Ha lázam van, a gyógyszertárban azt mondják, hogy sürgős esetben menjek orvoshoz.

If I have a fever, at the pharmacy they say that in urgent cases I should go to a doctor.

Breakdown of Ha lázam van, a gyógyszertárban azt mondják, hogy sürgős esetben menjek orvoshoz.

• lenni: to be
• én: I
• -ben: in
• -ban: in
• menni: to go
• ők: they
• orvos: the doctor
• -hoz: to
• ha: if
• azt: that
• mondani: to say
• hogy: that
• láz: the fever
• -am: my
• gyógyszertár: the pharmacy
• sürgős: urgent
• eset: the case

Questions & Answers about Ha lázam van, a gyógyszertárban azt mondják, hogy sürgős esetben menjek orvoshoz.

Why does the sentence start with Ha and why is there a comma after the first part?

Ha means if and introduces a conditional clause: Ha lázam van = If I have a fever.
Hungarian typically separates the if-clause from the main clause with a comma, especially when the Ha… clause comes first.

What does lázam van literally mean, and why not a verb like “to have”?

Hungarian often expresses “to have” with the structure [noun + possessive ending] + van (literally is).
So láz-am van is literally my fever exists / my fever is (there) → natural English: I have a fever.

Why is it lázam and not just láz?

-am is a 1st person singular possessive ending: láz-am = my fever.
That’s required in this construction because the “having” meaning comes from “my X exists”.

What does a gyógyszertárban mean and what is the ending -ban?

gyógyszertár = pharmacy.
-ban/-ben is the inessive case, meaning in (inside a place).
So a gyógyszertárban = in the pharmacy. (Here -ban is used because of vowel harmony.)

Why does it say azt mondják (“they say that”)—who is “they”?

mondják is 3rd person plural (“they say”), but it’s often used in Hungarian as a generic/impersonal “they”, meaning something like people there say / they (the staff) say.
It avoids naming a specific person: At the pharmacy, they say…

What is the role of azt in azt mondják, hogy…?

azt means that/it and is the object of mondják (they say it).
Hungarian commonly uses azt … hogy … together:

• azt mondják, hogy… = they say that…
  It’s a very typical “frame” for reported speech.

Why is hogy used here?

hogy means that and introduces the content clause (what they say):
azt mondják, hogy sürgős esetben menjek orvoshoz = they say that …
In careful/standard Hungarian it’s very common to include hogy in this structure.

What does sürgős esetben mean, and why is it also in -ben?

sürgős = urgent, eset = case/situation.
eset-ben uses -ben to mean in the event/case of:
sürgős esetben = in an urgent case / in an emergency.

Why is the verb menjek used instead of megyek?

menjek is the subjunctive/imperative form (often called the “-j- form”) of menni (to go) in 1st person singular.
In reported advice/requests, Hungarian often uses this form to mean:

• … azt mondják, hogy … menjek … = … they say (that) I should go …
  So it’s not “I go”, but “I’m supposed to go / I should go”.

What does orvoshoz mean, and why isn’t it just orvosnak or orvoshoz megyek?

orvos = doctor. -hoz/-hez/-höz is the allative case, meaning to (someone/some place), especially “to go to”:

• orvoshoz = to the doctor (literally “to a doctor”).
  You don’t need to repeat megyek because the verb is already there as menjek (“(that) I should go”).