# tessék and kérem



## wanipa

Hi to all!

Can someone tell me if tessék and kérem are interchangable?

Nagyon köszönöm!


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## Tina55

Hallo,

„Tessék” hat mehrere Bedeutungen. Wenn du nicht verstehst was dein Sprachpartner sagt, du kannst „Tessék?” als eine kurze Frage benutzen um Wiederholung zu bitten. (= Wie bitte?)

Oder in anderer Situation, wenn du übergibst jemandem ein Ding, du sagst ihm „tessék”. (= Bitte, nehmen Sie!)

Diese Wörter sind vertauschbar nur, wenn du bittest jemanden um einen Gefallen. Aber „tessék” steht mit Infinitiv, z.B. Tessék nekem segíte*ni*! Und du musst das Verb nach „kérem” konjugieren (Imperativ), z.B. Kérem, segít*sen *nekem! (= Bitte helfen Sie mir!)
Beide stehen in der dritte Person.


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## wanipa

Prima Tina!

Danke vielmals!


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## francisgranada

Perhaps, this may help a bit to understand the logic behind:

_Kérem _corresponds to the German _[ich] bitte_, while _tessék _is the  3rd pers. sg. subjunctive of the verb _tetszeni _(_gefallen_). So the usage of _tessék _de facto corresponds to an indirect/polite way of speaking. E.g. in case of Tina's example, instead of the direct imperative _Segítsen nekem!_ (_Helfen Sie mir!_) we can say _Tessék nekem segíteni! _(literally something like *_Es gefalle [Ihnen] mir helfen!_)


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## Zsanna

In most cases (they both have a number of idiomatic usages on their own), they aren't interchangeable, only in the case mentioned above but even that is not as obvious as that...
_Please, help_ could be translated as _*Kérem*, segítsen!_ (1.) or _*Tessék* segíteni! _(2.) but there is a difference in style (even register) between the two.
The first is a polite way to ask for help (could be used towards a stranger or a person above us in the hierarchy/age), the second is an order: friendly (e.g. between equals) just direct or irritated (e.g. when the speaker is above another person in the hierarchy or in terms of age).


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## uress

Hm... Tessék, kérem, segíteni! A very desperated help request or an (very) annoyed demand.


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## Zsanna

uress said:


> Hm... Tessék, kérem, segíteni! A very desperated help request or an (very) annoyed demand.


Indeed. However, it does not really help finding out in what way _tessék_ and _kérem_ are interchangeable because the two go together in this case. 
On the other hand, it illustrates well that we use these two words in a wide range of possibilities.


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