Welcome to My New Homeland, Hungary — Hungarian for Citizenship: From Zero to B1.

This introductory section will show you how to use the course, how to study Hungarian effectively, and what kind of Hungarian communication you are going to build.

You do not need any previous knowledge of Hungarian.

By the end of this section, you will already be able to recognize and use several basic Hungarian expressions, understand how the audio lessons work, recognize some important features of Hungarian grammar and pronunciation, and begin building your personal Hungarian answer bank.

Listen to your first Hungarian expressions and repeat them during the pauses.

Learn the five-step method you will use throughout the course to turn Hungarian grammar and vocabulary into active communication.

Listen to simple Hungarian questions, answer during the pauses, and compare your response with the model answer.

Get your first overview of the Hungarian grammar system and discover why endings are so important.

See how your communication and grammar will develop from your first Hungarian words toward functional B1.

Learn how Hungarian vowels and several important consonants are written before practicing them in the Hungarian-only audio lesson.

Listen to Hungarian vowels and beginner words and repeat each sound during the pauses.

Listen to your first Hungarian expressions and repeat them during the pauses.

Learn the Hungarian indefinite article egy, meaning “a/an” and also “one”.

Learn the two forms of the Hungarian definite article: a and az.

Learn the basic Hungarian demonstratives for “this” and “that”.

Learn one of the most important Hungarian sentence patterns: why Hungarian normally does not use van when describing a person or thing in the third person.

Learn how Hungarian expresses “I am”, “you are”, and “he/she is” in basic identity and profession sentences.

Learn three essential Hungarian question words: Ki?, Mi? and Milyen?

Practice understanding and answering basic Hungarian questions about objects, people, and simple descriptions. This lesson introduces Mi ez? (What is this?), Mi az? (What is that?), Milyen...? (What is ... like?), and Ki...? (Who...?), while also helping you distinguish between informal te and formal Ön.

Learn the essential vocabulary from your first Hungarian introduction and first formal contact.

Practice your first complete personal answers in a formal Hungarian speaking drill.

Learn the main personal questions you may hear in a formal Hungarian conversation and begin answering them in complete sentences.

Listen to common formal personal questions and model answers in Hungarian.

Learn the basic Hungarian personal pronouns and understand why Hungarian often omits them.

Learn all six basic present-tense forms of the Hungarian verb lenni — “to be”.

Learn how to ask and answer someone's age in Hungarian.

Practice recognizing and answering Hány éves?

Learn how to say whether you are married or unmarried.

Learn to ask and answer questions about profession in natural formal Hungarian.

Learn essential vocabulary for forms and personal interviews.

Learn how Hungarian forms expressions such as “in Hungarian”, “in English” and “in German”.

Learn your first regular Hungarian present-tense conjugation with tanulni — “to study/learn”.

Learn the present-tense conjugation of beszél — “to speak”.

Practice tanulni, beszélni, and language names with -ul/-ül.

Meet Hol?, itt, ott and the location use of lenni.

Learn basic Hungarian position words and your first postpositions.

Answer a complete beginner personal interview using your real information.

Learn to recognize common personal-data fields in Hungarian forms.

Begin talking about your family and discover the key questions used to identify your Hungarian ancestor.

Learn essential family vocabulary for citizenship interviews and personal history.

Listen to essential Hungarian family and ancestry vocabulary and repeat each word during the pauses.

Learn how Hungarian expresses “my” by adding a possessive ending to the noun.

Learn to recognize basic third-person/formal possessive forms used in interview questions.

Learn useful plural possessive forms such as felmenőim — “my ancestors”.

Learn one of the most important Hungarian possession patterns: van / vannak + possessed noun.

Listen to basic family possession structures and repeat them aloud.

Learn to identify which member of your family was Hungarian.

Learn volt, the essential past form used to say that someone “was” Hungarian.

Learn the essential ancestry expression született — “was born”.

Practice the core questions about Hungarian ancestry.

Learn how Hungarian asks “how many?” and discover an important rule about nouns after hány.

Learn the difference between quantity, order and identifying numbers.

Learn how Hungarian expresses “in” or “inside” with the suffixes -ban / -ben.

Learn another major Hungarian location pattern used for surfaces and many place names.

Learn how Hungarian marks the direct object with -t and related endings.

Use the direct object in your first simple sentences with látni, kérni and olvasni.

Practice a complete beginner interview about your Hungarian ancestry.

Begin recognizing the Hungarian names of documents connected with family history.

Learn the central document questions and answers used in this stage of the citizenship process.

Learn the essential Hungarian document vocabulary.

Listen to essential Hungarian document terms and repeat them aloud.

Review the direct-object ending and apply it to document vocabulary.

Learn how to say that a document is missing and how to distinguish available and missing items.

Learn how to distinguish originals, copies and certified translations.

Practice recognizing document status: original, copy, translation and missing document.

Learn the crucial difference between location and direction.

Learn how Hungarian expresses movement into a place with -ba / -be.

Learn movement onto a surface or toward certain places with -ra / -re.

Compare the four major location and movement suffix groups learned so far.

Learn the complete present-tense conjugation of the irregular verb menni.

Practice Hova?, movement suffixes and menni.

Learn basic Hungarian colors and how adjectives behave before and after nouns.

Learn how hány becomes hányat when “how many?” functions as a direct object.

Learn the object form milyet — “what kind / which one” as a direct object.

Learn how Hungarian combines what you move with where you move it.

Practice answering formal questions about your citizenship documents.

Learn the first core words that appear on Hungarian forms.

Learn the central residence question and begin giving a complete answer with city and country.

Practice the main residence questions with a Hungarian-only MP3.

Learn the essential Hungarian vocabulary used on address forms.

Listen to essential address vocabulary and repeat it aloud.

Learn the complete present-tense conjugation of lakni — “to live / reside”.

Learn to recognize common Hungarian verbs whose third-person singular form ends in -ik.

Learn the difference between Hol laksz? and Hol lakik?

Learn the most important location forms used when saying where you live.

Learn to give a stronger consular answer by stating both city and country.

Learn how van means “there is / there exists / is available”.

Learn nincs, the negative counterpart of van for existence and location.

Learn one of the most important Hungarian negative distinctions.

Learn how to say where you do not live.

Practice affirmative and negative residence statements.

Review how van and nincs can also express possession.

Build the vocabulary needed for clear residence answers.

Learn to recognize the most important residence fields on Hungarian forms.

Review color questions while practicing the important distinction between quality and location.

Practice a complete residence mini-interview.

Add your current place of residence to your Hungarian autobiography.

Learn the central questions used to talk about routine, work and free time.

Learn essential vocabulary for everyday routine, work and free time.

Learn why you must use conjugated verbs when describing your daily routine.

Learn the complete present-tense conjugation of dolgozni — “to work”.

Learn the basic time expressions used to organize your daily routine.

Listen to simple daily-routine sentences and repeat them aloud.

Learn several useful first-person verbs for talking about your normal day.

6.11 — GRAMMAR: HUNGARIAN PLURAL

Practice the major plural patterns used after consonant-final nouns.

Learn a fundamental Hungarian rule: after a number, the noun normally remains singular.

Complete the basic Hungarian place-question system with Honnan? — Where from?

Learn how Hungarian expresses movement from inside a place.

Learn how Hungarian expresses movement from a surface or from certain places.

Bring together the six major location, direction and origin suffix groups.

Learn the complete present-tense conjugation of the irregular verb jönni.

Practice Honnan?, jön, -ból/-ből and -ról/-ről.

Learn an important second-person pattern used by several -ik verbs.

Learn the complete present conjugation of reggelizni.

Learn the complete present conjugation of vacsorázni.

Learn how everyday questions are formed with the same word order as statements.

Practice a complete formal mini-interview about daily routine and free time.

Recognize common formal questions about everyday life and free time.

Learn the main questions used to describe your home.

Learn essential Hungarian words for houses, apartments and rented homes.

Learn the main rooms and spaces in a home.

Listen to essential home vocabulary and repeat each word.

Use van and vannak to say what exists in your home.

Practice Hány...? with home vocabulary.

Learn simple adjectives for a natural home description.

Listen to complete home descriptions and repeat them.

Answer the core home-description questions with your own information.

Learn respectful title + úr forms used in formal Hungarian.

Learn how to ask “to whom / to whose place?” with Kihez?

Learn how to say that you are with someone or at someone's place.

Learn the person-origin question Kitől?

Compare movement to, location with and movement from a person.

Learn how Hungarian marks the person receiving something.

Master the four major person-related questions introduced in this section.

Practice the four person-related question systems by listening and responding.

Learn the basic Hungarian clock-time question.

Learn how Hungarian prefixes change the direction of movement verbs.

Learn the contrast between movement inward and outward.

Learn movement upward, downward and across.

Listen to and repeat the main movement prefixes with megy and jön.

Learn three important Hungarian verbs ending in -ít.

Practice short dialogues combining home vocabulary, people and movement.

Recognize simple housing-related expressions that may appear in forms or interviews.

Learn the essential Hungarian question Mikor? — When?

Learn to understand and answer Mikor született?

Learn the standard Hungarian order for writing dates.

Learn the Hungarian names of the twelve months.

Listen to the Hungarian months and repeat them aloud.

Learn why Hungarian uses ordinal numbers when speaking dates.

Learn how Hungarian expresses “on” a calendar date.

Practice recognizing and answering date questions.

Learn the four seasons in Hungarian.

Learn the Hungarian suffix used for a specific time.

Learn how to ask “At what time?”

Master the important difference between asking the current time and asking when an action happens.

Learn the main Hungarian expressions for parts of the day.

Learn the difference between four Hungarian expressions related to night.

Practice Mikor?, Hánykor?, -kor and periods of the day.

Learn Hungarian equivalents of “to me”, “to you”, “to him/her” and related forms.

Practice the three most frequent basic dative pronouns.

Listen to and repeat the main dative pronouns in complete sentences.

Learn elmegy — to leave / go away.

Learn visszamegy — to go back / return.

Learn the very common Hungarian verb hazamegy.

Learn odamegy — to go there / go over to a known place or person.

Learn when the verbal prefix normally stays attached to the verb.

Learn why bemegyek becomes nem megyek be in a negative sentence.

Learn the basic word order of verbal prefixes in neutral questions and questions with interrogative words.

Practice affirmative, negative and interrogative verbal-prefix patterns.

Learn three national dates highlighted in the citizenship source.

Recognize date-related expressions that appear on official forms.

🎧 Complete Interview Practice

Start by listening to the audio once from beginning to end.

Do not answer yet. Just listen carefully and try to recognize the questions and their order.

There are no model answers in the recording.

After the first listening, review the questions below and prepare your own answers.

Questions and Your Answers

Mikor született?

When were you born?

Your answer

__________. __________ __________ születtem.

Use your real date of birth.

Mikor dolgozik?

When do you work?

This question asks for a general time.

Possible answers

Reggel dolgozom.

Délelőtt dolgozom.

Délután dolgozom.

Use the answer that is true for you.

Hánykor dolgozik?

At what time do you work?

This question asks for a specific clock time.

Your answer

__________kor dolgozom.

For example:

Nyolckor dolgozom.

Mikor megy haza?

When do you go home?

Possible answers

Délután megyek haza.

Este megyek haza.

Use your real information.

Hánykor megy haza?

At what time do you go home?

Your answer

__________kor megyek haza.

For example:

Hatkor megyek haza.

Mikor volt az interjú?

When was the interview?

Your answer

__________. __________ __________ volt az interjú.

Use the real date if you have one.

If this question does not apply to your situation yet, practice a simple answer with your teacher.

Listen Again and Respond

Now play the audio again.

This time, answer every question during the long pause.

There is no model answer after the questions.

Try to:

• use your real information;

• answer in complete sentences;

• distinguish general time from exact clock time;

• answer before the pause ends;

• avoid translating every question into English first.

Interview Sequence

You will hear:

Jó napot kívánok!

Respond:

Jó napot kívánok!

Mikor született?

Your answer:

________________________________________

Mikor dolgozik?

Your answer:

________________________________________

Hánykor dolgozik?

Your answer:

________________________________________

Mikor megy haza?

Your answer:

________________________________________

Hánykor megy haza?

Your answer:

________________________________________

Mikor volt az interjú?

Your answer:

________________________________________

Köszönöm.

You can respond:

Köszönöm.

Important Pattern: Mikor? or Hánykor?

These questions are similar, but they ask for different information.

Mikor?

When?

The answer can be general:

reggel

délelőtt

délután

este

or it can be a date:

2026. szeptember kilencedikén

Hánykor?

At what time?

The answer gives an exact hour:

nyolckor

háromkor

hatkor

tízkor

Remember:

-kor = at a specific time

Compare

Mikor dolgozik?

Délelőtt dolgozom.

Hánykor dolgozik?

Nyolckor dolgozom.

Mikor megy haza?

Este megyek haza.

Hánykor megy haza?

Tízkor megyek haza.

Personal Interview Practice

Before the final listening, prepare one answer for each question.

Date of birth

________________________________________

When you work

________________________________________

What time you work

________________________________________

When you go home

________________________________________

What time you go home

________________________________________

Interview date

________________________________________

Keep your answers simple and natural.

Final Listening

Play the complete audio one more time.

This time, try to:

• recognize Mikor? immediately;

• recognize Hánykor? immediately;

• know whether the question asks for a date, general time, or exact hour;

• answer every question during the long pause;

• use your own information;

• complete the interview without looking at the English meanings.

Treat the recording like a real formal interview.

After Listening

Can you answer all of these questions without looking?

1. Mikor született?

2. Mikor dolgozik?

3. Hánykor dolgozik?

4. Mikor megy haza?

5. Hánykor megy haza?

6. Mikor volt az interjú?

If one question is still difficult, practice that question and your answer separately before repeating the complete interview.

🗣️ Extra Speaking Practice

Practice these question pairs:

Mikor dolgozik?

____________________________

Hánykor dolgozik?

____________________________

Mikor megy haza?

____________________________

Hánykor megy haza?

____________________________

Then add:

Mikor született?

____________________________

Mikor volt az interjú?

____________________________

On your final attempt, play the audio again and complete the entire interview immediately and without looking at the text.

Learn the central formal questions used to discuss your studies, qualifications and current profession in an official conversation.

Listen to the core study and profession questions and model answers.

Learn the essential vocabulary for studies and qualifications used in formal conversations about education.

Learn useful vocabulary for professions, workplaces and current employment in formal Hungarian communication.

Learn the first past-tense forms needed to talk about completed studies and recognize the corresponding formal questions used in official communication.

Learn how Hungarian expresses professional roles such as “as a teacher” or “as an engineer”, and use -ként in formal communication about work.

Practice talking about your education, graduation, qualifications, and current profession, then answer formal interview questions using your own information.

Learn to connect your education, qualification and current profession in a clear and logical sequence suitable for a formal conversation.

Learn the main Hungarian body-part vocabulary from Grammar Lesson 9 and prepare to use these words in first-person answers and formal questions.

Listen to essential Hungarian body-part vocabulary and repeat each word clearly during the pauses.

Learn how Hungarian uses possessive endings with body parts and recognize the forms needed for first-person answers and formal communication.

Use first-person possessive body-part forms with Ez... and recognize the corresponding forms used in formal communication.

Learn the Hungarian structure used to say that a body part hurts and recognize the corresponding formal questions.

Learn what the Hungarian infinitive is, recognize common infinitive forms and understand how infinitives are used after another conjugated verb.

Learn how to say that you like doing something and how to recognize the corresponding forms used in formal questions.

Learn how tud + infinitive expresses ability or possibility and recognize the corresponding forms used in formal questions.

Learn how Hungarian expresses wanting to do something and understand why akar must be used carefully in formal communication.

Compare preference, ability and intention using three important verb + infinitive structures.

Learn where nem goes in structures such as “I cannot go”, “I do not like travelling” and “I do not want to come”.