Reported Speech

Level 3

In Hungarian, reported speech keeps the tense of the original statement. If someone said 'I am hungry' (present), you report it as 'He said that he is hungry' (present), even if he said it yesterday.

How It Works

When reporting what someone else said, Hungarian follows a logical 'literal' approach to time and perspective:

1. Tense Preservation (No Sequence of Tenses): Unlike English, Hungarian does not shift tenses back in time. If the original speaker used the present tense, the reported speech stays in the present tense. The same applies to the future tense: it is preserved exactly as spoken (e.g., Azt mondta, hogy jönni fog = 'He said he would come'). If you use the past tense in the subordinate clause, it implies the action was already completed before the original statement was made (similar to the English past perfect).

2. The Anticipatory Pronoun: A key feature of Hungarian reported speech is the use of an anticipatory pronoun (usually azt) in the main clause. This pronoun acts as a placeholder that 'points' to the upcoming clause. While 'azt' (accusative) is most common, the pronoun must change case if the reporting verb requires a different suffix (e.g., arról beszél - 'talks about that', using delative). Note that in everyday speech, the accusative pronoun 'azt' is very frequently omitted (e.g., Mondta, hogy jön).

3. The Conjunction 'hogy': Most reported speech is introduced by hogy (that). While native speakers sometimes omit it in informal speech (especially before indirect questions starting with question words like ki, mi, hol), it is dropped much less frequently than 'that' in English. As a learner, it is highly recommended to default to keeping 'hogy' to avoid structural mistakes.

4. Reported Questions: For yes/no questions, you must attach the interrogative particle -e to the verb or predicate (e.g., ...hogy jön-e). If the sentence has a verb with a prefix, '-e' attaches to the conjugated verb, not the verbal prefix (e.g., hogy elolvasta-e). Note: While standard grammar strictly forbids attaching it to the prefix (like el-e olvasta), you will frequently hear this in colloquial or dialectal speech. You can also use vajon to express uncertainty (e.g., ...hogy vajon jön-e). For reported wh-questions, 'hogy' acts as the conjunction, and the original question word remains an interrogative word following it. Crucially, the '-e' particle is NOT used for wh-questions. Furthermore, unlike English (which changes question word order to statement word order in embedded clauses, e.g., 'Where is he?' -> 'I asked where he was'), Hungarian retains the exact same word order as the original question (e.g., Hol van? -> Azt kérdezte, hogy hol van.).

5. Deictic Shifts: You must adjust personal pronouns, verb endings, and adverbs of time and place (e.g., 'itt' becomes 'ott', 'most' becomes 'akkor') to match the reporter's current perspective.

6. Reported Commands: Commands require a shift to the imperative-subjunctive mood in the subordinate clause.

Examples (6)

  1. Péter azt mondta: „Fáradt vagyok.”

    Péter said: "I am tired."

    Word by Word: Péter that said: "Tired I-am."

    This is the direct speech version in the present tense.

  2. Péter azt mondta, hogy fáradt.

    Péter said (that) he was tired.

    Word by Word: Péter that said, that tired [he-is].

    Notice the verb 'van' (is) is in the present tense (zero copula) because Péter was tired at the moment he spoke.

  3. Azt kérdezte, hogy éhes vagy-e.

    He asked if you were hungry.

    Word by Word: That he-asked, that hungry you-are-whether.

    For yes/no questions, the particle '-e' is attached to the verb in the reported clause.

  4. Azt mondta, hogy ott lesz.

    He said he would be there.

    Word by Word: That he-said, that there he-will-be.

    The adverb 'itt' (here) from the original speech changes to 'ott' (there) to reflect the reporter's perspective.

  5. Azt mondták, hogy már ettek.

    They said they had already eaten.

    Word by Word: That they-said, that already they-ate.

    The past tense 'ettek' is used because the eating happened before the speaking (equivalent to English past perfect).

  6. Azt mondta, hogy menjek haza.

    He told me to go home.

    Word by Word: That he-said, that I-should-go home.

    For commands, the reported clause uses the imperative-subjunctive mood.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the reported clause into the past is not an error, but it changes the meaning.

    Different MeaningAzt mondta, hogy beteg volt.
    Azt mondta, hogy beteg.

    'Azt mondta, hogy beteg volt' is correct Hungarian. It means he said he had been sick before he spoke. To report 'He said he was sick (at that time),' keep the present tense: 'Azt mondta, hogy beteg.' Hungarian does not backshift tenses the way English does.

  • Using 'ha' (if) for reported yes/no questions or forgetting the '-e' particle.

    Azt kérdezte, ha éhes vagy.
    Azt kérdezte, hogy éhes vagy-e.

    Unlike English 'if' or 'whether', Hungarian requires the '-e' suffix attached to the predicate of the question instead of using 'ha'.

  • Not changing 'itt' (here) to 'ott' (there) when the reporter is in a different place.

    Different MeaningAzt mondta a telefonban, hogy itt vár.
    Azt mondta a telefonban, hogy ott vár.

    If the original speaker said 'Itt várok' (I am waiting here) and you report it from somewhere else, 'itt' becomes 'ott' (there). 'Azt mondta, hogy itt vár' is fine when you report it from the place where he waits, so the adverb must match your own position.

How It Connects

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Reported SpeechLevel 3

Learn This First

Reported speech in Hungarian differs significantly from English because it generally maintains the tense of the original utterance. To become confident with this, you need to understand how to form subordinate clauses using 'hogy' and be comfortable with the basic Hungarian tense system (present, past, and future) to correctly identify which tense to preserve.

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