Egészségedre or egészségére: how do you say "cheers" in Hungarian?

"Cheers" in Hungarian is Egészségedre!, literally "to your health". Use it with one person you call te. With one person you call Ön, say Egészségére! The same word also does two more jobs. It is the "bless you" after a sneeze, and it is the reply when someone thanks you for food or drink.

What egészségedre is: one word, three parts

Egészségedre is not a phrase. It is one word, built from three pieces. Wiktionary gives the breakdown:

• egészség = health. It comes from egész, "whole", plus -ség, "-ness". So health is "wholeness", much like English health comes from whole.
• -ed = your. This is the possessive ending for one person you call te.
• -re = onto, to. This is a case ending, the sublative. A case ending is a suffix that does the work of an English preposition.

Put together: egészség + -ed + -re = "to your health". The sublative is the "onto" case, -ra after back vowels and -re after front vowels. It is the case of az asztalra, "onto the table", and the surface cases page covers it in full. Egészség has only front vowels, so it takes -re, never -ra.

The word is not reserved for toasts. Wiktionary lists it first as an ordinary noun form, with this example:

• Gondolj az egészségedre! Think of your health!

Here egészségedre is simply what the verb gondol ("think") requires. It takes its object in -ra/-re, as the gondol or hisz page explains. The toast is the same word, with the verb left out. That matters, because it means the ending is real grammar. It changes with the person, like any possessive.

The five forms: the ending follows who you address

Because -ed means "your" for one te, it has to change when you speak to someone else. Wiktionary's usage note sets out the variations of "cheers" as a grid. Here it is, with the possessive ending that makes each form.

These are the possessive endings from the possessive suffixes page, in their front-vowel shape. Two details are worth seeing once.

First, the formal forms are third-person forms. Formal "you" in Hungarian talks to a person as if talking about them. As the formal and informal "you" page puts it, "every verb, possessive and pronoun switches to the third person". So egészségére is the same word as "to his health" or "to her health". Wiktionary's example shows the second reading. Nem gondol az egészségére means "He doesn't think of his health." Egészségükre is likewise both "to their health" and the formal plural "to your health". It is the same for Ön and maga, since both take third-person forms.

Second, the -e of egészsége lengthens to -é before the case ending. That is the regular rule for the third person, and it is why you write egészségére with é, not *egészségere.

Three situations, one word

Wiktionary gives egészségedre and egészségére three senses as interjections. They come up in different moments, and each has its own little script.

1. The toast

Raise a glass and say the form that fits the people in front of you. To one friend, Egészségedre! To your manager, Egészségére! To a table of friends, Egészségetekre! Wiktionary glosses the toast as "cheers, to your health", and notes that literally it is "To your health!"

2. After a sneeze

When someone sneezes, the Hungarian "bless you" is the same word. Wiktionary's dialogue shows the whole exchange:

• A: (sneezes)
• B: Egészségedre! B: Bless you!
• A: Köszönöm. A: Thank you.

There is nothing religious in it, unlike English "bless you". You simply wish the person health. To a stranger on the tram, the form is Egészségére!, because you would call them Ön.

3. The reply when thanked for food or drink

This is the use learners miss most easily, because English has nothing like it. When someone thanks you for a meal or a drink you gave them, the reply is Egészségedre! Wiktionary glosses it as "you're welcome", with the meaning "may it serve your health".

• A: Köszönöm az ebédet. Nagyon finom volt. A: Thank you for the lunch. It was delicious.
• B: Egészségedre! B: You're welcome! (literally "to your health")

Note the limit in Wiktionary's own gloss: the thanks has to be for a meal or a drink. For any other favour, the ordinary "you're welcome" is szívesen, nagyon szívesen or nincs mit, the translations Wiktionary gives for that phrase. If you held the door, Szívesen. If you cooked the dinner, Egészségedre.

Worked example: one dinner, four moments

Here is how the choice plays out in a single evening. Suppose your friend Anna invites you to dinner with her parents. You and Anna use te. You call her parents Ön, since they are older and you have just met. Walk through the evening one moment at a time.

1. The first glass. Everyone raises a glass at once. You could pick a "you" form, but the table is mixed: Anna is te, her parents are Önök. Egészségünkre!, "to our health", has no "you" in it at all. It includes everyone, yourself too, so the choice never arises.
2. Anna's father sneezes. You speak to him alone, and he is Ön. So the form is Egészségére! He answers Köszönöm.
3. You thank Anna's mother for the meal. You say Köszönöm a vacsorát, nagyon finom volt. Now she is the one replying, so the form depends on how she speaks to you. If she uses te with you, she says Egészségedre! If she keeps to Ön, she says Egészségére! Either way, it is her "you're welcome".
4. Anna's parents thank you for the wine you brought. Both say Köszönjük a bort! You reply to two people you call Önök, so the form is Egészségükre! Had Anna and her brother thanked you, two people you call ti, it would be Egészségetekre!

Four moments give four different forms, but one rule picks each of them: say "health", then put on the "your" of the person you are speaking to.

Which form, when: the whole grid

This table puts the five forms against the three situations. Each cell rests on a ruling above: the toast column on Wiktionary's grid of variations, the other two on Wiktionary's senses and on the possessive rule.

Wiktionary spells out the sneeze and thanks senses only on the two singular forms. The plural rows follow from the grammar: the word is "health" with the possessive of the person you address, so a group that thanks you gets the plural "your". Egészségünkre appears in Wiktionary only in the grid of toasts. Since it means "to our health", it fits a shared glass, not a reply to someone else.

Other ways to say cheers

The egészség forms are the standard toast, but Wiktionary's usage note lists a few alternatives:

• fenékig: from fenék, "bottom", plus -ig, "up to", so literally "to the bottom" of the glass. The -ig ending is the one in két évig, explained on the két éve or két évig page.
• szervusz: best known as a greeting, "hello" or "goodbye" to someone you call te. Wiktionary also gives it a second sense, "cheers", as a toast.
• csincsin: listed in the same note.
• egs: a colloquial clipping of egészségedre, labelled colloquial in the note.

None of these replaces egészségedre after a sneeze or as a reply to thanks. Those two jobs belong to the egészség forms alone.

What this page does not cover

This page covers the words: what they mean, how they are built, and which one fits which person. It does not cover drinking customs, such as when to clink glasses or what to drink with whom. The sources used here are dictionaries, and they say nothing about etiquette at the table. For those questions, ask the people you are drinking with. The choice between te and Ön is also a social one before it is a grammatical one. This page assumes you already know which you use with someone. If you do not, the who to address how section is the place to start, and the formal form is the safer guess with a stranger.

Common learner errors

1. Saying Egészségedre! to everyone. It is the te form. To a stranger, a shop assistant or an older person you call Ön, say Egészségére!
2. Writing *egészségere. The third-person -e lengthens before the case ending: egészségére.
3. Using -ra. Egészség is a front-vowel word, so every form ends in -re. Vowel harmony is explained on the vowel harmony page.
4. Answering any thanks with Egészségedre. It is the reply only to thanks for food or drink. Otherwise say Szívesen.
5. Saying Egészségünkre! after a sneeze. It means "to our health". Wish the sneezer their own health: Egészségedre! or Egészségére!
6. Pronouncing both sz and s separately. They merge into one long "s": egésségedre.

More slips of this kind are collected on the common mistakes page.

Sources and further reading

• Wiktionary, "egészségedre" (Hungarian): etymology, noun sense with Gondolj az egészségedre!, the three interjection senses (toast, reply to thanks for a meal or drink, "bless you") and the usage note listing the variations of "cheers"
• Wiktionary, "egészségére" (Hungarian): formal and third-person senses, Nem gondol az egészségére
• Wiktionary, "egészségetekre", "egészségükre" and "egészségünkre" (Hungarian): the plural and "our" forms
• Wiktionary, "egészség" (Hungarian): egész + -ség, pronunciation egésség
• Wiktionary, "-ra" and "-re" (Hungarian sublative), "szervusz", "fenék", and the Hungarian translations at "you're welcome", "cheers" and "bless you"

Frequently asked questions