Greetings
Jó napot kívánok
yoh NA-pot KEE-vah-nok
Good day — the full formal greeting, used with officials and shopkeepers. 'Szia' is the informal one and works in both directions.
Daily life
Lakcímkártya
LAK-tseem-KAR-tya
The address card. Proves your registered Hungarian address and is the document that unlocks the tax number, health card, bank account and school enrolment.
Befogadó nyilatkozat
BEH-fo-ga-doh NYI-lat-ko-zat
The landlord's declaration consenting to your address registration. Without it there is no address card, and some landlords refuse to sign one.
TAJ kártya
toy KAR-tya
Your social security and health card. Employees get one through payroll; without it you pay privately for everything.
Adóazonosító jel
AH-doh-a-zo-no-shee-toh yel
Your tax identification number from NAV. Required before an employer can legally pay you.
Kerület
KEH-rue-let
District. Budapest has 23, written in Roman numerals, and Hungarians identify addresses by number before street. Knowing yours is not optional.
Rezsi
REH-zhee
Utilities. Ask what the rezsi runs in winter before signing a lease — Budapest heating bills vary enormously by building.
Culture
Fürdő
FUER-dur
Thermal bath. Budapest sits on more than a hundred thermal springs and the baths are ordinary weekly infrastructure, not a tourist treat.
Nightlife
Romkocsma
ROM-koch-ma
'Ruin bar' — a bar in a derelict courtyard building, an invention of District VII that became the city's most exported idea.
Social
Egészségedre
EH-gaysh-shay-ged-reh
'To your health' — the toast. Never clink beer glasses; the convention against it is widely observed and worth respecting.
Emergency
112 / 104 / 105 / 107
—
112 for any emergency; 104 ambulance, 105 fire and 107 police also still work as direct lines.
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