Tanul, megtanul, tanít or megtud: how do you say "learn", "study" and "teach" in Hungarian?

Use tanul for studying, the process: Kémiát tanul, "She studies chemistry". Use megtanul when the learning succeeds and sticks: Megtanulta a verset, "He learned the poem by heart". Use tanít for teaching: Angolt tanítok a gyerekeknek, "I teach the children English". And when English "learn" means "find out", Hungarian does not use tanul at all. It uses megtud: Tegnap tudtam meg, "I learned it yesterday".

Four verbs, defined

English splits this area by word: study, learn, teach, find out. Hungarian splits it by two other questions. Who is doing the learning? And did the learning finish?

Tanul means "study, learn". Wiktionary glosses it "to acquire or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something". The key word is "attempt". Tanul names the activity, whether or not it works.

Megtanul means "learn, master". It is tanul with the prefix meg-. A prefix is a short word fixed to the front of a verb, and meg- often marks a finished result (see verbal prefixes). elon.io says megtanul "normally presents successful acquisition". Its own line sums up the pair: "A learner may tanul for hours without megtanulni the material."

Tanít means "teach". Wiktionary gives three senses: pass on knowledge, cause someone to learn, and work as a teacher. The two verbs share a root. Tanít comes from Proto-Uralic *tuna-, "to get used to, to learn", plus the causative suffix -ít. A causative suffix means "make someone do it", so tanít is, at root, "make someone learn". Tanul is built on the same stem with -ul.

Megtud means "find out". It is tud, "know", with meg-. Wiktionary glosses it "to find out, to become aware of something, to know, to learn". elon.io: "Tud is a state: possess knowledge. Megtud is a bounded change: find out, learn a fact."

On this page, a verb's frame means the cases its partners take. Which noun is the object in -t? Which takes -nak/-nek? Most mistakes with these verbs are frame mistakes.

One week, six sentences

Take Anna, an English teacher in Debrecen who is also learning to drive. Suppose she wants to describe her week in Hungarian. Here is how each English verb sorts.

1. "I teach English to two groups." She passes on knowledge, so tanít. The subject is the object, the pupils are dative: Angolt tanítok két csoportnak. Angolt is indefinite, so the verb is indefinite tanítok.
2. "I'm learning to drive." The skill is an action, so it goes in the infinitive after tanul: Vezetni tanulok.
3. "I studied for the theory test all evening." This is the process, not the result, so plain tanul: Egész este tanultam a vizsgára.
4. "I learned the road signs by heart." Now it is done and it stuck, so megtanul: Megtanultam a táblákat. The signs are definite, so the verb is definite.
5. "My instructor taught me to park." The pupil is now the object and the skill is an infinitive, and it worked, so megtanít: Az oktatóm megtanított parkolni.
6. "On Friday I learned that I passed." That "learned" means "found out". It is megtud: Pénteken tudtam meg, hogy átmentem. The time word is in focus, so the prefix moves behind the verb.

Six sentences, four verbs. Of the three English "learns", only one is plain tanul.

Decision table: which verb for which English use

Read the English column for the meaning, not the word. Each row is explained in a section below, with its source.

Tanul: studying, the process

Tanul is the everyday verb for the activity of learning. elon.io lists three uses. It names "an ongoing activity" (kémiát tanul, "study chemistry") and "the acquisition of a skill" (úszni tanul, "learn to swim"). The third is "participation at an institution" (az egyetemen tanul, "study at university").

What you study: accusative or infinitive

A subject is a plain object in the -t case: történelmet tanul. A skill that is an action goes in the infinitive, with the learner as subject of both verbs: vezetni tanul, "learn to drive". The object also sets the conjugation, as on the definite and indefinite conjugation page. elon.io's pair is tanulok egy szabályt, "I'm learning a rule", against tanulom a szabályt, "I'm learning the rule".

A length of time is not an object. In elon.io's Minden este fél órát tanulok, "I study for half an hour every evening", fél órát ends in -t but "does not trigger definite conjugation".

Where you study: a place case

The school is a place, not an object: az egyetemen, az iskolában, a könyvtárban. elon.io's example is Lilla a pécsi egyetemen tanul, "Lilla studies at the University of Pécs". Wiktionary adds a sense "to attend a course", with the teacher in -nál/-nél: Egy jó tanárnál tanulok, "I take lessons with a good teacher".

Who or what you learn from

A source takes -ból/-ből or -tól/-től (elon.io): könyvből tanul, "learn from a book", a kollégájától tanul, "learn from a colleague". The person takes -tól/-től, the "from a person" case on the page about -nál, -hoz and -tól. Wiktionary gives a separate sense for learning from a bad experience, with -ból/-ből. elon.io's example is A hibáinkból tanulva..., "Learning from our mistakes...". A topic, "learn about", often takes -ról/-ről: Sokat tanultunk a tapasztalt szerelőtől a régi motorokról, "We learned a lot from the experienced mechanic about old engines".

Studying for an exam

Wiktionary has a sense for revision. It glosses it "to review materials already learned in order to make sure one does not forget them, usually in preparation for an examination". The event you prepare for takes -ra/-re, as in elon.io's Egy új verset tanulok a pénteki műsorra, "I'm learning a new poem for Friday's performance". So "study for the exam" is a vizsgára tanul.

Angolt tanul or angolul tanul?

This is the one point that catches even advanced learners. elon.io says bare accusative angolt tanul "clearly means 'study/learn English'". Angolul tanul is common in everyday talk for the same thing, but "it can also mean 'study through English'", above all near a school or another subject. A gyerek angolul tanul matematikát means the child learns maths in English. So when a school is in the sentence, use the accusative: magyar nyelvet tanul az iskolában, "learns Hungarian at school".

Tanuló: the pupil

The present participle tanuló is also a noun. Wiktionary glosses it "pupil", "chiefly one under 18, less commonly a university student". For a university student it lists hallgató and egyetemista. Hallgató comes from hallgat, "attend lectures" (see lát or néz).

Megtanul: learning that worked

elon.io says the gap between process (tanul) and result (megtanul) "matters more than the English choice between study and learn". English "learn" can mean either. Hungarian has to choose.

• Egész délután tanultam a verset. I spent the whole afternoon learning the poem. (no claim I know it)
• Megtanultam a verset. I've learned the poem (by heart).
• Tanuld meg ezt a telefonszámot! Memorize this phone number! (elon.io)

With an infinitive, megtanul is "learn how to", and the prefix stays on the finite verb: megtanul úszni. elon.io's example is Néhány hónap alatt megtanulta kezelni az új programot, "In a few months she learned how to use the new program".

The prefix leaves the verb after nem and after a focused word, as described on word order and focus. elon.io marks *Nem megtanultam as wrong. The correct order is Nem tanultam meg. A direct command splits it too: Tanulj meg néhány kifejezést!

Tanít: teaching, and its three frames

English "teach" can take two plain objects: "I teach the children English". Hungarian cannot. elon.io: "Do not mark both learner and subject matter as accusative in the same simple frame." You pick which one is the object, and the other gets a case.

The first frame is the default for school subjects: Wiktionary calls it "the most common argument structure", and elon.io calls it "the more neutral way to name a school subject". The pupils are in the dative, the "to" case. The -ra/-re frame also exists with subjects. Wiktionary's pair is Angolt tanítok a gyerekeknek and Angolra tanítom a gyerekeket. Its alternative glosses are "I teach English to the children" and "I teach the children about English". elon.io describes the -ra/-re partner as the "subject, lesson, or result", and most of its examples are lessons: türelemre, "patience", önálló gondolkodásra, "independent thinking".

The object picks the conjugation

Swapping frames can swap the conjugation, because a different word becomes the object. In Angolt tanítok a gyerekeknek the object is angolt, which has no article, so the verb is indefinite. The dative a gyerekeknek does not count, even with its a. In Angolra tanítom a gyerekeket the object is a gyerekeket, which is definite, so the verb is too. elon.io's pair: tanítok egy új csoportot against tanítom az új csoportot.

Where you teach, and the command form

The school is a place, as with tanul: az egyetemen tanít. Alone, tanít can mean "work as a teacher": Egy időben olyan helyen tanítottam..., "At one point I taught in a place..." (Wiktionary). The command stem is taníts-, not *tanítj-: taníts, tanítsd, tanítson (elon.io). The spelling rule behind it is on the imperative page.

Megtanít, betanít and oktat

Megtanít is to tanít what megtanul is to tanul. Wiktionary lists it as the perfective, and elon.io says it "highlights an achieved result: the learner acquires the skill or lesson". It keeps the same frames and the same prefix rules.

• A gyógytornász újra megtanította járni a beteget. The physiotherapist taught the patient to walk again. (elon.io)
• A NAGYAPJA tanította meg sakkozni. It was his grandfather who taught him chess. (focus moves the prefix)
• Taníts meg egy egyszerű bűvésztrükkre! Teach me a simple magic trick! (elon.io)

Betanít "often means train someone for a task or job" (elon.io).

Oktat is a synonym. Wiktionary glosses it "to educate, instruct, teach" and lists tanít and képez as synonyms. It comes from an obsolete dialect verb okik, "to learn one's lesson", plus the causative -tat, the suffix covered on causative verbs. Wiktionary lists the nouns oktató and oktatás among its derived terms, and elon.io translates oktató as "lecturer". For a primary teacher, tanító, the participle of tanít, also means "primary-school teacher" (elon.io).

Megtud: when "learn" means "find out"

English "learn" has a sense that is not about study at all: "I learned that the shop had closed". None of Wiktionary's four senses of tanul covers it. All four are about knowledge or skill gained by study, lessons or experience. Getting a piece of news is megtud.

• Holnap megtudjuk a pályázat eredményét. Tomorrow we'll learn the result of the application. (elon.io)
• Mikor tudtad meg, hogy felvettek az egyetemre? When did you learn that you'd got into university? (elon.io)

Like the other meg- verbs, it splits after nem, a question word or a focused word. Wiktionary's table shows the pattern nem tud meg, and elon.io marks *Tegnap nem megtudtam as wrong. Wiktionary's synonyms are értesül and tudomására jut. Tudomást szerez, "learn of", is on kap, vesz or szerez. The state that follows, "know", is tud, and its line with ismer is drawn on tud or ismer.

Five mistakes learners make

1. *Tanultam a hírt for "I learned the news". News is found out, not studied: Megtudtam a hírt.
2. *Matematikát tanítok a diákokat. Two accusatives. elon.io's fix: Matematikát tanítok a végzős diákoknak.
3. *A tanár tanít az új szabályt a csoportnak. The object az új szabályt is definite, so the verb must be too: A tanár az új szabályt tanítja a csoportnak (elon.io).
4. *Az egyetemet tanulok Budapesten. A school is a place, not an object: Egy budapesti egyetemen tanulok (elon.io).
5. *Tanítj meg! The command stem is taníts-: Taníts meg! (elon.io).

What this page does not settle

The table covers the uses a learner meets first, not every English phrase with "learn" or "teach". "Teach someone a lesson" in the sense of punishing them is the idiom móresre tanít, which Wiktionary lists but this page does not develop. The line between tanul and megtanul also has a soft edge in the present. A prefixed present often points to the future, as the verbal prefixes page explains, so Megtanulom usually means "I will learn it", not "I am learning it". And outside a school setting, angolul tanul for "learn English" is not wrong: elon.io calls it "frequent". For how to plan the learning itself, see how to learn Hungarian.

Sources and further reading

• elon.io Hungarian verb reference, "tanul: Complete Conjugation and Usage": the process and result contrast, case frames for subject, skill, institution and source, angolt against angolul tanul, betanul, kitanul, eltanul and the mistakes list
• elon.io Hungarian verb reference, "tanít: Complete Conjugation and Usage": the three frames, conjugation by object, the taníts- stem, megtanít, betanít and the mistakes list
• elon.io Hungarian verb reference, "tud: Complete Conjugation and Usage": megtud as "find out, learn a fact" and its word order
• Wiktionary, "tanul", "megtanul" and "tanuló": the four senses of tanul with their cases, and "pupil"
• Wiktionary, "tanít" and "oktat": senses, the usage note on the dative and -ra/-re frames, megtanít, and both etymologies
• Wiktionary, "megtud": "to find out, to become aware of something, to know, to learn", synonyms and the split nem tud meg

Frequently asked questions