Azt kell tennem!

[serbianfan]

I love the phrase 'Azt kell tennem!', for two reasons: 1. It expresses more succinctly the concept than the English 'That's what I've got to do'. 2. It's such a useful phrase to say in your head every time you decide to do A rather than B, which happens a lot. I find that I say it to myself when deciding to do something even if I'm not in Hungary and haven't spoken a word of Hungarian for years. Of course there are lots of other things you can say in fewer words/syllables in Hungarian than in English, e.g. ízlik (two syllables) vs. this is delicious (five syllables), but I don't find myself saying ízlik in my head if I'm eating something nice but not in Hungary.

Do other learners of Hungarian have favourite everyday Hungarian phrases or expressions? Can you think of others that are much more succinct than the English equivalent? Many years ago I would have written this post in Hungarian, but my Hungarian's getting rusty now. Maybe next time I should say to myself 'Magyarul kell írnom! Azt kell tennem!'

 

[Zsanna]

Maybe this is not the answer you are waiting for (given that I am a Hungarian native speaker to start with) but - seen from this angle - I remember I had a constant struggle for a long while with "régóta". I found its English equivalent too long and complicated (=it's been a long time since...). But it is just the question of picking up the habit.

 

[serbianfan]

Yes, 'régóta' is a good example. But as for my other question (Do other learners of Hungarian have favourite everyday Hungarian phrases or expressions?), I'll maybe have to wait a bit, because I've just checked the ten most recent threads and found only two learners of Hungarian - a lot less, I think, than in the Nordic languages forum where I'm more active. It's a pity that more people don't learn a szép magyar nyelvet