “X is Y” statements
For 3rd person singular & plural in simple, identifying sentences, van often drops:
- Ő tanár. – He/she is a teacher.
- Az autó piros. – The car is red.
But in existential sentences (there is / there are), ‘van’ stays
When you mean there is / there are, van is not omitted:
- Ma hosszú megbeszélés van. – Today there is a long meeting.

In the future, you always need lesz; you can’t omit it:

Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz. – On Friday there will be a long meeting.

So:

Present existential: … van (must be there)
Future existential: … lesz (must be there)

Could I say Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés van to talk about a planned future meeting?

You could, but the nuance changes.

Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés lesz.
– Neutral future: it will happen (referring to a future event).
Pénteken hosszú megbeszélés van.
– Grammatically present, but can be used like a scheduled or timetable statement, similar to:
- “On Friday there is a long meeting” (on the schedule).

In everyday speech, if you are talking about this coming Friday, many people will still prefer lesz, especially if they are just announcing the fact. Van tends to feel like you’re reading from or stating a fixed schedule.

Why is hosszú before megbeszélés? Does the adjective always go in front of the noun?

Yes, in Hungarian the adjective normally precedes the noun when you’re just describing it:

hosszú megbeszélés – long meeting
nagy ház – big house
új autó – new car

Adjectives do not change form for gender (Hungarian has no grammatical gender). They only change for number/case when used as nouns themselves or in some other structures, not in this simple “adjective + noun” pattern.

So the basic description order adjective + noun is similar to English in this case.

What form is megbeszélés in? Is it some special case?

Here megbeszélés is in the basic (nominative) form, singular:

megbeszélés – a meeting, discussion
No plural ending (-ek, -k, etc.)
No case ending (like -ban, -nek, etc.)

In existential sentences like this (there will be X), the thing that “will be” appears in its base form unless the context demands some other case.

If there are several meetings, how would I say There will be long meetings on Friday?

You would pluralize the noun:

Pénteken hosszú megbeszélések lesznek.
– On Friday there will be long meetings.

Changes:

megbeszélés → megbeszélések (plural)
lesz → lesznek (plural verb form)

Hungarian usually keeps subject and verb in number agreement, so plural subject → plural van/lesz form.

What’s the difference between megbeszélés and találkozó? Both can be “meeting,” right?

They can both translate as meeting, but they differ in nuance:

megbeszélés
- Literally: “talking-it-over,” “discussion.”
- Often a work-related, formal, or agenda-based meeting, emphasizing discussion, decisions.
- Fits well for business, office, committee contexts.
találkozó
- Literally: “meeting” in the sense of “encounter,” “get-together.”
- Broader: could be friends meeting up, a date, or a more informal meeting.
- Can also be used for sports matches and events in some contexts.

In an office/work sentence like this, hosszú megbeszélés is more natural than hosszú találkozó.

How is pénteken pronounced, and where is the stress?

Pronunciation (roughly): [PEN-te-ken]

pén – like “pain” but shorter; é is a long “eh” sound
te – like “teh”
ken – like “ken” in “Kenneth”

Stress in Hungarian is always on the first syllable of the word:

PÉN-te-ken

So you stress PÉN, not -TE- or -KEN.