HSC Hungarian Continuers cheat sheet

The HSC Hungarian Continuers listening section is played as a whole and then replayed; final answers are written after the second hearing, so first listening is for gist and speaker attitude.

Hungarian stress falls on the first syllable of every word, so listening for stress reveals word boundaries in fast speech; suffix clusters attach to the first-syllable stem.

Vowel harmony signals grammatical endings: front-vowel words take -ban/-ben, -hoz/-hez/-höz, -nak/-nek, while back-vowel words take -ban, -hoz, -nak; hearing the ending confirms case.

Question type determines answer form: 'Miért...?' requires a causal clause (mert/azért, mert), 'Hogyan...?' requires a manner phrase, 'Mikor...?' requires a time expression.

Numbers, prices and dates are frequent distractors: forint amounts, dates (elsején, harmadikán), and clock times are usually corrected by the speaker, so the second mention is normally the answer.

Discourse markers carry the answer: 'viszont', 'azonban', 'ellenben' signal contrast, 'tehát', 'szóval' signal conclusion, 'egyébként' signals an aside that is rarely the answer.

Hungarian has no grammatical gender and no separate word for 'he/she'; pronouns ő/ők appear only for emphasis, so tracking who did what depends on verb endings (-ok/-ek/-ök, -ja/-i).

Formal versus informal address (ön/maga versus te) changes the relationship in a dialogue; register questions are answered by the pronoun and verb form used, not by content.

Skim for text type first: a hirdetés (advertisement) answers what/where/when/cost; a levél (letter) answers who/writes to whom/why; an újságcikk answers fact plus opinion.

Case suffixes change meaning decisively: -ban/-ben 'in', -ba/-be 'into', -ból/-ből 'out of', -on/-en/-ön 'on', -nál/-nél 'at a person's place', -tól/-től 'from'.

Postpositions take a bare noun and often a possessive suffix on the noun: a ház mellett, az iskola előtt, a vonat után; they never take the -ban/-ben ending.

The verbal prefix (meg-, el-, be-, ki-, fel-, le-, át-) separates from the verb in questions and negation: 'Mikor jön meg?' but 'Nem jön meg'; separated prefixes mark focus.

Definite versus indefinite conjugation is a reading clue: 'olvasom a könyvet' (definite object) versus 'olvasok egy könyvet' (indefinite object); -ja/-i versus -ok/-ek/-ök.

Inference questions require evidence from the text: locate the sentence, then match it to the option that restates it without adding information not present.

Hungarian word order is topic–focus–verb–rest; the element immediately before the verb is the focus, so 'Péter olvassa a könyvet' and 'A könyvet olvassa Péter' answer different questions.

Idioms to read non-literally: 'kéznél van' (is at hand), 'szemet huny' (turns a blind eye), 'egy húron pendül' (are of the same mind), 'felkopik az álla' (goes hungry).

Text-type conventions: a baráti levél opens with 'Kedves ...!' and closes 'Üdvözlettel' or 'Szeretettel'; a hivatalos levél uses 'Tisztelt ...!' and 'Tisztelettel'.

Formal letters require the ön/maga conjugation and the conditional for requests: 'Szeretném megkérdezni, hogy...', 'Lenne szíves...', 'Kérem, értesítsen...'.

Hungarian dates are written year–month–day with a period: 2024. március 15.; in a letter the place and date go top right: Budapest, 2024. március 15.

The narrative past uses the -t/-tt stem plus person endings: írtam, írtál, írt, írtunk, írtatok, írtak; 'volt' supplies past tense for nominal sentences.

Future is normally expressed by present tense plus a time word (holnap megyek); 'fog + infinitive' marks intention or emphasis.

Cohesion devices to include: 'először', 'azután', 'végül', 'azonban', 'ezért', 'például', 'tehát'; each paragraph should carry at least one connector.

Word count and register are marked: the required length must be met within about ten percent, and mixing te and ön forms within one text is a register error.

Accented letters count as letters, not words; compound words written as one word (iskolatáska, vonatállomás) count as one word in the word count.

The conversation section rewards initiation: ask a reciprocal question after each answer ('És te?', 'Ön hogyan gondolja?') rather than only responding.

The detailed monologue follows a structure: bevezetés (topic statement), tárgyalás (two or three points with reasons), befejezés (summary or opinion).

Hedging and opinion phrases raise range: 'szerintem', 'véleményem szerint', 'úgy gondolom, hogy', 'lehetséges, hogy', 'nem vagyok benne biztos, de'.

Fillers must be Hungarian, not English: 'hát', 'nos', 'izé' (avoid), 'szóval', 'tulajdonképpen', 'igazából'.

Vowel harmony must hold in spontaneous speech: suffix choice follows the last vowel of the stem, and front rounded vowels (ö, ő, ü, ű) take front endings.

Past-tense narration needs the correct person endings and the -tt/-t stem: 'mentem', 'ettem', 'utaztam', 'találkoztam'; irregular 'volt' for states.

Role-play cards specify a register and a goal; the goal is met only when the required information is exchanged, so state it explicitly before closing.

Pronunciation targets: first-syllable stress, full long vowels (á, é, í, ó, ő, ú, ű) held about twice as long as short pairs, and 's' = /ʃ/, 'sz' = /s/, 'cs' = /tʃ/, 'gy' = /ɟ/.