How do you say "me too" in Hungarian: én is or nekem is?

"Me too" is én is only when the sentence you are agreeing with has its person as the subject: Szeretem a kávét. Én is. When that person is in the dative, as with tetszik, kell or van for "have", the reply is nekem is; when the person is the object, it is engem is. The rule is one sentence: say "me" in whatever case the full sentence would need, then add is.

The rule: the reply keeps the case

A Hungarian "me too" is a shortened sentence. You drop everything except the person and the particle is ("also, too"), but the person keeps the form it would have if you said the whole thing. Wiktionary's entry for English "me too" gives exactly three Hungarian translations: én is ("I too"), nekem is ("to me too") and engem is ("as the object of a verb"), and points to the declension of én for the rest.

• Szeretem a kávét. Én is (szeretem). I like coffee. Me too. (I am the subject of szeret)
• Tetszik ez a film. Nekem is (tetszik). I like this film. Me too. (the film is the subject; the liker is in the dative)
• Engem meghívtak a buliba. Engem is. I was invited to the party. Me too. (I am the object)

The phrasebook answer is én is, and it is right for most verbs, which is why it is the one learners meet first. It goes wrong with exactly the verbs English speakers find hardest, the ones where English "I" is not the Hungarian subject. *Én is as a reply to Tetszik ez a film literally says "I also please", which is not what you mean.

Sixteen statements and how to reply

The same person, different cases. The first column is what someone says; the second is your "me too" (or "me neither", for negative statements), and the third shows the full sentence it stands for, which is where the case comes from.

The dative rows all share one shape: the thing (the film, the soup, a coffee, the dog, the headache) is the grammatical subject, and the person it happens to is in -nak/-nek. That group is set out on the dative page, and the choice between szeret and tetszik for "like" has its own page. Notice that "like coffee" and "like this film" get different replies for this reason alone.

Other persons, same pattern

"Him too", "us too" and "you too" follow the same rule with the other pronouns. The full set of case forms is on the personal pronouns page; these three rows cover nearly every reply.

"You too": szeretlek and hiányzol

Two everyday sentences show why you cannot memorise a single reply. With Szeretlek ("I love you"), the person answering is the lover, so the subject: Én is (szeretlek), or, naming both people, Én is téged.

Hiányzol ("I miss you") works the other way round. Literally it is "you are missing (to me)": the person missed is the subject, and the one who misses is in the dative. So the reply puts the other person in the subject case:

• Hiányzol. Te is nekem. I miss you. I miss you too. (literally "You too, to me")
• Tetszel nekem. Te is nekem. I like you. I like you too.
• Szeretlek. Én is téged. I love you. I love you too.

An English speaker who says *Én is to Hiányzol has said "I am missing too", which is either confusing or a little sad.

"Me neither": swap is for sem

For agreeing with a negative statement, replace is with sem (colloquially se) and keep the case: Én sem, Nekem sem, Engem sem. Wiktionary traces sem to a blend of is and nem, which is the clearest way to remember it: it is "also" and "not" in one word.

Two details catch learners out. First, when sem sits before the verb, it does the negating, so there is no extra nem: Én sem láttam Julit, "I didn't see Juli either". Second, sem and nincs fuse into sincs ("isn't either"), so the reply to Nincs időm is Nekem sincs, not *Nekem sem nincs. The plural is sincsenek.

• Nincs kutyám, de macskám sincs. I don't have a dog, and I don't have a cat either.
• Meg sem próbálta. He didn't even try.

The paired form sem ... sem ("neither ... nor") and the negative words senki, semmi, sehol are covered on the negation page.

Where is goes in a full sentence

Is is a clitic, a simulószó in Hungarian grammar: it has no stress of its own and leans on the word before it. The Hungarian Wikipedia article on clitics gives the rule in one line: is can attach to almost any kind of expression, but it must come after it, unstressed (Jánost is; alszik is; be is csöngetett). Three consequences follow.

It follows what it adds to, so moving it changes the meaning

• Én is szeretem a csokit. I, too, like chocolate. (besides other people)
• A csokit is szeretem. I also like chocolate. (besides other things)
• Budapesten is laktam. I've lived in Budapest too. (besides other places)

The first two are Wiktionary's own pair. English "also" can float to the middle of the sentence and leave the listener to guess what it applies to; Hungarian is cannot, because it always sits right after the word it adds. It comes after the whole phrase, including any case ending: a barátomnak is, a házban is.

It can never come first

A clitic cannot stand on its own or open a sentence, so there is no Hungarian equivalent of starting a sentence with "Also, ...". *Is én is impossible. If you need a stressable word, use szintén (below).

It does not split a verbal prefix

A phrase with is before the verb is not in the focus position, so a verbal prefix stays attached: Mari is eljött, "Mari came too", not *Mari is jött el. The word order and focus page explains the slot system behind this. When is lands between a prefix and the verb, it is attaching to the prefix, and the meaning shifts to "indeed, sure enough":

• Esőt mondtak, és el is kezdett esni. They forecast rain, and sure enough it started raining.
• Megígérte, és meg is csinálta. He promised, and he actually did it.

Is does not always mean "too"

Wiktionary lists four senses. The "too" sense is the one in every reply above; the other three turn up early in real conversation.

The "again" sense has its own melody. Wiktionary notes that a question with is after the question word is spoken with a rising and then falling tune, like a yes-or-no question, while the same question without is falls throughout. In a rhetorical question it intensifies instead: Miért is nem maradtam otthon?, "Why, oh why didn't I stay home?" How ordinary questions are built is on the questions page.

Is, és and szintén: three words learners mix up

Is and és look alike because they are one word historically: Wiktionary gives them as doublets. In modern Hungarian they do different jobs.

• és = "and". It joins two items and stands between them: Péter és Anna. Its short form s is common in writing (s a többi, "and so on", abbreviated stb.), and Wiktionary also lists meg, illetve and valamint as synonyms.
• is = "too". It follows the added item and never stands between two: Anna is. "Me too" is Én is, never *Én és.
• szintén = "likewise, also". A full word, not a clitic, so it can carry stress and stand alone. Wiktionary lists it with is as a synonym and marks szintén as the formal choice, with ugyancsak and úgyszintén as more literary.

English speakers also have to unlearn the look of the word: Hungarian is is pronounced like the start of "ish", with the s sound of English "sh", and has nothing to do with the verb "is" (that is van, or nothing at all, as the van and nincs page explains). For the other little words that link clauses, see de or hanem.

Where the rule stops

• It needs a person in the original. The case-copy rule applies when you are adding yourself to what someone said about themselves or about you. To agree with an opinion, answer with the opinion: Szerintem is ("I think so too", literally "according to me too").
• A reply can change the verb. If you answer with a different verb, the case follows the new verb. Tetszik ez a film? Igen, én is szeretem. is fine, because now szeret decides, and it takes a subject.

Common learner errors

1. Tetszik ez a dal. *Én is. The liker is in the dative: Nekem is.
2. Van két gyerekem. *Én is. "Have" is dative plus van: Nekem is.
3. *Én is nem. "Me neither" is one word: Én sem.
4. *Nekem sem nincs. Sem and nincs fuse: Nekem sincs.
5. *Én és. És means "and": Én is.
6. *Mari is jött el. Is does not split the prefix: Mari is eljött.

Sources and further reading

• Wiktionary, "is" (Hungarian): senses, usage notes on concessives and intonation, doublet of és
• Wiktionary, "me too" (Hungarian translations) and "én" (declension)
• Wiktionary, "sem", "se" and "sincs"
• Wiktionary, "és", "s", "szintén" and "ugyancsak"
• Wikipedia (Hungarian), "Simulószó"

Frequently asked questions