Apa azt mondja, hogy holnap az iskola miatt korábban indulunk.

In Hungarian, azt mondja, hogy... is a very common structure meaning he/she says that...

Literally, azt means that, so the pattern is roughly:

• azt mondja = says that
• hogy = introduces the clause that follows

So azt often works together with the hogy-clause. In natural English, we usually do not translate azt separately here.

You will often see:

• Azt hiszem, hogy... = I think that...
• Azt mondja, hogy... = He/she says that...

The azt is very natural Hungarian, even if it feels unnecessary from an English perspective.

Because Hungarian has two main conjugation patterns: indefinite and definite.

Here, the verb has the definite object azt, so Hungarian uses the definite conjugation:

• mond = he/she says (indefinite)
• mondja = he/she says it / says that (definite)

Since the sentence has azt, the form mondja is required.

So this part works like:

• Apa mond valamit. = Dad says something.
• Apa azt mondja, hogy... = Dad says that...

Hogy introduces a subordinate clause, usually corresponding to English that.

So:

• Apa azt mondja = Dad says
• hogy holnap az iskola miatt korábban indulunk = that tomorrow we are leaving earlier because of school

In everyday Hungarian, hogy is extremely common after verbs like:

• mond = say
• gondol = think
• tud = know
• hisz = believe

It connects the main statement to the content of what is being said.

When Hungarian speakers refer to a close family member in a personal sense, they often use the family word almost like a name:

• Anya = Mom
• Apa = Dad
• Nagyi = Grandma

So Apa azt mondja... sounds like Dad says...

If you said az apa, it would usually mean the father, not Dad in the personal family sense. So in this sentence, no article is needed.

Hungarian verb endings usually show the subject, so a separate pronoun is often unnecessary.

indulunk breaks down as:

• indul- = leave / set off / start
• -unk = we

So indulunk means we leave / we are leaving / we set off

Hungarian only adds the pronoun mi = we if it needs emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Indulunk. = We’re leaving.
• Mi indulunk, nem ők. = We’re leaving, not them.

miatt means because of and it is a postposition, which means it comes after the noun, not before it.

So:

• az iskola = the school
• miatt = because of
• az iskola miatt = because of the school

This is different from English, where because of comes first. Hungarian often uses postpositions instead of prepositions.

Examples:

• az eső miatt = because of the rain
• a munka miatt = because of work
• a gyerekek miatt = because of the children

Because miatt is a separate postposition, and the noun before it stays in its basic form with the article if needed.

So Hungarian expresses because of the school as:

• az iskola miatt

not as a special case ending on iskola.

This is something learners just have to memorize: some meanings are shown by case endings, while others are shown by postpositions like:

• miatt = because of
• után = after
• előtt = before
• nélkül = without

korábban means earlier.

It comes from korábban, the comparative adverb form related to korán = early.

A useful way to think about it is:

• korán = early
• korábban = earlier

In this sentence:

• korábban indulunk = we leave earlier

Hungarian often forms comparatives with a -bb- element, and adverbs can then take forms like -ban/-ben in fixed comparative adverb patterns such as korábban.

For a learner, the most important thing is simply to recognize korábban as the natural adverb meaning earlier.

Hungarian word order is flexible, but it is not random. It often reflects topic, focus, and what the speaker considers the most natural flow of information.

In this sentence:

• Apa azt mondja, hogy holnap az iskola miatt korábban indulunk.

holnap comes early because it sets the time frame first: tomorrow. Then the sentence adds the reason (because of school) and then the main action (we leave earlier).

A very natural English-style breakdown would be:

• Tomorrow, because of school, we’re leaving earlier.

Other word orders are possible in Hungarian, but they may shift emphasis.

Yes. Hungarian allows different word orders depending on emphasis and information structure.

For example, these could all be possible in the right context:

• Apa azt mondja, hogy holnap az iskola miatt korábban indulunk.
• Apa azt mondja, hogy az iskola miatt holnap korábban indulunk.
• Apa azt mondja, hogy korábban indulunk holnap az iskola miatt.

However, they do not all sound equally neutral. The original sentence is a very natural, neutral way to say it.

In Hungarian, moving a word often changes what is being highlighted rather than changing the basic meaning completely.

Both are present tense forms.

• mondja = he/she says
• indulunk = we leave / we are leaving

But notice that present tense in Hungarian, just like in English, can refer to the future when the time is clear from context.

Because the sentence includes holnap = tomorrow, indulunk naturally means a future action:

• holnap indulunk = we leave tomorrow / we’re leaving tomorrow

So the verb form is present, but the meaning is future.

It can mean any of those depending on context.

The verb indul has the general idea of starting to go, setting out, or leaving.

So:

• indulunk can be understood as we’re leaving
• in some contexts, we’re setting off
• in more formal English, we depart

In this sentence, we’re leaving earlier is probably the most natural translation.

Hungarian very often uses the present tense + time word to talk about the future.

So if the sentence includes something like:

• holnap = tomorrow
• ma este = this evening
• jövő héten = next week

then the present tense is usually enough.

Examples:

• Holnap megyek. = I’m going tomorrow.
• Este találkozunk. = We’re meeting in the evening.
• Jövő héten kezdünk. = We start next week.

So holnap ... indulunk is completely normal Hungarian.

That is a helpful way to think about it at first, yes. Comparative adverbs in Hungarian often correspond to English more/earlier/better types of meaning.

So:

• korán = early
• korábban = earlier

Thus:

• korábban indulunk = we leave earlier

It is better to learn korábban as a whole word meaning earlier, even if its internal structure is comparative.

Yes, several very useful patterns appear here:

• azt mondja, hogy... = he/she says that...
• X miatt = because of X
• holnap + present tense = future meaning
• verb ending alone can show the subject: indulunk = we leave
• family words without article can act like names: Apa = Dad

If you memorize the sentence as a model, you can make many similar ones:

• Anya azt mondja, hogy holnap korábban indulunk.
• A tanár azt mondja, hogy ma tovább maradunk.
• Apa azt mondja, hogy az eső miatt otthon maradunk.