Date and time notation in Hungary

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Date[]

In Hungary, date is traditionally expressed in big-endian form, like ISO 8601. Numeric date elements are followed by a dot. The format yyyy. month d. is commonly used, the name of the month can be abbreviated (standard are ‘jan.’, ‘febr.’, ‘márc.’, ‘ápr.’, ‘máj.’, ‘jún.’, ‘júl.’, ‘aug.’, ‘szept.’, ‘okt.’, ‘nov.’, ‘dec.[1]). Months can also be written using Roman or Arabic numerals.[2] Examples:

  • 1999. augusztus 1.
  • 1999. aug. 1.
  • 1999. 08. 01.
  • 1999. VIII. 1.

As year and day elements in Hungarian are ordinal numbers, they are followed by a dot. However, unless a suffix is added, they are said as cardinal numbers. Also note that stacking of symbols when writing in Hungarian is considered a bad practice, therefore when a suffix is attached to the date using a hyphen, the dot is omitted.

  • 1999. augusztus 1-jén (on August 1, 1999)

A single year is followed by a dot unless it is

  • followed with a suffix ‘1999-ben’ (in 1999)
  • the object of the sentence ‘1999 szép év volt.’ (1999 was a nice year.)
  • followed with a postposition ‘1999 után’ (after 1999)
  • a genitive ‘1999 tele’ (winter of 1999)
  • in parentheses ‘születésének éve (1999)…’ (the year of his/her birth (1999)…)

The dot can also be omitted in other cases such as memorials or book covers.

Monday is the first day of the week.

Time[]

Like in most countries, the 24-hour clock is used in formal or informal and 12-hour clock in informal. The time format is "hh óra mm perc", but the numeric form hh.mm or hh:mm can also be used. Example:

  • 10.35 or 10:35

The following are commonly accepted divisions of the day that can be said before the time:

  • hajnal (dawn) – 1–5 a.m.
  • reggel (morning) – 6–9 a.m.
  • délelőtt (before noon) – 10–11 a.m.
  • délután (afternoon) – 1–5 p.m.
  • este (evening) – 6–10 p.m.
  • éjjel (night) – 11 p.m.-1 a.m.

Additionally, dél (noon) and éjfél (midnight) may be used.

Each hour is divided into four equal periods and are verbally referred to as in the following examples:

  • negyed 8 (quarter 8) – 7:15
  • fél 8 (half 8) – 7:30
  • háromnegyed 8 (three-quarter 8) – 7:45

Combining the above with 5 perc múlva (5 minutes before) or 5 perccel múlt (5 minutes after) is commonly used when asked for the time. Example:

  • 5 perc múlva háromnegyed 8 – 7:40
  • 3 perccel múlt 7 – 7:03

References[]

  1. ^ Osiris Helyesírás, 2006 (ISBN 963-389-541-3)
  2. ^ A magyar helyesírás szabályai. [Budapest]: MTA. 2015. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-963-05-8630-6.
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