
| Hungarian language |
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| Alphabet, including ő ű and cs dz dzs gy ly ny sz ty zs |
| Phonetics and phonology |
| Vowel harmony |
| Grammar (Noun phrases · Verbs) |
| T-V distinction |
| Regulatory body |
| Hungarian names |
| Language history (Sound correspondences) |
| Tongue-twisters |
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Hungarian pronunciation of English Old Hungarian script English words from Hungarian |
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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).
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Hungarian is classified as SVO (Subject-Verb-Object). Since Hungarian is a null subject language, the subject does not have to be explicitly stated. However, the order of words in a sentence is determined not by syntactic roles, but rather by pragmatic – i.e. discourse-driven – factors. The focus of the sentence is placed immediately before the finite verb. If the verb itself is focused, it is at the beginning of the sentence.
A sentence usually consists of four parts: topic, focus, verb and the rest. Any of the four parts may be empty. The topic and the rest may contain any phrases but the focus may only contain at most one phrase.
Let's consider some Hungarian variations of the following English sentence: "John took Peter two books yesterday." Beside the verb, it contains four phrases: "John", "Peter", "two books", "yesterday".
| Topics | Focus | Verb | The rest | Special meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| János | tegnap | ∅ | elvitt | két könyvet Péternek. | Two books were taken by John to Peter yesterday. (It was successfully completed; no special emphasis.) |
| János | tegnap | két könyvet | vitt el | Péternek. | It was two books that John took Peter yesterday. (As far as John and yesterday are concerned, it was exactly two books that he took to Peter.) |
| János | ∅ | tegnap | vitt el | két könyvet Péternek. | It was yesterday that John took Peter two books. (We know that John took Peter two books sometime, but it was done specifically yesterday.) |
| ∅ | ∅ | János | vitt el | tegnap két könyvet Péternek. | It was John who took Peter two books yesterday. |
| ∅ | ∅ | Péternek | vitt el | tegnap János két könyvet. | It was Peter to whom John took two books yesterday. |
| János | tegnap | Péternek | vitt el | két könyvet. | As we know, John took somebody two books yesterday, but it was specifically Peter to whom he took them, not anybody else. |
| ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | Elvitt | János tegnap két könyvet Péternek. | Two books were taken by John to Peter yesterday. (The action was completed; the books are at Peter's place now.) |
| Két könyvet | tegnap | ∅ | elvitt | János Péternek. | Two books were indeed taken by John to Peter. (Perhaps something else was taken to him, too. However, the two books may not be the most important thing, e.g. John may have left Peter's documents at home.) |
| ∅ | ∅ | Két könyvet | vitt el | János tegnap Péternek. | John (only) took Peter two books, nothing else. |
The topic contains a phrase or phrases which the speaker supposes as known and which is used for introducing a topic that the statement will be about (cf. "as far as X is concerned, ..."). The focus attracts the attention to an element of the event which is either supposed as unknown or it may be a refutation to a possible opposing belief; it also excludes the validity of the statement for all other individuals in question. ("it was X and nothing else that...").
If a focus is present, the verbal prefix will be put after the verb (vitt el instead of elvitt). If there is no verbal prefix, there may be ambiguity in writing because the phrase preceding the verb may be a topic or a focus equally. For example, in the sentence Éva szereti a virágokat ("Eve likes flowers"), Éva may be a topic and the sentence may be neutral, but Éva may also be a focus and the sentence may mean "It's Eve (and nobody else among those in question) who likes flowers".
An example with the sentence Éva szereti a virágokat (all the below have the basic translation "Eve likes flowers"):
| Sentence | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| Éva szereti a virágokat. | "Eve likes flowers" (neutral statement) |
| Éva szereti a virágokat. | "Eve does like flowers." (even if someone thought the opposite) |
| Éva szereti a virágokat. | "It's Eve who likes flowers" (not someone else) |
| Éva a virágokat szereti. | "It's flowers that Eve likes" (not something else) |
| A virágokat Éva szereti. | "As we know, somebody likes flowers, and it's Eve" (not someone else) |
| A virágokat szereti Éva. | It's flowers that Eve likes. (not something else) |
Hungarian is an agglutinative language. Most grammatical information is given through suffixes. For example: "at the table" = az asztalnál (space relation), "at 5 o'clock" = öt órakor (time relation). There is also one grammatical prefix (leg- for superlatives).
In Hungarian, the endings are mostly common for the endings of pronouns with suffixes and postpositions, possessive endings of nouns, and the verb endings. (The accusative of pronouns is also given for comparison, though it is less regular.)
| Pronoun | Case/postposition stem | Noun | Verb | Typical element | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Accusative | + personal suffix | + personal suffix | + possessive suffix | Indefinite present | Definite present | |
| "I" etc. | "me" etc. |
"by/at me" etc. | "under me" etc. | "my flat /apartment" etc. | "I see" etc. | "I see it" etc. | |
| én | engem | nálam | alattam | lakásom | látok | látom | -m with link vowel -o/(-a)/-e/-ö or -a/-e |
| te | téged | nálad | alattad | lakásod | látsz | látod | -d with link vowel -o/(-a)/-e/-ö or -a/-e |
| ő | őt | nála | alatta | lakása | lát | látja | -a/-e |
| mi | minket | nálunk | alattunk | lakásunk | látunk | látjuk | -nk with link vowel -u/-ü |
| ti | titeket | nálatok | alattatok | lakásotok | láttok | látjátok | -tok/-tek/-tök |
| ők | őket | náluk | alattuk | lakásuk | látnak | látják | -k |
Front-back vowel harmony is important in Hungarian morphophonology. Certain suffixes also distinguish between front unrounded vowels and front rounded vowels. See Hungarian phonology or vowel harmony for a more detailed explanation.
Note: The stem-final a and e, as well as o and ö in foreign words, are lengthened before suffixes, e.g. alma → almát, mese → mesét, piano → pianót, Malmö → Malmőt. (Short o and ö cannot occur at the end of Hungarian words.) Short i, u, ü retain their length, e.g. ami → amit, kapu → kaput, menü → menüt.
The vowels which form parallel pairs or triads in harmonic suffixes are:
| Back | Front |
|---|---|
| variant | |
| o | e/ö |
| a | e |
| á | é |
| u | ü |
| ú | ű |
| ó | ő |
As it is shown, the members of these pairs/triads mostly agree in height and length but differ in backness. (An exception is the pair á/é where á (open front unrounded vowel) is categorised as back.)
In the case of o vs. e and ö and the case of a vs. e there appears a difference in roundedness, too.
Notes:
The suffixes can be categorised into the following phonological types:
Minor variations:
Note: The long vowels á/é, ú/ű and ó/ő are not used as link vowels.
| Ending | Sample word | Suffix variation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constant | Difference by vowel quality | Difference by vowel quality and ending | ||||
| -ig | -ban/-ben | -hoz/-hez/-höz | -unk/-ünk/-nk | -om/-am/-em/-öm/-m | ||
| Consonant | lakás | lakásig házig szemig körig fürdőig |
lakásban házban |
lakáshoz házhoz |
lakásunk házunk |
lakásom |
| ház | házam | |||||
| szem | szemben körben fürdőben* |
szemhez | szemünk körünk |
szemem | ||
| kör | körhöz fürdőhöz* |
köröm | ||||
| Vowel | fürdő | fürdőnk | fürdőm | |||
Personal suffixes can have various uses in Hungarian grammar. There are two sets of them:
Therefore, their differences are:
| Type I (a/e) | Type II (o/e/ö) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | -am/-em/ -m |
-unk/-ünk/ -nk |
-om/-em/-öm/ -m |
-unk/-ünk/ -nk |
| 2nd person (informal) | -ad/-ed/ -d |
-atok/-etek/ -tok/-tek |
-od/-ed/-öd/ -d |
-otok/-etek/-ötök/ -tok/-tek/-tök |
| 2nd person (formal or official) and 3rd person |
-a/-e/ -ja/-je |
-uk/-ük/ -juk/-jük |
-a/-e/ -ja/-je |
-uk/-ük/ -juk/-jük |
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This difference often disambiguates meanings, e.g. jöttek means "they came" (past) and jöttök means "you [pl.] come" (present).
An extreme example is the longest Hungarian word 'megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért' (means 'because of your continuous impossible discreation just for fun'. This word contains mass of inflexions, prefix, suffix, etc. The core of the word is 'szentség' means "sainthood" )
Note: the accusative suffix following the stem or following other suffixes shows the same difference, except for the six different forms for the six persons:
| Type I (a/e) | Type II (o/e/ö) | |
|---|---|---|
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As well as the noun suffixes, which are often equivalent to English prepositions, Hungarian also has postpositions.
If postpositions are used with personal pronouns (cf. "to me"), most of them amalgamate with the suffixes expressing the person. Compare:
| Postposition | "Regular" postpositional use |
"Amalgamated" use with personal suffixes |
|---|---|---|
| alatt under |
az asztal alatt under the table |
alattam under me |
For the full list of such postpositions, see postpositions with personal suffixes.
The following postpositions differ from the above in that they are not amalgamate with personal suffixes:
| Spatial postpositions | Time postpositions | Other postpositions |
|---|---|---|
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Certain standard postpositions are derived from a noun + 3rd person singular possessive suffix + case ending, e.g. apám révén "by the help of my father". See their list here.
This internal structure affects how they are used with pronominal forms (see above).
Most postpositions govern the nominative case; the exceptions are listed below. (The genitive case below means that morphologically speaking, they can either take the nominative or the dative suffix, see Other noun endings.)
| genitive | valami / valaminek |
ellenére (despite), folyamán (during), jóvoltából (thanks to), kedvéért (for the sake of), következtében (due to), mentén (along), részére (for), révén (by/through/via), számára (for/to), útján (via) |
| superessive | valamin | alul (under/below), át (through/over), belül (inside), felül/fölül (over/above), innen (this way from X), keresztül (across), kezdve (from X on), kívül (outside/except), túl (beyond) |
| sublative | valamire | nézve (with respect to) |
| allative | valamihez | hasonlóan (similarly to), képest (as compared to) |
| adessive | valaminél | fogva1 (owing to) |
| ablative | valamitől | fogva2 (from X on), kezdve (from X on) |
| instrumental-comitative | valamivel | együtt (along with), szemben (opposite) |
Some postpositions may also precede the noun, thus functioning as prepositions: át (over/across), keresztül (through), együtt (together with), szemben (opposite), túl (beyond), e.g. át a folyón or a folyón át ("across the river").
Adjectives are unmarked for case. Attributive adjectives are not marked for number but predicative ones are. For example: piros almák ("red apples") but: Az almák pirosak. ("The apples [are] red.").
The suffix -an/-en/-n is used to form adverbs of manner from adjectives. -l, -lag/-leg and -ul/-ül are also used to derive adverbs from some adjectives.
There is also a suffix, -va/-ve, which is used to derive adverbs from verbs. Its nearest English equivalent is the -ing form functioning as a participle (rather than a noun). Example:
Such participles (note the adverbial usage) are referred to by term “adverbial participle” (distinguished from adjectival participle).
In Hungarian adverbs can be used predicatively with van. Examples: Korán van. ("It's early.") Nyitva van. ("It's open.")
Some degree adverbs are formed from adjectives. The suffixes which are used are ones which are usually used on nouns:
Comparative adjectives and adverbs are formed by adding -abb/-ebb/-bb to the adjective stem, e.g. gyors ("quick"), gyorsabb ("quicker"), gyorsan ("quickly"), gyorsabban ("more quickly").
To state the thing which is being compared with (like English "than"), Hungarian uses the noun suffix -nál/-nél or the preposition mint. (Note, mint is the only preposition in Hungarian.) For example gyorsabb a szélnél or gyorsabb, mint a szél ("faster than the wind").
Superlative adjectives and adverbs are formed by adding the prefix leg- to the comparative, e.g. a leggyorsabb ("the quickest"), a leggyorsabban ("the most quickly").
| Example: magas ("tall/high") | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Degree | Word elements | Complete form | Meaning | ||
| Prefix | Adjective stem |
Suffix | |||
| Base | – | magas | – | magas | tall/high |
| Comparative | – | -abb | magasabb | taller/higher | |
| Superlative | leg- | -abb | legmagasabb | tallest/highest | |
| Exaggerated | legesleg- | -abb | legeslegmagasabb | the very tallest/highest | |
Notes:
Many expressions of time use the case endings and postpositions which are also used for position, e.g.:
There are also some which are used only for time, e.g.:
There are 2 ways of expressing how long ago something happened:
"Hány óra (van)? Mennyi (most) az idő?" ( " What time is it? What is the time? ")
Times can be given by just the numbers, but this is not usual in speech, e.g.:
nyolc óra húsz ( literally "eight hour twenty") or nyolc húsz ( literally "eight twenty").
In speech the half and quarter hours are expressed by what fraction of the time to the next hour has elapsed.
These can be written using fractions, e.g.:
These are abbreviated in movie programmes as n9, f9 and h9 (with the initial letters of the fraction names).
The times in between these are expressed in relation to the next or previous quarter hour, e.g.:
...or fél kilenc lesz tíz perc múlva ( literally "it will be 8.30 in 10 minutes' time")
These are different when they refer to a time in the past or future:
For a period of time extending up to the present:
For a period of time in the past, present or future:
These two structures are often interchangeable.
Verbs are negated with nem, except in the subjunctive when ne is used.
Double negative is common with negative pronouns (like nobody, nothing, never, nowhere), see the article "Double negative" about Hungarian.
ki? is the basic question word for a person (cf. "who?") and mi? is the basic question word for a thing (cf. "what?"). Where meaningful, these can take the full range of case and noun suffixes, e.g. kit?, miben?, miképp? mi + ért ("for the purpose of") gives the question word miért? ("why?").
milyen? is used to ask for a description. It can be used to ask about a whole noun phrase, e.g. Milyen a tanárod? ("What's your teacher like?") or as a determiner, e.g. Milyen lakást akarsz? ("What kind of flat do you want?"). Although there is no case suffix -lyan/-lyen, this ending also occurs in ilyen ("this kind of"), olyan ("that kind of"), valamilyen ("some kind of") and semmilyen ("no kind of").
The strict three-way distinction in direction which occurs in the positional suffixes also occurs in the question words: hol? ("where?"), hova? /hová? ("where to?") and honnan? ("where from?").
hány? is used to ask questions about numbers (cf. "how many?") and mennyi? about quantities (cf. "how much?"). Where meaningful, these can take the full range of case and noun suffixes, e.g. hánnyal?, hánykor?, mennyibe?, mennyiért? hány? can also take the full range of suffixes used for numbers and quantity expressions, e.g. hányadik?, hányas?
Yes/no questions are expressed by intonation not by any modification to syntax or morphology.
A short positive answer to a yes/no question is often given by repeating the verb particle (or the full verb, if it has no particle) rather than by using the words Igen ("Yes"). Examples:
The negative answer to a yes/no question may include the word Nem ("No") or the negation of the requested part of the sentence or both.
Tag questions are made by adding ugye to the beginning or end of a statement. E.g. Elment, ugye? or Ugye elment? ("He has left, hasn't he?"). The latter form more strongly suggests the positive answer.
Subordinate clauses are often used with an antecedent in the main clause, e.g. Kabátot hozott, mert fázott. /Azért hozott kabátot, mert fázott. ("She fetched a coat because she was cold.")
Relative clauses usually have an explicit antecedent in the main clause, e.g. Attól félek, nem mehetek el. ("I'm afraid [of the fact that] I can't go.") However, Félek, (hogy) nem mehetek el. is also correct.
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