szia, hogy vagy?
[ˈsijɒ ˈhoɟ ˈvɒɟ]word by word
The English phrase "hello, how are you?" is translated into Hungarian as szia, hogy vagy?
This phrase is a friendly greeting used to initiate a conversation and inquire about a person's well-being. For a different informal greeting meaning "Hi, what's new?", you can use Szia, mi újság? To say "hello, how are you?" informally, you may also use Helló, hogy vagy?
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
szia, hogy vagy? is an informal way to say "hello, how are you?" and is used with friends or peers. When addressing someone, the pronoun te is used for the informal "you", whereas the pronoun ön is used for the formal "you".
How does it change in a sentence?
The part of the phrase hogy vagy? uses the second-person singular vagy (you are), which is used when speaking to one person in an informal setting.
When do people say it?
When someone asks hogy vagy?, a standard and polite response is Jól, köszönöm, which means "Fine, thank you.". If you want to express a higher level of well-being, you can answer jól vagyok for "I'm good" or kiváló vagyok for "I'm excellent".
Did you know?
- The informal greeting szia is actually a shortened version of szervusz, which was borrowed from the German word 'Servus'.
- In Hungarian, the word szia is used both when arriving to say 'hello' and when leaving to say 'bye'.
- Depending on the social hierarchy, using hogy vagy? with a stranger or a superior can be seen as overly familiar or even rude.
Examples in context
- Szia, mi újság veled?Hi, what's new with you?
- Szia, hogy vagy? Remélhetőleg jól!Hello, how are you? Hopefully well!
Example conversation
Katalin and Gábor meet at a cafe.
- KatalinSzia, hogy vagy?Hi, how are you?
- GáborSzia! Jól vagyok, köszönöm.Hi! I'm well, thank you.
- KatalinÖrülök neki. Mit csinálsz?I'm glad. What are you doing?
- GáborCsak pihenek egy kicsit.Just resting a bit.
