Hungarian beginner lesson: What does it say?

Here’s another sign I snapped a picture of in Budapest. What is it telling us?

“Kérjük az ajtót mindig becsukni!”

a) “Watch for debris falling from building!”

b) “Please keep the door closed at all times.”

c) “Please do not put junk mail in our mailbox.”

Click on “Read More” to see the answer and an explanation of the phrase!

Answer:

b) “Please keep the door closed at all times.”

Explanation:*

The key to this sentence is the word “kérjük,” which is a form of the verb “kér” meaning “ask for, request,” or in this case, “please.”

• “kérjük = “we ask you”(or “please”)
• “az” = “the” (usually “a” but becomes “az” before a vowel sound)
• “ajtó” = “door”
• “mindig” = “always, at all times”
• “becsukni” = “closed” (infinitive form)

What about “ajtót”? This is the accusative case, meaning that “door” is the direct object, and so it takes the ending “-t”. Such as in:

“Csukd be az ajtót!” = “Close the door” (“door” is the direct object in this sentence)

Word-for-word, our original sign would mean “We ask that you close the door at all times.” But phrased in more natural English, it becomes:

“Kérjük az ajtót mindig becsukni!” = “Please keep the door closed at all times.”

*Please note that we don’t provide a very detailed explanation of grammar in these short posts. For a more detailed explanation of grammar, I highly recommend a book like Hungarian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar 2nd ed. by Miklós Törkenczy.

I have learned SO much from Törkenczy’s book. I read this book over and over again until I had basically memorized all of the intricate rules about Hungarian grammar, particular the complicated ones relating to verbs. You should have a copy of it if you are serious about learning Hungarian!

Readers: what do you think of this series? Can you recommend anything else you’d like to see in this blog? Let us know in the comments, thanks!