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Encyclopedia > Hungarian grammar (noun phrases)
Hungarian language
Alphabet, including ő ű and
cs dz dzs gy ly ny sz ty zs
Phonetics and phonology
Grammar, including
noun phrases and verbs
Regulatory body
Tongue-twisters
English words from Hungarian
Old Hungarian script (runes)
edit

This page is about noun phrases in Hungarian grammar. The Hungarian language is a Finno-Ugric language spoken in Hungary and in the adjacent states of Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia (to all of which Hungary had to cede territories after World War I). ... The Hungarian alphabet is an extension of the Roman alphabet. ... The double acute accent ( ˝ ) is a diacritic mark of the latin script used primarily in written Hungarian. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Linguistics & Pronunciation Dz is the seventh letter of the Hungarian alphabet. ... Dzs is a trigraph in the modern Hungarian alphabet that is used to indicate the sound . ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... This article deals with the phonology and the phonetics of the Hungarian language. ... Hungarian grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of the Hungarian language, a Finno-Ugric language spoken in Hungary and in adjacent areas of Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia (all territories lost after World War I). ... The Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Nyelvtudományi Intézete, that is, Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, was founded in 1949. ... // List of tongue-twisters in English Rhymes and poems Sarah, Sarah, sits in her Chevrolet. ... This is a list of English words of Hungarian origin: biro  From Bíró. ... Hungarian runes Hungarian Runes (Székely rovásírás in Hungarian; also called rovás) is a type of runic writing system used by the Magyars prior to 1000 AD. The first Catholic king of Hungary, St. ... In linguistics, a noun phrase is a phrase whose Head is a noun. ... Hungarian grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of the Hungarian language, a Finno-Ugric language spoken in Hungary and in adjacent areas of Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia (all territories lost after World War I). ...

Contents


Syntax

The order of elements in the noun phrase is always determiner, adjective, noun. Determiners are words which quantify or identify nouns. ...


Grammatical marking

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: öt fiú ("five boys"); sok fiú ("many boys"); fiúk ("boys").


In phrases that refer to existence/availability of entities, rather than their quantity, the singular is used in Hungarian (unlike in English): Van szék a szobában "There are chairs in the room", Nincs szék a szobában "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, eg Lámpa "Lamps". The basic meaning of the Partitive case is partialness, without result or without specifying identity. In the Finnish language, its used to express unknown identities and irresultative actions. ...


Hungarian also uses a singular noun when the possessor is plural but the thing possessed is singular, eg a fejünk ("our heads", where each person has one head).


The plural noun marker is the suffix -ok/(-ak)/-ek/-ök/-k. Look up Plural on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. ...


Before possessive suffixes, the plural k appears as i, eg:

  • (lakás vs) lakások ("flats /apartments")
  • (lakása vs) lakásai ("his/her flats /apartments")

When used predicatively, adjectives are also marked for number (see adjective marking). The suffix is -ak/-ek/-k. Hungarian grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of the Hungarian language, a Finno-Ugric language spoken in Hungary and in adjacent areas of Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia (all territories lost after World War I). ...


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. To speak about one piece of a pair, the word fél ("half") is used. As can be seen, pairs of body parts are considered as one in Hungarian.

láb – leg Singular possessor Plural possessor
Singular possession lába
lit. "his/her leg"
in fact: his/her legs
lábuk
lit. "their leg"
in fact: their legs
Plural possession lábai (?)
his/her legs
lábaik (?)
their legs

Note the number of the noun in the following examples:

Tánc közben összegabalyodott a lába.
(lit. "his/her leg")
His/her legs got tangled up during the dance (with his/her own ones).
Tánc közben összegabalyodott a lábuk.
(lit. "their leg")
Their legs got tangled up during the dance.
  1. People's own legs got tangled up – or
  2. People's legs got mutually tangled up with each other's, affecting at most one leg per person – or
  3. People's both legs got tangled up whether with their own, their partner's or other people's legs. In other words, there remained probably no leg without having gotten tangled up.

Note: if one wants to emphasize the third case (the involvement of people's both legs and their multiple relations), the actual plural number (Tánc közben összegabalyodtak a lábaik, lit. "their legs") might also be used, but the above (singular) option can fully suffice in this case, as well.


Person

Forms for "you"

Beside te (plural ti), which are used informally, there are polite forms for the second person pronouns: ön (plural önök) and maga (plural maguk). Ön 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. In sociolinguistics, a T-V distinction describes the situation wherein a language, unlike current English, has pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, or insult toward the addressee. ...


The polite 2nd person forms ön and maga take the grammatical forms of the 3rd person, eg for verbs and possessive suffixes. For example te kérsz (second person, informal), but ön kér or maga kér (second person, formal), just like ő kér (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: In casual English, the second person pronoun you often takes on the additional role of a generic pronoun. ...

  • The 3rd person plural (cf English "they"), for example Azt mondják, hogy a lány bolond. ("They say the girl is crazy.")
  • The phrase az ember (lit. "the human"), for example Az ember nem is gondolna rá. ("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 (ie not marked for number, case, etc.)


Demonstrative determiners

The demonstrative determiners (often inaccurately called demonstrative adjectives in English) are ez a ("this") and az a ("that").


Numerals

Hungarian numbers follow an extremely regular, decimal format. There are distinct words for 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/-ön/-n (on the oblique stem). Compound numbers are formed simply by joining the elements together. Examples:

  • öt ("five")
  • tíz ("ten")
  • tizenöt ("fifteen")
  • ötvenöt ("fifty-five")
  • százötvenöt ("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. Determiners are words which quantify or identify nouns. ...


Suffixes used only on numerals and hány ("how many?"):

  • -odik/(-adik)/-edik/-ödik for ordinal numbers, eg ötödik ("the fifth")
  • -od/(-ad)/-ed/-öd for fractional numbers, eg ötöd ("a fifth")
  • -os/(-as)/-es/-ös for adjectival numbers (numeric adjectives), eg ötös

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 háromszázhármas szoba.


Quantity expressions

Suffixes used specifically with numerals, hány ("how many?") and other quantity expressions:

  • -szor/-szer/-ször for how many times, eg ötször ("five times"), sokszor ("many times")
  • -féle and -fajta for "kind(s) of", eg ötfajta ("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.") Öten vannak. ("There are 5 of them.") Ketten mentünk. ("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 Plural
1st person -om/(-am)/-em/-öm/-m
az (én) lakásom
my flat /apartment
-unk/-ünk/-nk
a (mi) lakásunk
our flat /apartment
2nd person (informal) -od/(-ad)/-ed/-öd/-d
a (te) lakásod
your (singular) flat /apartment
-otok/(-atok)/-etek/-ötök/-tok/-tek/-tök
a (ti) lakásotok
your (plural) flat /apartment
3rd person
and
2nd person (formal or official)
-a/-e/-ja/-je
a(z ő) lakása
his/her/its flat /apartment
a(z ön) lakása
your (formal) flat /apartment
-uk/-ük/-juk/-jük
a(z ő) lakásuk
their flat/apartment
a lakásuk / az önök lakása (!)
your (fml, pl) flat/apt.

The following suffixes are used for plural nouns:

  Singular Plural
1st person -aim/-eim/-im
az (én) lakásaim
my flats /apartments
-aink/-eink/-ink
a (mi) lakásaink
our flats /apartments
2nd person (informal) -aid/-eid/-id
a (te) lakásaid
your (singular) flats /apartments
-aitok/-eitek/-itok/-itek
a (ti) lakásaitok
your (plural) flats /apartments
3rd person
and
2nd person (formal or official)
-ai/-ei/-i
a(z ő) lakásai
his/her/its flats /apartments
a(z ön) lakásai
your (formal) flats/apts
-aik/-eik/-ik
a(z ő) lakásaik
their flats /apartments
a lakásaik / az önök lakásai (!)
your (fml, pl) flats/apts

The lakása, lakásai type (ie, like the one with a singular possessor) is used in the 3rd person plural except when no pronoun or only the ő is present before it, eg a szülők lakása "the parents' flat /apartment". 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, eg az én lakásom ("my flat /apartment"). In this case the definite article must be used. For the 3rd person plural, the 3rd person singular pronoun is used, eg az ő lakásuk (not az ők lakásuk).


Words with -j

Certain consonant-final stems always use the suffixes with -j for a singular noun with a 3rd person singular possessor, eg kalap ("hat"): kalapja ("his/her hat"). This group also uses the -j for a singular noun with a 3rd person plural possessor, eg kalapjuk ("their hat"). The -j is also inserted for a plural noun (with a possessor of whichever person and number), eg kalapjaim ("my hats"), kalapjaid ("your (sg. fam.) hats"), kalapjai ("his hats"), etc.


The two most common types are the following:

Type his/her xxx their xxx his/her xxx's Other examples
Without -j
(see above)
lakása lakásuk lakásai (all words with
c cs dzs sz z s zs j ny ty gy h)
× × ×
Mostly
with -j
× kalapuk × hang, papír, program
kalapja kalapjuk kalapjai

The forms in the third column (lakásai) represent the other persons as well, because their declension is formed by the same pattern: lakásaim, lakásaid, lakásai, lakásaink, lakásaitok, lakásaik.


Examples for other (irregular) patterns:

(a) szappana szappanuk szappanai
?szappanja ?szappanjuk ?szappanjai
(b) lexikona lexikonuk lexikonai krém
lexikonja lexikonjuk lexikonjai
(c) × paduk padai
padja padjuk padjai
(d) × ?kabátuk kabátai
kabátja kabátjuk kabátjai
(e) × × barátai
barátja barátjuk × (!)
(f) × ?boltuk × fájl
boltja boltjuk boltjai

As it is shown, there is much variance, but in general, the -j variant is usually safer than the variant without -j among words of this type. (Usually the variant without -j is more traditional and the one with -j is more recent.) An exception is the infrequent type of barát ("friend") where the -j type is incorrect with a plural noun.


Word endings and suffix types

Several endings (c, cs, dzs, sz, z, s, zs, j, ny, ty, gy, h, ie, 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 (eg programja, oxigénje, fesztiválja "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 (eg házat, házak "house": háza "his/her house").

  • The endings v, l, r, m, g, k usually take the variant without -j (eg gyereke, asztala "his/her child, table"), but a minority among them take it (eg hangja, diákja "his/her voice, student" but again nyve, száma "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 (eg darabja, családja "his/her/its piece, family" but lába, térde "his/her leg, knee").

Possessive construction with 2 nouns

There are 2 possible forms for a possessive construction with 2 nouns. In both of them the noun which is possessed takes the 3rd person possessive suffix.

  1. The possessor is an unsuffixed noun, eg István lakása ("István's flat /apartment")
  2. The possessor is a noun suffixed with -nak/-nek and the possessed noun is preceded by a/az, eg Istvánnak a lakása ("István's flat /apartment")

The first form is used as default and the second is used to emphasize the possessor or for clarity. It also enables the possessor to be moved within the sentence, eg Ennek a lakásnak sehogy se találom a kulcsát ("I can't possibly find the key of this flat/apartment.") Note the sehogy se találom ("I can't possibly find") wedged in between the parts of the possessive structure.


If the 3rd person plural possessor is a lexical word, not a pronoun (thus the plurality is marked on it), the possession will be marked like the 3rd person singular: a szülők lakása (not a szülők lakásuk) ("the parents' flat/apartment"). In other words, the plurality of the 3rd person plural possession is only marked once: either on the possessor (in the case of lexical words) or on the possession (in the case of pronouns), cf az ő lakásuk (above).


Possessive pronouns

The following pronouns are used to replace singular nouns:

  Singular Plural
1st person az enyém a mienk /a miénk
2nd
person
(informal)
(formal)
(official)
a tied /a tiéd
a magáé
az öné
a tietek /a tiétek
a maguké
az önöké
3rd person az övé az övék
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 Plural
1st person az enyéim a mieink
2nd
person
(informal)
(formal)
(official)
a tieid
a magáéi
az önéi
a tieitek
a magukéi
az önökéi
3rd person az övéi az övéik

-é/-éi to replace possessed noun

The suffixes -é/-éi are used to express possession when the noun is not stated:

  • Istváné: "Istvan's", for singular noun: "the thing belonging to Istvan",
  • Istvánéi: "Istvan's", for plural noun: "the things belonging to Istvan".

Hence comes the unusual vowel sequence: fiaiéi, which means "those belonging to his/her sons". Fia- (his/her son) -i- (several sons) -é- (belonging to) -i (several possessions).


The suffixes are also used to form the question word kié ("whose?").


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 Surface Adjacency
Static position -ban/-ben
in
lakásban
in the flat /apartment
-on/-en/-ön/-n
on
lakáson
on the flat /apartment
-nál/-nél
by, at
lakásnál
by /at the flat /apartment
Movement towards -ba/-be
into
lakásba
into the flat /apartment
-ra/-re
onto
lakásra
onto the flat /apartment
-hoz/-hez/-höz
to
lakáshoz
to the flat /apartment
Movement away -ból/-ből
out of
lakásból
out of the flat /apartment
-ról/-ről
off
lakásról
off the flat /apartment
-tól/-től
from
lakástól
from the flat /apartment

Note 1: -nál/-nél 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, thus coinciding with the into-forms.


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 (ie, towns that don't have a native Hungarian name) use the -ban/-ben group
  2. Most towns within Hungary use the -on/-en/-ön/-n group
  3. Approx. fifty towns within Hungary use the -ban/-ben group
    • This group includes all town names ending in -n, -ny and -város ("city/town"), most with -m, -i and some with -r. For example Sopronban, Debrecenben; Gárdonyban; Dunaújvárosban; Esztergomban, Komáromban, Veszprémben; Zamárdiban; Egerben, Győrben

A few towns within Hungary traditionally use a different ending, -ott/-ett/-ött/-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/-ön/-n group (eg Pécsett or Pécsen) use -ra/-re and -ról/-ről for movement. Győr, however, where the alternative form is with -ban/-ben, uses -ba/-be and -ból/-ből for movement. The Kingdom of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyar Királyság) is the name of a multiethnic kingdom that existed in Central Europe from 1000 to 1918. ... Locative is a case which indicates a location. ...


Differentiating place names with suffix groups

The difference of the two suffix group may carry a difference in meaning:

superessive, sublative, delative
(on, onto, off)
inessive, illative, elative
(in, into, out of)
  • most towns/cities in Hungary
  • islands
  • towns/cities in other countries than Hungary
  • some towns/cities in Hungary
  • counties, provinces
  • countries

Examples: The Superessive case is a grammatical declension indicating location on top of something. ... This case in Hungarian language can express the destination of the movement, originally to the surface of something (eg. ... The delative case in the Hungarian language can originally express the movement from the surface of something (eg. ... Inessive case is a locative grammatical case. ... Illative case in the Finno-Ugric languages Illative is, in the Finnish language, Estonian language and the Hungarian language, the third of the locative cases with the basic meaning of into (the inside of). An example from Hungarian would be a házba (into the house). ... Elative is a locative case with the basic meaning out of. In Finnish elative is typically formed by adding sta/stä, in Estonian - st to the genitive stem. ...

  • Tajvanon means "on (the island of) Taiwan" but Tajvanban is "in (the country of) Taiwan" (here the usage is parallel to English)
  • Tolnán means "in (the town of) Tolna" but Tolnában is "in the county of Tolna"
  • Velencén means "in the Hungarian town of Velence" but Velencében is "in the Italian city of Venice (in Hungarian: Velence)"

Tolna is the name of: an administrative county (comitatus or megye) in present Hungary, an administrative county in the former Kingdom of Hungary, a town in Hungary. ... Tolna is the name of a county (megye) in Hungary. ... Velence is a town in the county of Fejér. ... Location within Italy Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venexia in the local dialect), the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto and of the province of Venice, 45°26′N 12°19′E, population 271,663 (census estimate January 1, 2004). ...

Cases and other noun suffixes

A note on terminology

The concept of grammatical cases was first used in the description of Sanskrit and Latin grammar, which are inflected languages. Over the centuries the terminology was also used to describe non-Indo-European languages, with very different grammatical structures from Indo-European languages. Some linguists believe that the concept does not fit agglutinative languages very well. Rather than using the "case" paradigm and terminology for describing Hungarian grammar, they prefer to use the terms "(case) suffixes" and "endings". Despite these opinions, nowadays the term "case" is used by most Hungarian linguists. In linguistics, declension is a feature of inflected languages. ... Inflection or inflexion refers to a modification or marking of a word (or more precisely lexeme) so that it reflects grammatical (i. ... It has been suggested that Agglutination be merged into this article or section. ...


The criterion for an ending to be a case (according to today's generative linguistic grammars of Hungarian) is that a word with that ending can be a compulsory argument of a verb. This difference is usually unimportant for average learners of the language. Generative linguistics is a school of thought within linguistics that makes use of the concept of a generative grammar. ... A syntactic verb argument, in linguistics, is a phrase that appears in a relationship with the verb in a proposition. ...


However, it is useful to know that only actual cases can follow other suffixes of the word (such as the plural or the possessive suffix) and the other noun endings can only be added to absolute stems. For example, lakás|om|mal exists ("with my flat/apartment"), but *lakás|om|ostul doesn't.


Case endings

lakás - flat /apartment
Suffix Meaning Example Meaning of the example Case name
subject lakás flat /apartment (as a subject) Nominative case
-ot/(-at)/-et/-öt/-t direct object lakást flat /apartment (as an object) Accusative case
-nak/-nek indirect object lakásnak to the flat /apartment Dative case
-val/-vel (Assim.) with lakással with the flat /apartment Instrumental-comitative case
-ért for, for the purpose of lakásért for the flat /apartment Causal-final case
-vá/-vé (Assim.) into lakássá [turn] into a flat /apartment Translative case
-ig as far as, up to lakásig as far as the flat /apartment Terminative case
-ként as, in the capacity of lakásként in the capacity of a flat /apartment, as a flat /apartment Essive-formal case
-ul/-ül by way of (less frequent) lakásul by way of a flat /apartment Essive-modal case
-ban/-ben in lakásban in the flat /apartment Inessive case
-on/-en/-ön/-n on lakáson on the flat /apartment Superessive case
-nál/-nél by, at lakásnál by /at the flat /apartment Adessive case
-ba/-be into lakásba into the flat /apartment Illative case
-ra/-re onto lakásra onto the flat /apartment Sublative case
-hoz/-hez/-höz to lakáshoz to the flat /apartment Allative case
-ból/-ből out of lakásból out of the flat /apartment Elative case
-ról/-ről off, about, concerning lakásról off the flat /apartment
about /concerning the flat /apartment
Delative case
-tól/-től from, away from lakástól (away) from the flat /apartment Ablative case

Assimilation works with -val/-vel and -vá/-vé: the initial sound of these suffixes will change to the preceding sound, if it is a consonant other than v, eg lakás + -val appears as lakással. (In words ending in a vowel or v, there is no change, eg sáv|val "with the lane", hajó|val "with the ship".) The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun. ... The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a verb. ... The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. ... Assimilation is a regular and frequent sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. ... This case in Hungarian language contains the Instrumental case and the Comitative case at the same time. ... This case in Hungarian language combines the Causal case and the Final case: it can express the cause of emotions (eg. ... Assimilation is a regular and frequent sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. ... This declension (case) indicates a change in state of a noun, with the general sense of becoming X or change to X. In the Finnish language, this is the counterpart of the Essive case, with the basic meaning of a change of state. ... In morphology, the terminative case is a case that indicates to what point; where something ends. ... In Hungarian language this case combines the Essive case and the Formal case, and it can express the position, task, state (eg. ... This case in Hungarian language can express the state, capacity, task in which somebody is or which somebody has (Essive case, eg. ... Inessive case is a locative grammatical case. ... The Superessive case is a grammatical declension indicating location on top of something. ... In the Finnish language, Estonian language and Hungarian language the adessive case is the fourth of the locative cases with the basic meaning of on. For example, Estonian laud (table) and laual (on the table), Hungarian asztal and asztalon (on the table). ... Illative case in the Finno-Ugric languages Illative is, in the Finnish language, Estonian language and the Hungarian language, the third of the locative cases with the basic meaning of into (the inside of). An example from Hungarian would be a házba (into the house). ... This case in Hungarian language can express the destination of the movement, originally to the surface of something (eg. ... In the Finnish language, the Allative case is the fifth of the locative cases, with the basic meaning of onto. Its ending is -lle, for example pöytä (table) and pöydälle (onto the top of the table). ... Elative is a locative case with the basic meaning out of. In Finnish elative is typically formed by adding sta/stä, in Estonian - st to the genitive stem. ... The delative case in the Hungarian language can originally express the movement from the surface of something (eg. ... For the physical process, see ablation. ...


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, eg lakást. For the other consonants, a link vowel is used.

-l, -r, -j, -ly, -n, -ny,
-s, -sz, -z, -zs
asztalt, embert, bajt, súlyt, telefont, lányt,
lakást, buszt, pénzt, rizst
etc
Other consonants
(-b, -c, -cs, -d, -dz, -dzs, -f, -g,
-gy, -h, -k, -m, -p, -t, -ty, -v
)
darabot, lábat, ebet, köböt
padot, holdat, ebédet, ködöt

etc

The accusative suffix after other suffixes

As shown in the above chart, -ot/(-at)/-et/-öt/-t is the accusative suffix for nouns with no other suffix. However, if the accusative suffix is added to a relative stem, that is, to a noun which already has another suffix (ie a plural or possessive suffix), -at/-et is used. Examples:

  Absolute stem
with accusative
Relative stem
with accusative
Back ablakot ("window") ablakomat ("my window")

ablakokat ("windows")
ablakaimat ("my windows")

Front
(rounded)
gyümölcsöt ("fruit") gyümölcsömet ("my fruit")

gyümölcsöket ("fruits")
gyümölcseimet ("my fruits")

Sometimes the quality of the link vowel of the accusative can differentiate between otherwise homonymous words: A homonym is one of a group of two or more words that have the same phonetic form (i. ...

Homonymous word
in the nominative
The word as an absolute stem
with accusative
The word as a relative stem
with accusative
fánk fánkot ("doughnut"):
fánk ("doughnut") + -ot (acc.)
fánkat ("our tree"):
fa ("tree") + -nk ("our") + -at (acc.)
sütőtök sütőtököt ("pumpkin"):
sütőtök ("pumpkin") + -öt (acc.)
sütőtöket ("your/pl. oven"):
sütő ("oven") + -tök (your/pl.) + -et (acc.)

Accusative without marking

The accusative can be expressed without the -t morpheme after the first and second person singular possessive suffixes. For example:

  • Látom a kalapod. or Látom a kalapodat. "I [can] see your hat."
  • Látod a kalapom. or Látod a kalapomat. "You [can] see my hat."

Other noun endings

Suffix Meaning Example Meaning of the example "Case" name

or
-nak/-nek
of
(morphologically identical with the nominative or the dative case)
lakás
or
lakásnak
of the flat /apartment Genitive case
-képp(en) as, by way of lakásképp, lakásképpen by way of a flat /apartment, as a flat /apartment Formal case
-onként/(-anként)/-enként/-önként/-nként per, by lakásonként per flat /apartment, by flat /apartment Distributive case
-ostul/(-astul)/-estül/-östül/-stul/-stül,
-ostól/(-astól)/-estől/-östől/-stól/-stől
together with (restricted in use) lakásostul, lakásostól together with the flat /apartment Sociative case
-ott/(-att)/-ett/-ött/-t in (only for some Hungarian town/city names) (Győr)ött in Győr Locative case
-onta/(-anta)/-ente/-önte every xxx (only for time-related words) (nap)onta daily Distributive-temporal case
-kor at (only for time-related words) (hat)kor at six Temporal case

Notes: The genitive case is a grammatical case that indicates a relationship, primarily one of possession, between the noun in the genitive case and another noun. ... This case in Hungarian language can express the manner when something happens to each member of a set one by one (eg. ... This case in Hungarian language can express the person in whose company (cf. ... Győr listen [▶]help (German: Raab, Slovak: Ráb) is the most important city of Northwest-Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron county and lies on one of the important roads of Central Europe, halfway between Budapest and Vienna. ... Locative is a case which indicates a location. ... This case in Hungarian language can express how often something happens (eg. ... The temporal case in morphology is used to indicate a time. ...

  • 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 lakás kulcsa or a lakásnak a kulcsa (nominative or dative case). The case marking is on the possessed object rather than the possessor.

This is a list of cases as they are used by various inflectional languages that have declension. ...

Incorrect classifications

The following endings are sometimes counted as cases, but are in fact derivational suffixes, see Adjectives and adverbs Hungarian grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of the Hungarian language, a Finno-Ugric language spoken in Hungary and in adjacent areas of Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia (all territories lost after World War I). ...

Suffix Meaning Example Meaning of the example "Case" name
-an/-en/-n (rövid)en briefly "Modal-essive case" #1
-lag/-leg lakásilag as far as a flat/apartment is concerned "Modal-essive case" #2
-szor/-szer/-ször (három)szor three times "Multiplicative case"

Slight noun irregularities

a link vowel

Certain back-vowel nouns, eg ház ("house"), always use the vowel a as a link vowel where the link vowel is usually -o/-e/-ö, except with the superessive case -on/-en/-ön/-n.


The link vowel -o/(-a)/-e/-ö occurs with the following suffixes:

  • -ok/(-ak)/-ek/-ök/-k for noun plurals, eg házak ("houses")
  • -om/(-am)/-em/-öm/-m for 1st singular possessive, eg házam ("my house")
  • -od/(-ad)/-ed/-öd/-d for 2nd singular possessive, eg házad ("your (singular) house")
  • -otok/(-atok)/-etek/-ötök/-tok/-tek/-tök for 2nd plural possessive, eg házatok ("your (plural) house")
  • -ot/(-at)/-et/-öt/-t for accusative case, eg házat ("house")
  • -onként/(-anként)/-enként/-önként/-nként, eg házanként ("per house")
  • -ostul/(-astul)/-estül/-östül/-stul/-stül, eg házastul ("together with the house")
  • -odik/(-adik)/-edik/-ödik for ordinal numbers, eg nyolcadik ("the eighth")
  • -od/(-ad)/-ed/-öd for fractional numbers, eg nyolcad ("an eighth")
  • -os/(-as)/-es/-ös for adjectival numbers, eg nyolcas ("number eight")
  • -onta/(-ante)/-ente/-önte for distributive occasions, eg nyaranta ("every summer", from nyár "summer")

Theoretical:

  • -ott/(-att)/-ett/-ött/-t for position

Oblique noun stem

Some nouns have a second stem which is used with certain suffixes. This is most commonly derived from the main stem by shortening or elision of the final vowel. A few nouns insert the letter "v" to derive the oblique stem.


It is used with the following suffixes:

Nominative base/stem
(given for comparison)
hét
("week")
dolog
("thing")
tó
("lake")
Plural hetek dolgok tavak
Possessive 1st person singular hetem dolgom tavam
2nd person singular heted dolgod tavad
3rd person singular hete dolga tava
1st person plural hetünk dolgunk tavunk
2nd person plural hetetek dolgotok tavatok
3rd person plural hetük dolguk tavuk
Accusative hetet dolgot tavat
Distributive hetenként dolgonként tavanként
Sociative hetestül dolgostul tavastul
Distributive-temporal hetente × ×
Superessive (héten) dolgon tavon

The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a verb. ... This case in Hungarian language can express the manner when something happens to each member of a set one by one (eg. ... This case in Hungarian language can express the person in whose company (cf. ... This case in Hungarian language can express how often something happens (eg. ... The Superessive case is a grammatical declension indicating location on top of something. ...

Stem with -on/-en/-ön/-n

For -on/-en/-ön/-n, the vowel-shortening base uses the nominative stem, eg héten, but the other types (vowel-dropping and -v- bases) use the oblique stem, eg dolgon, tavon, as it is shown in the examples above.


Also, the back-vowel nouns which use an a link vowel have o as the link vowel instead, eg házon ("on the house").


As noted above, when it is added to tíz ("ten") and to húsz ("twenty") to form compound numbers, eg tizenegy ("eleven"), huszonegy ("twenty-one"), these vowel-shortening bases use the oblique stem.


Differentiating -an/-en from -on/-en/-ön/-n

The suffix -an/-en, used with numbers and adjectives, is not to be confused with the above suffix -on/-en/-ön/-n. Their vowel can only be a or e, even on words which would normally use o or ö: cf. ötön (on the number five) and öten (numbering five), haton and hatan (for the latter form, see Quantity expressions).


Order of noun suffixes

Where more than one type of noun suffix occurs, the plural suffix is first (normally -k but -i with possessives). The possessive suffix follows this and the case suffix is last.


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. Assimilation is a regular and frequent sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. ...


Subject and object pronouns

Pronouns exist in subject (nominative) and object (accusative) forms.


Because the verb suffix is marked for both subject and object, the pronouns are not usually used, i.e. it is a pro-drop language. The pronouns are used for contrast or emphasis or when there is no verb. A pro-drop language (from pronoun-dropping) is a language where pronouns can be deleted when pragmatically inferable. ...

  Singular Plural
Subject Object Subject Object
1st person én engem mi minket or bennünket
2nd
person
(informal)
(formal)
(official)
te
maga
ön
téged
magát
önt
ti
maguk
önök
titeket or benneteket
magukat
önöket
3rd person ő őt ők őket

Hence, the English pronoun "you" can have no less than 13 translations in Hungarian.


Cases with personal suffixes

For the other forms which are listed above as cases, the equivalent of a pronoun is formed using a stem derived from the suffix, followed by the personal suffix. For example, benned ("in you") or for emphasis tebenned ("in you") has the stem benn- which is derived from the front variant of the position suffix -ban/-ben.


Note: When the stem ends in a long vowel, the 3rd person singular has a ∅ suffix.


maga and ön do not use these forms. They are conjugated like nouns with the case suffixes, eg magában, önben.


Suffixes that use a back vowel stem:

Suffix Stem -am/-m -ad/-d -a/-ja -unk/-nk -atok/-tok -uk/-juk Meaning
-NÁL/-nél nál- nálam nálad nála nálunk nálatok náluk by/at me etc
-RÓL/-ről ról- rólam rólad róla rólunk rólatok róluk off me etc
about me etc
-RA/-re rá- (!) rám rád ránk rátok rájuk onto me etc
-HOZ/-hez/-höz hozzá- (!) hozzám hozzád hozzá hozzánk hozzátok hozzájuk to me etc
-on/-en/-ön/-n rajt- (!) rajtam rajtad rajta rajtunk rajtatok rajtuk on me etc

Suffixes that use a front vowel stem:

Suffix Stem -em/-m -ed/-d -e/-je -ünk/-nk -etek/-tek -ük/-jük Meaning
-val/-VEL vel- velem veled vele velünk veletek velük with me etc
-tól/-TŐL től- tőlem tőled tőle tőlünk tőletek tőlük (away) from me etc
-ÉRT ért- értem érted érte értünk értetek értük for me etc
-nak/-NEK nek- nekem neked neki nekünk nektek nekik to me etc
-ban/-BEN benn- (!) bennem benned benne bennünk bennetek bennük in me etc
-ból/-BŐL belől- (!) belőlem belőled belőle belőlünk belőletek belőlük out of me etc
-ba/-BE belé- (!) belém beléd belé belénk belétek beléjük into me etc

No personal forms exist for the other suffixes: -vá/-vé, -ig, -ként, -ul/-ül, -képp(en), -stul/-stül, -onként/(-anként)/-enként/-önként/-nként, -ott/(-att)/-ett/-ött/-t, -onta/(-anta)/-ente/-önte, -kor. Their personal variants can be expressed with circumscription (eg addig ment, ahol ő állt "he went as far as him" > "… as far as where he stood").


Postpositions with personal suffixes

Most postpositions (see there) are combined with personal suffixes in a similar way, eg alattad ("under you"). Hungarian grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of the Hungarian language, a Finno-Ugric language spoken in Hungary and in adjacent areas of Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia (all territories lost after World War I). ...


Note: The personal forms of stand-alone postpositions are expressed with circumscription, eg. rajtam túl "beyond me", hozzám képest "as compared to me". Hungarian grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of the Hungarian language, a Finno-Ugric language spoken in Hungary and in adjacent areas of Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia (all territories lost after World War I). ...


Personal suffixes at the end of postpositions:

-am/-em
-m
-ad/-ed
-d
-a/-e
-ja/-je
-unk/-ünk
-nk
-atok/-etek
-tok/-tek
-uk/-ük
-juk/-jük

See also the section Overview of personal endings: typical sound elements. Hungarian grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of the Hungarian language, a Finno-Ugric language spoken in Hungary and in adjacent areas of Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia (all territories lost after World War I). ...


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 …over/above me etc …next to /beside me etc …in front of me etc …behind me etc …between me (& others) etc …around me etc …(from/to)
my direction etc
From… ALÓL
alólam
alólad
alóla
alólunk
alólatok
alóluk
FÖLÜL
fölülem
fölüled
fölüle
fölülünk
fölületek
fölülük
MELLŐL
mellőlem
mellőled
mellőle
mellőlünk
mellőletek
mellőlük
ELŐL
előlem
előled
előle
előlünk
előletek
előlük
MÖGÜL
mögülem
mögüled
mögüle
mögülünk
mögületek
mögülük
KÖZÜL
közülem
közüled
közüle
közülünk
közületek
közülük
× FELŐL
felőlem
felőled
felőle
felőlünk
felőletek
felőlük
(At/in…) ALATT
alattam
alattad
alatta
alattunk
alattatok
alattuk
FÖLÖTT
fölöttem
fölötted
fölötte
fölöttünk
fölöttetek
fölöttük
MELLETT
mellettem
melletted
mellette
mellettünk
mellettetek
mellettük
ELŐTT
előttem
előtted
előtte
előttünk
előttetek
előttük
MÖGÖTT
mögöttem
mögötted
mögötte
mögöttünk
mögöttetek
mögöttük
KÖZÖTT
közöttem
közötted
közötte
közöttünk
közöttetek
közöttük
KÖRÜL (!)
körülöttem
körülötted
körülötte
körülöttünk
körülöttetek
körülöttük
×
To… ALÁ
alám
alád
alá
alánk
alátok
alájuk
FÖLÉ
fölém
föléd
fölé
fölénk
fölétek
föléjük
MELLÉ
mellém
melléd
mellé
mellénk
mellétek
melléjük
ELÉ
elém
eléd
elé
elénk
elétek
eléjük
MÖGÉ
mögém
mögéd
mögé
mögénk
mögétek
mögéjük
KÖZÉ
közém
közéd
közé
közénk
közétek
közéjük
KÖRÉ
körém
köréd
köré
körénk
körétek
köréjük
FELÉ
felém
feléd
felé
felénk
felétek
feléjük

Postpositions without three-way distinction

after me etc instead of me etc without me etc through me etc (figurative) against me etc because of me etc "according to me",
in my opinion etc
towards me etc (figurative)
UTÁN
utánam
utánad
utána
utánunk
utánatok
utánuk
HELYETT
helyettem
helyetted
helyette
helyettünk
helyettetek
helyettük
NÉLKÜL
nélkülem
nélküled
nélküle
nélkülünk
nélkületek
nélkülük
ÁLTAL
általam
általad
általa
általunk
általatok
általuk
ELLEN
ellenem
ellened
ellene
ellenünk
ellenetek
ellenük
MIATT
miattam
miattad
miatta
miattunk
miattatok
miattuk
SZERINT
szerintem
szerinted
szerinte
szerintünk
szerintetek
szerintük
IRÁNT
irántam
irántad
iránta
irántunk
irántatok
irántuk

More traditional systems for analysing language divided linguistic expressions into two classes: literal and figurative. ... More traditional systems for analysing language divided linguistic expressions into two classes: literal and figurative. ...

Derived postpositions with possessive suffixes

These below are declined like words with possessive suffixes plus cases:

for me etc by my help etc in my case etc on my part etc
részemre
részedre
RÉSZÉRE
részünkre
részetekre
részükre
számomra
számodra
SZÁMÁRA
számunkra
számotokra
számukra
révemen
réveden
RÉVÉN
révünkön
réveteken
révükön
segítségemmel
segítségeddel
SEGÍTSÉGÉVEL
segítségünkkel
segítségetekkel
segítségükkel
esetemben
esetedben
ESETÉBEN
esetünkben
esetetekben
esetükben
részemről
részedről
RÉSZÉRŐL
részünkről
részetekről
részükről

Placeholders in Hungarian

See Placeholder name

A placeholder name is used to refer to an object whose name is either irrelevant or unknown in the context which it is being discussed. ...

Duplication with demonstrative determiners

When the noun has a plural suffix, a "case" suffix or a postposition, this is duplicated on the demonstrative. As with the demonstrative pronouns, for most suffixes, preservative consonant assimilation also occurs. Examples: Assimilation is a regular and frequent sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. ...

Basic form with definite article With demonstrative determiner
a lakások ("the flats /apartments", subject) ezek a lakások ("these flats /apartments", subject)
a lakást ("the flat /apartment", object) ezt a lakást ("this flat /apartment", object)
a lakásban ("in the flat /apartment") ebben a lakásban ("in this flat /apartment")
a lakással ("with the flat /apartment") ezzel a lakással ("with this flat /apartment")
a lakás alatt ("under the flat /apartment") ez alatt a lakás alatt ("under this flat /apartment")

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 házban = eme házban = ebben a házban ("in this house"). Ezen and azon are used before vowel-initial words, eg ezen emberek = ezek az emberek ("these people"). The duplicating forms (as in the chart above) are far more widespread than these.



 

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