hány

Hány is a Hungarian interrogative determiner meaning “how many.” It is used to ask for a specific count of items that can be numbered, usually before the noun it modifies.

In a typical question, a speaker uses hány followed by a noun to request an exact quantity. Examples include “Hány ember van a teremben?” (How many people are in the room?), “Hány darab alma van?” (How many apples are there?), and “Hány éves vagy?” (How old are you?). The form is generally not declined; it remains han before the noun and is answered with a numeral or a short phrase indicating the count. Other related forms include hányszor (how many times) and hányadik (which ordinal, as in “which day of the month?”).

Hány is contrasted with mennyei forms like mennyi, which asks about amount rather than countable quantity. For uncountable or mass nouns, mennyi is typically used (for example, Mennyi vizet iszol? – How much water do you drink?). When counting items, hány is combined with numerals and sometimes with counting words such as darab (piece) to specify the unit of count, e.g., “Hány darab kártya van?” or simply “Hány kártya van?”

In everyday Hungarian, hány is common in educational, administrative, and social contexts, often appearing in exams, surveys, menus, and informal conversation. Its usage is straightforward: place hány before a countable noun to elicit a precise number.