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Alphabet
cs
dz
dzs
gy
ly
ny
sz
ty
zs
Grammar
Noun phrases
Verbs
T-V distinction
History
Sound correspondences with
other Uralic languages
Other features
Vowel harmony
Orthography
Regulatory body
v
t
e [1]
Syntax
The order of elements in the noun phrase is always determiner, adjective, noun.
Grammatical marking
With a few important exceptions, Hungarian does not have grammatical gender or a grammatical distinction between
animate and inanimate.
Plurality
Hungarian nouns are marked for number: singular or plural.
However, Hungarian uses the plural form sparsely for nouns, i.e. only if quantity is not otherwise marked. Therefore
the plural is not used with numerals or quantity expressions. Examples: t fi ("five boys"); sok fi ("many boys");
fik ("boys").
In phrases that refer to existence/availability of entities, rather than their quantity, the singular is used in Hungarian
(unlike in English): Van szk a szobban "There are chairs in the room", Nincs szk a szobban "There aren't chairs
in the room". (The singular may be considered as partitive here.) Also, product names are usually written out in the
singular, e.g. Lmpa "Lamps".
Hungarian also uses a singular noun when the possessor is plural but the thing possessed is singular, e.g. a fejnk
("our heads", where each person has one head).
The plural noun marker is the suffix -ok/(-ak)/-ek/-k/-k.
Before possessive suffixes, the plural k appears as ai or ei, e.g.:
(laks vs) laksok ("flats/apartments")
(laksom vs) laksaim ("my flats/apartments")
When used predicatively, adjectives are also marked for number (see adjective marking). The suffix is -ak/-ek/-k.
Pairs of body parts
Hungarian uses paired body parts in the singular, even if the pair is meant together, and even if several people's pairs
of body parts are meant. One piece of a pair is described as: "egyik lba" ("one of his legs"). As can be seen, pairs of
body parts are considered as one in Hungarian.
lb leg
lbai
his/her legs
lbuk
lit. "their leg"
in fact: their legs
lbaik
their legs
His/her legs got tangled up during the dance (with his/her own ones).
Tnc kzben
sszegabalyodott a lbuk.
(lit. "their leg")
Note: if one wants to emphasize the third case (the involvement of people's both legs and their multiple relations),
the actual plural number (Tnc kzben sszegabalyodtak a lbaik, lit. "their legs") might also be used, but the above
(singular) option can fully suffice in this case, as well.
Apparent plural endings and homonymy
The letter k also occurs at the end of certain words which thus may appear plural. Examples include emlk ("a [piece
of] memory"), farok ("tail"), kldk ("navel"), knyk ("elbow"), sarok ("corner"/"heel"), pocok ("vole"), pspk
("bishop"), rsek ("archbishop"), szemldk ("eyebrow"), zsk ("sack") etc. The name of the mole used to be
vakondok but this form took on a plural meaning and the word is mostly used today as vakond.
Homonymy may occur between a word in the singular and another in the plural. Examples:
Homonymous word Meaning as a singular form Meaning and parsing as a plural form
farok
"tail"
"bottoms", "buttocks"
far + ok
(not usually used in the plural)
pack
"bloke", "chap"
"blots", "blotches"
paca + k
(cf. a/e/o/ lengthening before suffixes)
telek
"winters"
tl + ek
(cf. vowel-shortening)
Person
Forms for "you"
Beside te (plural ti), which are used informally, there are polite forms for the second person pronouns: n (plural
nk) and maga (plural maguk). n is official and distancing, maga is personal and even intimate and some people
think it has rude connotations. (There are some older forms for you, like kend, which is still used in rural areas.) See
in more detail: T-V distinction for Hungarian.
The polite 2nd person forms n and maga take the grammatical forms of the 3rd person, e.g. for verbs and possessive
suffixes. For example te krsz (second person, informal), but n kr or maga kr (second person, formal), just like
kr (third person).
Impersonal usage
Hungarian does not have a distinct impersonal or generic pronoun (cf. English "one"), but there are two ways of
expressing this:
The 3rd person plural (cf. English "they"), for example Azt mondjk, hogy a lny bolond. ("They say the girl is
crazy.")
The phrase az ember (lit. "the human"), for example Az ember nem is gondolna r. ("You'd never think of it.")
Determiners
Articles
Hungarian has definite and indefinite articles. The definite article, a, changes to az before a vowel. The indefinite
article is egy, an unstressed version of the word for the number "one". Articles are invariable (i.e. not marked for
number, case, etc.)
Demonstrative determiners
The demonstrative determiners (often inaccurately called demonstrative adjectives in English) are ez a/ez az ("this")
and az a/az az ("that").
Numerals
Hungarian numbers follow an extremely regular, decimal format. There are distinct words for 1 to 9, 10, 20, 30, 100,
1000 and 1000000. The tens from 40 to 90 are formed by adding -van/-ven to the digit. When the numbers 10 and 20
are followed by a digit, they are suffixed with -on/-en/-n/-n (on the oblique stem). Compound numbers are formed
simply by joining the elements together. Examples:
t ("five")
tz ("ten")
tizent ("fifteen")
tvent ("fifty-five")
szztvent ("one hundred and fifty-five")
As in English, a number can function as a determiner or as a stand-alone noun. As a noun it can take all the usual
suffixes.
Suffixes used only on numerals and hny ("how many?"):
-odik/(-adik)/-edik/-dik for ordinal numbers, e.g. tdik ("the fifth")
-od/(-ad)/-ed/-d for fractional numbers, e.g. td ("a fifth")
-os/(-as)/-es/-s for adjectival numbers (numeric adjectives), e.g. ts
The numeric adjectives do not have an exact equivalent in English. They are used when English uses a construction
such as "bus number 11": a tizenegyes busz, "room 303": a hromszzhrmas szoba.
Quantity expressions
Suffixes used specifically with numerals, hny ("how many?") and other quantity expressions:
-szor/-szer/-szr for how many times, e.g. tszr ("five times"), sokszor ("many times")
-fle and -fajta for "kind(s) of", e.g. tfajta ("five kinds of")
-an/-en/-n for numeric adverbs
The use of the adverbs suffixed with -an/-en/-n is best illustrated by examples: Sokan voltunk. ("There were a lot of
us.") ten vannak. ("There are 5 of them.") Ketten mentnk. ("Two of us went.")
Possession
Possessive suffixes
In Hungarian, pronominal possession is expressed by suffixes applied to the noun. The following suffixes are used
for singular nouns:
Singular
1st person
Plural
-om/-am/-em/-m/-m -unk/-nk/-nk
a(z n) hzam
a (mi) hzunk
my house
our house
-od/(-ad)/-ed/-d/-d -otok/(-atok)/-etek/-tk/-tok/-tek/-tk
a (te) hzad
a (ti) hzatok
your (singular) house your (plural) house
3rd person
-a/-e/-ja/-je
and
a(z ) hza
2nd person (formal or official) his/her/its house
a(z n) hza
your (formal) house
-uk/-k/-juk/-jk
a(z ) hzuk
their house
ahzuk/aznkhza(!)
your (fml, pl) house.
-aim/-eim/-im
az (n) hzaim
my houses
Plural
-aink/-eink/-ink
a (mi) hzaink
our houses
-aid/-eid/-id
-aitok/-eitek/-itok/-itek
a (te) hzaid
a (ti) hzaitok
your (singular) houses your (plural) houses
3rd person
-ai/-ei/-i
and
a(z ) hzai
2ndperson(formalorofficial) his/her/its houses
a(z n) hzai
your (formal) houses
-aik/-eik/-ik
a(z ) hzaik
their houses
ahzaik/aznkhzai(!)
your (fml, pl) houses
The hza, hzai type (i.e., like the one with a singular possessor) is used in the 3rd person plural except when no
pronoun or only the is present before it, e.g. a szlk hza "the parents' house". In other words, the plural -k of the
3rd person suffix is left from the noun if there is a lexical possessor preceding it.
The definite article is usually used. It can be omitted in a poetic or literary style. It may also be omitted at the
beginning of the sentence in colloquial speech.
The possessor can be emphasized by adding the subject pronoun, e.g. az n hzam ("my house"). In this case the
definite article must be used. For the 3rd person plural, the 3rd person singular pronoun is used, e.g. az hzuk (not
az k hzuk).
Words with -j
Certain consonant-final stems always use the suffixes with -j for a singular noun with a 3rd person singular
possessor, e.g. kalap ("hat"): kalapja ("his/her hat"). This group also uses the -j for a singular noun with a 3rd person
plural possessor, e.g. kalapjuk ("their hat"). The -j is also inserted for a plural noun (with a possessor of whichever
person and number), e.g. kalapjaim ("my hats"), kalapjaid ("your (sg. fam.) hats"), kalapjai ("his hats"), etc.
The two most common types are the following:
Type
Without -j hza
(see above)
Mostly
with -j
my xxx's
your
his/her
our
your
their
hzuk
hzai etc
(kalapuk)
kalapja
kalapjuk
Other examples
kalapjai etc.
There is much variance, but in general, the -j variant is usually safer than the variant without -j, except with the
specific endings listed above. (Usually the variant without -j is more traditional and the one with -j is more recent.)
Where a form applies the j, the other forms will apply it too. An exception is the uncommon type of bart ("friend")
where the -j type is incorrect with a plural noun: bartja ("his/her friend"), bartjuk ("their friend") but bartaik
("their friends"), without j The most common other examples of this type are eld 'predecessor' and utd 'successor'.
Word endings and suffix types
Several endings (c, cs, dzs, sz, z, s, zs, j, ny, ty, gy, h, i.e., affricates, spirants, palatal/ized sounds and h) only allow
the variant without -j in both singular and plural, as shown in the charts above. On the other hand, the words that
always take the -j variant form a rather small group: only those ending in f or ch.
For the other endings, there are no clear-cut rules (so these forms are to be learnt one by one), only regularities exist.
Words with a long vowel or another consonant preceding the ending consonant often take the -j variant, as well as
international words do (e.g. programja, oxignje, fesztivlja "his/her program, oxygen, festival"). Vowel-dropping
and vowel-shortening stems always use the variant without -j, just like most words using -a as linking vowel (e.g.
hzat, hzak "house": hza "his/her house").
The endings v, l, r, m, g, k usually take the variant without -j (e.g. gyereke, asztala "his/her child, table"), but a minority among them take
it (e.g. hangja, dikja "his/her voice, student" but again knyve, szma "his/her book, number").
For words ending in n, p, t, the regularities are basically similar, but there is wide variance. Words ending in -at/-et (a suffix), however,
usually take the variant without -j.
The majority of words ending in b, d use the -j suffix (e.g. darabja, csaldja "his/her/its piece, family" but lba, trde "his/her leg, knee").
Homonymous word
szm
Meaning
Parsing
Meaning
Person Number
szj + m
"my mouth"
hulla + m
"my corpse"
llam
ll + am
"my chin"
ram
r + am
"my price"
perem
per + em
"my lawsuit"
karom
kar + om
"my arm"
erd
er + d
"your strength"
2nd
kacsa
kacs + a
"its tendril"
3rd
vza
vz + a
"its framework"
fnk
fa + nk
"our tree"
1st
aptok
apt + ok
plural
"abbots"
apa + tok
2nd
falatok
falat + ok
plural
"pieces/bites of food"
fal + atok
hullm
szemetek
sttk
ruk
1st
singular
plural
szem+etek "your[pl.]eye[s]"
ru + k
plural
"their price"
"wares, products"
r + uk
3rd
Notes:
A homonymy is also possible between the same possessive ending of two unrelated words, if one ends in a
consonant and the other in a vowel: falunk may be parsed as falu + nk ("our village") or fal + unk ("our wall").
A similar kind of homonymy may arise with vowel-dropping words (see the dolog/dolg- type under Oblique noun
stem). Examples:
Lexeme with vowel-dropping stem
Nominative
Nominative with
possessive suffix
Nominative with
possessive suffix
alom
alma
(litter [of animals]) (his/her/its litter)
alma
(apple)
almja
(his/her/its apple)
rem
(medal)
rme
(his/her medal)
rme
(coin)
rmje
(his/her coin)
halom
(pile, stack)
halma
(its pile/stack)
halma
(halma)
halmja
(his/her halma)
karizom
(arm muscle)
karizma
karizma
(his/her arm muscle) (charisma)
karizmja
(his/her/its charisma)
8
karom
(claw[s])
karma
(its claw[s])
karma
(karma)
karmja
(his/her/its karma)
Note that the first person singular possessive form of hal (fish) is not the above halom but exceptionally halam, cf. a
link vowel.
Examples:
A kiskutya bepiszktotta az almt. (The puppy soiled its litter OR the apple.)
Bedobta az rmt a folyba. (He/she threw his/her medal OR the coin into the river.)
A macsknak fontos a karma. (Its claws OR the karma is/are important for a cat.)
Finally, another kind of homonymy may arise between a noun with a possessive suffix and a verb: hasad "your
stomach (belly)" or "it tears/rips", rad "your price" or "it floods", fogad "your tooth" or "he/she/it
receives/accepts"/"he/she/it bets".
Possessive pronouns
The following pronouns are used to replace singular nouns:
Singular
1st person
az enym
az v
Plural
a mienk/a mink
a tietek/a titek
a maguk
az nk
az vk
Note: Where two variants are given, the one with a long vowel is more literary.
The following pronouns are used to replace plural nouns:
Singular
1st person
az enyim a mieink
3rd person
Plural
az vi
a tieitek
a
maguki
az nki
az vik
Positional suffixes
Hungarian follows a strict logic for suffixes relating to position. The position can be "in", "on" or "by". The direction
can be static (no movement), movement towards or movement away. Combining these gives 9 different options.
Interior
Static position
-ban/-ben
in
laksban
in the flat/apartment
-bl/-bl
out of
laksbl
out of the flat/apartment
Surface
Adjacency
-on/-en/-n/-n
on
lakson
on the flat/apartment
-nl/-nl
by, at
laksnl
by/at the flat/apartment
-ra/-re
onto
laksra
onto the flat/apartment
-hoz/-hez/-hz
to
lakshoz
to the flat/apartment
-rl/-rl
off
laksrl
off the flat/apartment
-tl/-tl
from
lakstl
from the flat/apartment
Note 1: -nl/-nl is also used with the meaning "at the home of" (cf. French chez, German bei).
Note 2: -ban/-ben is usually pronounced in the spoken informal speech without the final n except when followed by
a word beginning with a vowel, thus coinciding with the into-forms.
10
Town/city names
For town/city names, the rules for selecting the right group are as follows:
1. Towns outside the historical Kingdom of Hungary (i.e., towns that don't have a native Hungarian name) use the
-ban/-ben group
2. Most towns within Hungary use the -on/-en/-n/-n group
3. Approx. fifty towns within Hungary use the -ban/-ben group
This group includes all town names ending in -n, -ny and -vros ("city/town"), most with -m, -i and some with
-r. For example Sopronban, Debrecenben; Grdonyban; Dunajvrosban; Esztergomban, Komromban,
Veszprmben; Zamrdiban; Egerben, Gyrben
A few towns within Hungary traditionally use a different ending, -ott/-ett/-tt/-t, for position, see locative case for examples. This locative,
however, always can be replaced by one of the above suffixes. Those towns that can also use the -on/-en/-n/-n group (e.g. Pcsett or Pcsen) use
-ra/-re and -rl/-rl for movement. Gyr, however, where the alternative form is with -ban/-ben, uses -ba/-be and -bl/-bl for movement.
"Surface" cases:
superessive, sublative, delative
(on, onto, off)
counties, provinces
countries
The below cases may exemplify the above tendencies but in actual usage they are not always followed so strictly as
described:
Tajvanon means "on (the island of) Taiwan" but Tajvanban is "in (the country of) Taiwan" (here the usage is
parallel to English) Note: Tajvanon may also refer to the country
Tolnn means "in (the town of) Tolna" but Tolnban is "in the county of Tolna" Note: Tolnban may also refer
to the town
Velencn means "in the Hungarian town of Velence" but Velencben is "in the Italian city of Venice (in
Hungarian: Velence)" Note: Velencben may also refer to the Hungarian town
Insider and outsider usage
There may also be difference between "insider" and "outsider" usage: one may prefer the suffixes expressing the
"interior" relation and the others those expressing the "surface" relation (the difference extends to the suffixes of
static position and those of the two kinds of movement).
In some cases, the local usage is encouraged based on traditional usage in literature and linguistic history, e.g.
Cskszeredban[2] (instead of Cskszeredn) as well as Nagyszombatban (instead of Nagyszombaton, which latter
even coincides with the form "on Holy Saturday"). In other cases, the "outsider" usage is considered more received
or even normative, for example:
General/
Storaljajhelyen
outsider usage (surface)
Balmazjvrosbl
(interior)
11
Case endings
laks - flat/apartment
Suffix
Meaning
Example
Case name
subject
laks
Nominative case
-ot/(-at)/-et/-t/-t
direct object
lakst
Accusative case
-nak/-nek
indirect object
laksnak
to the flat/apartment
Dative case
lakssal
Instrumental-comitative case
-rt
laksrt
Causal-final case
-v/-v (Assim.)
into
lakss
Translative case
-ig
as far as, up to
laksig
Terminative case
-knt
-ul/-l
by way of a flat/apartment
Essive-modal case
-ban/-ben
in
laksban
in the flat/apartment
Inessive case
-on/-en/-n/-n
on
lakson
on the flat/apartment
Superessive case
-nl/-nl
by, at
laksnl
Adessive case
-ba/-be
into
laksba
Illative case
-ra/-re
onto
laksra
Sublative case
-hoz/-hez/-hz
to
lakshoz
to the flat/apartment
Allative case
-bl/-bl
out of
laksbl
Elative case
-rl/-rl
laksrl
Delative case
-tl/-tl
lakstl
Ablative case
Assimilation works with -val/-vel and -v/-v: the initial sound of these suffixes will change to the preceding sound,
if it is a consonant other than v, e.g. laks + -val appears as lakssal. (In words ending in a vowel or v, there is no
change, e.g. sv|val "with the lane", haj|val "with the ship".)
12
Accusative suffix
After -l, -r, -j, -ly, -n, -ny, -s, -sz, -z and -zs, the accusative suffix is usually added directly to the noun rather than
using a link vowel, e.g. lakst. For the other consonants, a link vowel is used.
-l, -r, -j, -ly, -n, -ny,
-s, -sz, -z, -zs
Other consonants
(-b, -c, -cs, -d, -dz, -dzs, -f,
-g,
-gy, -h, -k, -m, -p, -t, -ty, -v)
Relative stem
with accusative
Front
gymlcst ("fruit") gymlcsmet ("my fruit")
(rounded)
gymlcsket ("fruits")
gymlcseimet ("my fruits")
Sometimes the quality of the link vowel of the accusative can differentiate between otherwise homonymous words:
Homonymous
word
in the nominative
fnk
fnkot ("doughnut"):
fnk ("doughnut") + -ot (acc.)
sttk
sttkt ("pumpkin"):
sttket ("your/pl. oven"):
sttk ("pumpkin") + -t (acc.) st ("oven") + -tk (your/pl.) + -et (acc.)
13
Function
Examples
accusative suffix
Notes
If it occurs after a word with or in it, it is more likely to be part of the
stem because such words usually take as linking vowel before the -t, e.g.
kd+t, t+t. (Exceptions include fld+et, knyv+et, tz+et and fl+et.) So
ktet is more likely to be a word on its own than a suffixed form of the
hypothetical noun stem *kt (because its accusative would be probably
*kt+t).
Homonyms: szelet "slice" (nom.) vs. szl+et (shortening the base) "wind" (acc.)
-at
traditional
accusative suffix
Homonyms: llat "animal" (nom.) vs. ll+at "chin" (acc.), falat "a bit of food" (nom.) vs. fal+at "wall" (acc.), fogat "team of horses"
(nom.) vs. fog+at "tooth" (acc.)
Consonant part of the stem
+t
accusative suffix
Homonyms: prt "[political] party" (nom.) vs. pr+t "couple" or "pair" (acc.)
-t, -t
Homonyms:
-t
accusative of a
word ending in
accusative of a
word ending in o
-ot
14
the accusative of a
word ending in a
consonant
Homonymy may also arise between accusative nouns and verbs, e.g. vlaszt may mean "answer" (n, acc.) or "s/he
chooses/elects" and nevet may mean "name" (n, acc., from nv) or "s/he laughs".
The accusative of terem ("room"/"hall") is termet (see vowel-dropping) instead of the regular teremet (which could
come from tr with vowel-shortening, meaning "my square", acc.). On the other hand, teremt means "s/he creates".
Termet is another homonymy as it may be another word in the nominative ("stature"). This latter bunch of
examples shows eloquently that knowing stem types and recognizing them are essential for interpreting a Hungarian
word correctly.
Meaning
Example
Meaning of the
example
"Case" name
or
-nak/-nek
of
(morphologically identical
with the nominative or the
dative case)
laks
or
laksnak
of the flat/apartment
Genitive case
-kpp(en)
as, by way of
lakskpp,
lakskppen
by way of a
flat/apartment, as a
flat/apartment
Formal case
-onknt/(-anknt)/-enknt/-nknt/-nknt per, by
laksonknt
per flat/apartment, by
flat/apartment
Distributive case
-ostul/(-astul)/-estl/-stl/-stul/-stl,
-ostl/(-astl)/-estl/-stl/-stl/-stl
laksostul,
laksostl
Sociative case
-ott/(-att)/-ett/-tt/-t
(Gyr)tt/(Pcs)ett
in Gyr/in Pcs
Locative case
-onta/(-anta)/-ente/-nte
(nap)onta
daily
Distributive-temporal
case
-kor
at six
Temporal case
Notes:
For more examples of the endings, refer to the article List of grammatical cases.
The special status of the genitive case can be illustrated with the following example: "the key of the
flat/apartment" is a laks kulcsa or a laksnak a kulcsa (nominative or dative case). The case marking is on the
possessed object rather than the possessor.
15
Incorrect classifications
The following endings are sometimes counted as cases, but are in fact derivational suffixes, see Adjectives and
adverbs
Suffix
Meaning
Example
"Case" name
-an/-en/-n
(rvid)en
briefly
"Modal-essive case" #1
-lag/-leg
laksilag
-szor/-szer/-szr
"Multiplicative case"
Suffixed forms
alma
"apple"
almt
almk*
almm*
almnak
almval
almrt
almv
almig
almul
almban
almn
almnl
almba
almra
almhoz
almbl
almrl
almtl
krte
"pear"
krtt
krtk*
krtm*
krtnek
krtvel
krtrt
krtv
krtig
krtl
krtben
krtn
krtnl
krtbe
krtre
krthez
krtbl
krtrl
krttl
Oslo
Oslt
Oslk*
Oslm*
Oslnak
Oslval
Oslrt
Oslv
Oslig
Oslul
Oslban
Osln
Oslnl
Oslba
Oslra
Oslhoz
Oslbl
Oslrl
Osltl
Malmt
Malmv
Malmig
Malml
Malm
Malmben Malmn
Malmnl Malmbe
Malmre
The asterisk means that almk/krtk (the plural) and almm/krtm (the possessive forms) can be suffixed further,
e.g. almkat, almknak etc., almmat, almdat, almjt etc., almimat, almidat, almit etc., almmnak, almdnak,
almjnak etc.
Those cases with small letters can be formed, but they are not meaningful, unless figuratively (e. g. Oslk lit. means
"Oslos", but naturally Oslo doesn't have plural, although the case technically can be formed; Oslul means "as an
Oslo", which is also dubious).
The suffix -knt is an exception as it doesn't lengthen the a/e, e.g. almaknt, krteknt. Compounds don't lengthen
the vowel, either, e.g. almal, krtel ("apple/pear juice").
Otherwise, this rule extends to all nouns and adjectives, e.g. Coca-Cola Coca-Colt, Coca-Colnak etc.
Short o and endings only occur with foreign words (like Oslo and Malm above) since Hungarian or
Hungarianized words lengthen these vowels at the end of the word, e.g. eur, metr, vide, sztere, fot, diszk etc.
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a link vowel
Certain back-vowel nouns, e.g. hz ("house"), always use the vowel a as a link vowel where the link vowel is usually
-o/-e/-, except with the superessive case -on/-en/-n/-n.
The link vowel -o/(-a)/-e/- occurs with the following suffixes:
Theoretical:
-ott/(-att)/-ett/-tt/-t for position
This irregularity sometimes help differentiate between otherwise homonymous verbs and nouns:
Homonymous Meaningasan ll
word
astemnoun
Meaningasa
normalverb
chin
fog
he
stands
tooth
he
catches
fal
wall
he
devours
Pluralformof
theastemnoun
llak chins
fogak teeth
falak walls
1stpersonsingular
oftheverb
llok I
stand
hal
fish tr
storage/magazine
he
dies
heopens sth.up
vr
castle
he
waits
zr
lock
he
closes
vrok I wait
zrok I
close
The case of nyl is similar ("rabbit" or "he reaches out") except that it becomes short in the plural as a noun (nyulak,
cf. the ht type) and remains long as a verb (nylok). Beside rak (the plural of the a stem word r, "price") rok also
exists ("ditch"). Finally, beside vgyak ("desires"), vgyok may also occur as a verb ("I desire") although it is
expressed as vgyom in standard Hungarian (cf. -ik verbs).
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Nominative base/stem
(given for comparison)
ht
dolog
("week") ("thing")
t
("lake")
hetek
dolgok
tavak
dolgom
tavam
dolgod
tavad
dolga
tava
Plural
hetnk
dolgunk
tavunk
hetetek
dolgotok
tavatok
hetk
dolguk
tavuk
Accusative
hetet
dolgot
tavat
Distributive
Sociative
hetestl
Distributive-temporal
hetente
Superessive
(hten)
dolgon
tavon
hetes
dolgos
tavas
Derived adjective
dolgostul
tavastul
Note: as with other nouns, the plural and the possessive forms (the first seven rows) are independent of cases so they
can take the suffixes of other cases than the nominative: hetek|bl, dolgom|hoz, dolgaimhoz etc. The forms in the
latter five rows (which have suffixes of certain cases) cannot have more suffixes attached.
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Pronominal forms
Demonstrative pronouns
The demonstrative pronouns are ez ("this") and az ("that"). They can take the full range of case endings. For most
suffixes, preservative consonant assimilation occurs.
Plural
2nd (informal) te
person (formal) maga
(official) n
3rd person
Object
engem mi
minket or bennnket
tged
magt
nt
ti
maguk
nk
titeket or benneteket
magukat
nket
ket
Hence, the English pronoun "you" can have no fewer than thirteen translations in Hungarian.
Stem
-NL/-nl
nl-
nlam
nlad
nla
nlunk
nlatok
nluk
by/at me etc.
-RL/-rl
rl-
rlam
rlad
rla
rlunk
rlatok
rluk
off me etc.
about me etc.
-RA/-re
r- (!)
rm
rd
rnk
rtok
rjuk
onto me etc.
hozztok
hozzjuk to me etc.
rajtatok
rajtuk
rajt- (!)
rajtam
rajtad
rajta
rajtunk
Meaning
on me etc.
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Suffix
Stem
-em/-m
-ed/-d
-val/-VEL
vel-
velem
veled
vele
velnk
veletek
velk
with me etc.
-tl/-TL
tl-
tlem
tled
tle
tlnk
tletek
tlk
-RT
rt-
rtem
rted
rte
rtnk
rtetek
rtk
for me etc.
-nak/-NEK
nek-
nekem
neked
neki
neknk
nektek
nekik
to me etc.
bennk
in me etc.
beld
bel
belnk
beltek
beljk
Meaning
out of me etc.
into me etc.
No personal forms exist for the other suffixes: -v/-v, -ig, -knt, -ul/-l, -kpp(en), -stul/-stl,
-onknt/(-anknt)/-enknt/-nknt/-nknt, -ott/(-att)/-ett/-tt/-t, -onta/(-anta)/-ente/-nte, -kor. Their personal variants
can be only paraphrases (e.g. addig ment, ahol llt "he went as far as him" > " as far as where he stood").
See also the section Overview of personal endings: typical sound elements.
Note:
In the same way as for the cases with personal suffixes, when the postposition (stem) ends in a long vowel, the
3rd person singular has a suffix (see the bolded forms in the last row).
Postpositions in bare (unsuffixed) forms are capitalized.
Postpositions with three-way distinction
under/below
me etc
From ALL
allam
allad
alla
allunk
allatok
alluk
over/above
me etc
FLL
fllem
flled
flle
fllnk
flletek
fllk
next
to/beside me
etc
MELLL
melllem
mellled
mellle
melllnk
mellletek
melllk
in front
of me etc
ELL
ellem
elled
elle
ellnk
elletek
ellk
behind
me etc
MGL
mglem
mgled
mgle
mglnk
mgletek
mglk
between me
(& others) etc
KZL
kzlem
kzled
kzle
kzlnk
kzletek
kzlk
around
me etc
(from/to)
my direction
etc
FELL
fellem
felled
felle
fellnk
felletek
fellk
(At/in) ALATT
alattam
alattad
alatta
alattunk
alattatok
alattuk
To
AL
alm
ald
al
alnk
altok
aljuk
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FLTT
flttem
fltted
fltte
flttnk
flttetek
flttk
MELLETT
mellettem
melletted
mellette
mellettnk
mellettetek
mellettk
ELTT
elttem
eltted
eltte
elttnk
elttetek
elttk
MGTT
mgttem
mgtted
mgtte
mgttnk
mgttetek
mgttk
KZTT or
KZT
kzttem or
kztem
kztted or kzted
kztte or kzte
kzttnk or
kztnk
kzttetek or
kztetek
kzttk or kztk
KRL (!)
krlttem
krltted
krltte
krlttnk
krlttetek
krlttk
FL
flm
fld
fl
flnk
fltek
fljk
MELL
mellm
melld
mell
mellnk
melltek
melljk
EL
elm
eld
el
elnk
eltek
eljk
MG
mgm
mgd
mg
mgnk
mgtek
mgjk
KZ
kzm
kzd
kz
kznk
kztek
kzjk
KR
krm
krd
kr
krnk
krtek
krjk
FEL
felm
feld
fel
felnk
feltek
feljk
UTN
utnam
utnad
utna
utnunk
utnatok
utnuk
instead of
me etc
HELYETT
helyettem
helyetted
helyette
helyettnk
helyettetek
helyettk
NLKL
nlklem
nlkled
nlkle
nlklnk
nlkletek
nlklk
LTAL
ltalam
ltalad
ltala
ltalunk
ltalatok
ltaluk
against
me etc
ELLEN
ellenem
ellened
ellene
ellennk
ellenetek
ellenk
because of
me etc
MIATT
miattam
miattad
miatta
miattunk
miattatok
miattuk
for my purpose
etc
VGETT (never
used as a pronoun)
"according to
me",
in my opinion
etc
SZERINT
szerintem
szerinted
szerinte
szerintnk
szerintetek
szerintk
towards me etc
(figurative)
IRNT
irntam
irntad
irnta
irntunk
irntatok
irntuk
szmomra
szmodra
SZMRA
szmunkra
szmotokra
szmukra
by my help etc
rvemen
rveden
RVN
rvnkn
rveteken
rvkn
segtsgemmel
segtsgeddel
SEGTSGVEL
segtsgnkkel
segtsgetekkel
segtsgkkel
rszemrl
rszedrl
RSZRL
rsznkrl
rszetekrl
rszkrl
Rszre and szmra are often interchangeable. To express sending or giving something (to someone), usually
rszre is preferred. On the other hand, to express the affected party of some perception or judgement (good, bad,
new, shocking, unacceptable etc. for someone), only szmra can be used, as well as when expressing goal,
objective, intention, or other figurative purposes.
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Placeholders in Hungarian
See Placeholder names in Hungarian
As peripheral phenomena, there also exist non-duplicating forms, like e, ezen, eme, azon and ama (the latter two
referring to distant objects), but they are poetic or obsolete (cf. ";yonder"). For example: e hzban = eme hzban =
ebben a hzban ("in this house"). Ezen and azon are used before vowel-initial words, e.g. ezen emberek = ezek az
emberek ("these people"). The duplicating forms (as in the chart above) are far more widespread than these.
External links
HungarianReference.com's section on noun cases [3] Guide to Hungarian noun cases (currently inaccessible)
(Hungarian) Galla utn szabadon j magyar automatikus nyelvtan [4]: jokes on stem words appearing as those
having certain suffixes (used as a source in this article)
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
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