A diák rizst eszik, a barátnője pedig krumplit eszik.

The student eats rice, and his girlfriend eats potatoes.

Breakdown of A diák rizst eszik, a barátnője pedig krumplit eszik.

• diák: the student
• enni: to eat
• pedig: however
• barátnő: the girlfriend
• rizs: the rice
• -je: his
• krumpli: the potato

Questions & Answers about A diák rizst eszik, a barátnője pedig krumplit eszik.

What does a mean here, and why is it used before both diák and barátnője?

A is the Hungarian definite article, so it usually means the.

• a diák = the student
• a barátnője = his/her girlfriend or his/her female friend

Hungarian uses a before nouns much like English uses the. It appears before both nouns because both are treated as definite in the sentence.

A small extra note: Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before most consonants
• az before vowels

So you get a diák, but for a vowel-starting noun you would get something like az alma = the apple.

Why are rizs and krumpli written as rizst and krumplit?

Because they are direct objects, and Hungarian often marks the direct object with -t.

• rizs = rice
• rizst = rice (as the thing being eaten)
• krumpli = potato
• krumplit = potato (as the thing being eaten)

In this sentence, the student is eating rice, and the girlfriend is eating potatoes, so those nouns are the objects of eszik (to eat).

This -t ending is one of the most important Hungarian case endings to learn.

Why is it rizst and not just rizs-t in a simple way?

It really is the object ending -t, but when added to a word, the spelling and pronunciation may look a little awkward because of the consonants already present.

With rizs:

• base noun: rizs
• object form: rizst

So the -t is still there; it just creates the consonant cluster zst in writing.

This is normal in Hungarian. You do not need to think of it as a different ending—it's still the ordinary object marker -t.

What does barátnője mean exactly?

Barátnője means his/her girlfriend or his/her female friend, depending on context.

It is built like this:

• barátnő = girlfriend / female friend
• -je = his/her

So barátnője literally means his/her girlfriend/female friend.

Hungarian often expresses possession by adding a suffix directly to the noun instead of using a separate word like his or her.

Does barátnője mean his girlfriend or her girlfriend?

By itself, it can mean either his girlfriend or her girlfriend. Hungarian does not mark gender in the possessive ending here.

So barátnője can mean:

• his girlfriend
• her girlfriend
• sometimes his female friend
• sometimes her female friend

Only context tells you which one is meant.

This is very common in Hungarian: ő can mean he or she, and many possessive forms are also gender-neutral.

What does pedig mean in this sentence?

Here pedig means something like:

• while
• whereas
• and ... on the other hand
• sometimes simply and

In this sentence, it links the two clauses and creates a contrast:

• A diák rizst eszik, a barátnője pedig krumplit eszik.
• The student is eating rice, while his/her girlfriend is eating potatoes.

So pedig is not exactly the same as plain és (and). It often adds a sense of comparison or contrast.

Why is there no word for and between the two parts?

Because Hungarian can connect the clauses with pedig instead of és.

Compare:

• és = and
• pedig = and / while / whereas / on the other hand

In this sentence, pedig is more natural because the speaker is contrasting two people and what each one is eating.

So the structure is not just X and Y, but more like:

• X eats rice, while Y eats potatoes.

Why is eszik repeated? Could the second eszik be left out?

Yes, Hungarian can often leave it out if it is understood.

So both of these are possible:

• A diák rizst eszik, a barátnője pedig krumplit eszik.
• A diák rizst eszik, a barátnője pedig krumplit.

The second version is shorter and still natural because the verb eszik is easy to recover from the first clause.

The repeated verb in your sentence is also completely correct. It may sound a little more explicit or balanced.

Why is the verb eszik and not eszi?

This is a very important Hungarian grammar point.

Hungarian verbs can have two conjugations:

• indefinite conjugation
• definite conjugation

Here the verb is eszik because the objects rizst and krumplit are treated as indefinite.

Even though English just says rice and potatoes, in Hungarian these bare nouns without a definite article are not definite objects, so the verb uses the indefinite form:

• rizst eszik = eats rice
• krumplit eszik = eats potatoes

If the object were definite, you would usually get eszi instead:

• A rizst eszi. = He/she is eating the rice.
• A krumplit eszi. = He/she is eating the potatoes.

Is the word order fixed, or could it change?

Hungarian word order is more flexible than English word order, but changes in order often change emphasis.

The sentence as given is very natural:

• A diák rizst eszik, a barátnője pedig krumplit eszik.

This presents the subjects first, then what each one is eating.

But Hungarian can move elements around for focus. For example:

• A diák rizst eszik = neutral
• A diák RIZST eszik = emphasis on rice
• Rizst eszik a diák = possible, but the focus/flow is different

So the word order is not random. It depends a lot on what is being emphasized.

Why is there no article before rizst or krumplit?

Because Hungarian often uses bare nouns for foods, materials, and general objects in this kind of meaning.

So:

• rizst eszik = eats rice
• krumplit eszik = eats potatoes

This is similar to English using no article with mass nouns like rice.

If you add the definite article, the meaning changes:

• a rizst eszi = eats the rice
• a krumplit eszi = eats the potatoes

Without the article, the meaning is more general or indefinite.

Is krumpli the normal word for potato?

Yes, krumpli is a very common everyday word for potato in Hungarian.

Another word is:

• burgonya = potato

Both are correct, but krumpli is often more colloquial and very common in speech.

So krumplit eszik is perfectly normal everyday Hungarian.

How do you pronounce barátnője?

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• ba-RAAT-nuh-ye

A few helpful points:

• á is a long vowel, roughly like a longer a
• ő is a long front rounded vowel, which English does not really have
• j in Hungarian sounds like English y
• so -je sounds roughly like ye

So barátnője ends something like nuh-ye.

How do you pronounce rizst? That cluster looks difficult.

Yes, rizst can look strange to an English speaker.

A rough guide is something like:

• rizht

The zs in Hungarian sounds like the s in measure or vision.

So:

• rizs sounds roughly like rizh
• rizst adds the object -t, giving something like rizht

It may feel awkward at first, but consonant clusters like this are normal in Hungarian.

Could this sentence also mean A student eats rice, and his girlfriend eats potatoes?

Usually a diák means the student, not a student, because a is the definite article.

So the most direct reading is:

• The student eats rice, while his/her girlfriend eats potatoes.

If Hungarian wanted a student in an indefinite sense, it would normally use egy:

• Egy diák rizst eszik. = A student is eating rice.

So in your sentence, a diák is normally definite.