tetszik

tetszik

Hungarian

Etymology

From the obsolete verb tetik (“to seem, to appear”) +‎ -szik.[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtɛt͡sːik]

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tet‧szik
• Rhymes: -ɛt͡sːik

Verb

tetszik

1. (intransitive) to appeal, to be liked

   Synonyms: szeret, kedvel, lájkol

   Sok embernek tetszik az új változat. ― Many people like the new version. (literally, “The new version appeals to many people.”)

2. (auxiliary with a verb in the infinitive) Used to indicate politeness towards the elderly.

   Synonym: szíveskedik

   Tessék velem jönni. ― Come with me, if you please. (literally, “May it appeal [to you] to come with me.”)

   Hogy tetszett mondani? ― I beg your pardon? (literally, “How [in what form] did it appeal [to you] to say [that]?”)

3. (intransitive, archaic) to seem, to appear (-nak/-nek)

   Synonyms: tűnik, látszik

Usage notes

• The subject of this verb is the person or thing that is liked. The agent takes the dative case (-nak/-nek).

  Péternek tetszik Mari. ― Péter likes Mari. (literally, “To Peter appeals Mari.”)

  Tetszik nekem ez a cipő. ― I like this shoe. (literally, “Appeals to me this shoe.”)

  Tetszenek nekem ezek a cipők. ― I like these shoes.

• If the agent is missing, the logical agent is implied.

  Tetszik ez a cipő. (+ “nekem”) ― I like this shoe.

  Tetszik ez a cipő? (+ “neked”) ― Do you like this shoe?

• If the subject is missing, ez (“this, it”) or az (“that, it”) is implied.

  Ahogy tetszik (+ “az”, “neked”) ― As You Like It (the play by Shakespeare)

  Tetszik? (+ “ez”, “neked”) ― Do you like it?

  Tetszik. (+ “ez”, “nekem”) ― I like it.

Sometimes the subject of the verb is not one that does any action but the stimulus prompting sensory or emotional feeling (not deliberately), as in the case of people or things that interest someone, matter to someone, please someone or appeal to someone (or another entity), sometimes differently from the perspective in English. In these cases, the experiencer (the entity that receives sensory or emotional input) can take the accusative (e.g. interest) or the dative (e.g. appeal). The experiencer is expressed with the dative in the case of hiányzik (“to be missing or missed by someone”), ízlik (“to taste good, to be pleasing [as of food]”), kell (“to be needed, necessary, or required”), tetszik (“to be appealing”), and van/megvan (“to be had, to be owned by someone”).

If the experiencer is expressed with the accusative, the object may be the third person (him, her, it, or them), which is considered definite in Hungarian, or it may be a first- or second-person object (me, us, and you), considered as indefinite. For example, with the verb érdekel, it takes the definite form érdekli őt “he/she is interested” (literally, “it interests him/her”), and the indefinite form érdekel engem/téged/minket for “I am, you are, we are interested” (literally, “it interests me, you, us”) in present-tense singular. The form érdekellek means “you are interested in me” (literally, “I interest you”). – Verbs with a similar syntactic behavior include zavar (“to be bothered by”) and izgat (“to be upset or intrigued by”).[2]

Conjugation

conjugation of tetszik

			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
Indica­tive mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	tetszem or tetszek	tetszel	tetszik	tetszünk	tetszetek	tetszenek
		Def.	intransitive verb, definite forms are not used
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Past	Indef.	tetszettem	tetszettél	tetszett	tetszettünk	tetszettetek	tetszettek
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
Condi­tional mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	tetszenék	tetszenél	tetszene	tetszenénk	tetszenétek	tetszenének
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
Sub­junc­tive mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	tetsszek or tetsszem or tessek or tessem	tetssz or tess or tetsszél or tessél	tetsszen or tetsszék or tessen or tessék	tetsszünk or tessünk	tetsszetek or tessetek	tetsszenek or tessenek
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
Infinitive	tetszeni		tetszenem	tetszened	tetszenie	tetszenünk	tetszenetek	tetszeniük
Other nonfinite verb forms			Verbal noun	Present participle	Past participle	Future part.	Adverbial part.	Potential
			tetszés	tetsző	tetszett	―	tetszve	tetszhet

As an auxiliary verb, only the third-person forms are used, since its purpose is to address someone with respect. Out of these, the subjunctive is replaced by the otherwise archaic alternative forms tessék in the singular and tessenek in the plural. The word tessék also survives in contemporary usage as an interjection.

Derived terms

• tessék
• tetszeleg
• tetszetős
• tetszés
• tetszhalál
• tetszhalott
• tetszőleges
• tetszvágy
• tetszvényjog

 

(With verbal prefixes):

• áttetszik
• feltetszik
• föltetszik
• kitetszik
• megtetszik
• visszatetszik

(Expressions):

• akár tetszik, akár nem

References

1. tetszik in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN.  (See also its 2nd edition.)
2. See also Verbs and adjectives that behave differently (in English vs. in Hungarian), Által (’By’), on the past participles derived from such verbs, On verbs of emotion, with special regard to their aspectual properties, especially the chart on page 3. In addition, see Thematic relation and Theta role in Wikipedia.

Further reading

• tetszik in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN