szeretnének

Szeretnének is the third-person plural conditional form of the Hungarian verb szeret, meaning "to love" or "to like." As a finite verb form it is typically translated as "they would like" and is used to express desire, wish, polite requests attributed to others, or hypothetical situations concerning third-person plural subjects.

Morphologically, szeretnének is built from the verb stem szeret- plus the conditional marker -ne/-na and the third-person plural ending -k (realized here as -nének: szeret + ne + nek). It follows the regular pattern of Hungarian conditional conjugation and participates in vowel harmony and stress rules characteristic of the language.

In use, szeretnének appears in declarative statements and subordinate clauses: for example, "Szeretnének többet tanulni" (They would like to study more). It contrasts with the present-tense third-person plural szeretnek ("they like"), so the presence of the conditional marker -ne changes modality from factual liking to a desire or hypothetical. The conditional can also soften assertions or make reported desires more polite or tentative.

Related forms include szeretnék (I would like), szeretnénk (we would like), and szeretne (he/she/it would like). Understanding szeretnének aids comprehension of nuance in politeness, reported wishes, and conditional constructions in Hungarian.