tetszett

Tetszett is the past tense form of the Hungarian verb tetszik, meaning to please or to be liked. It is used to say that something pleased someone in the past. In Hungarian, the experiencer (the person who liked something) is expressed in the dative case with a pronoun such as nekem, neked, neki, nekünk, nektek, or nekik.

Common constructions include the thing that was pleasing followed by the dative experiencer. For example: A film tetszett nekem. This means "I liked the film." Another frequent phrasing is Nagyon tetszett nekem, meaning "I really liked it." When the subject is a plural noun, the past form changes: A dalok tetszettek nekik means "The songs pleased them."

Negation is formed with nem: Nem tetszett neki, meaning "He/She didn’t like it." The present tense counterpart is tetszik, used with the same dative experiencer structure (e.g., A film tetszik nekem = I like the film).

Usage notes include that tetszett is commonly found in everyday speech to express personal taste or appreciation, whether about a person, a work of art, a meal, or an experience. While the verb focuses on the thing pleasing, the speaker’s stance is conveyed by the dative pronoun rather than by inflecting the verb for person in the past tense. The form tetszett is versatile for both singular and structured plural subjects through tetszett (singular) and tetszettek (plural).