Hungarian grammar (verbs)
Encyclopedia
This page is about verb
s in Hungarian grammar
.
The lemma or citation form is always the third person singular indefinite present. This usually has a ∅ suffix, e.g. kér ("ask", "have a request").
The -ik verbs were originally middle voice, reflexive
or passive in meaning, which can still be seen e.g. about the pair tör ("s/he breaks sth") vs törik ("sth. breaks" / "sth gets broken"). However, most of them have lost this meaning so historically speaking they are like deponent verb
s. There are some verb pairs that only differ in the presence or absence of the -ik ending, while they are unrelated in meaning, such as ér ('be worth sth.' or 'arrive') and érik ('ripen') as well as nyúl ('reach for sth.') and nyúlik ('stretch/extend'). (These -ik verbs also have a middle-voice meaning, their active version being érlel 'make sth. ripe' and nyújt 'stretch/extend sth.'.)
With these verbs, the third person singular (present, indefinite, indicative) form (i.e., the lemma) consistently uses the -ik form. What is more, new -ik words are constantly born (e.g. netezik "use the Internet") so their deviation needs to be followed.
However, as far as the first person singular (present, indefinite, indicative) suffix is concerned, it is often assimilated to the "normal" conjugation (as it has practically happened to the other -ik-specific forms) so most verbs usually take the regular form for this person (e.g. hazudok; *hazudom would be taken as hypercorrect
or incorrect). Nevertheless, with some basic -ik verbs, the assimilated variant is stigmatized (e.g. eszem is expected in educated speech, rather than *eszek), so with these verbs, the traditional form is advised.
Since this (3rd person singular indefinite) -ik ending coincides with the -ik ending of the 3rd person plural definite form, only the type of the object makes it possible to identify the subject:
In fact, most -ik verbs are intransitive, and the context may clarify the question even if the subject is not made explicit.
Some important "traditional" -ik verbs are the following. It may seem uneducated or simply incorrect if someone uses the -k ending with them for the 1st person singular form:
For most other verbs, the -k ending is the most common in the indefinite meaning, even in educated speech (especially for -zik verbs that refer to using some tool, such as biciklizik "ride the bicycle" or gitározik "play the guitar").
In fact, there are a few non-traditional -ik verbs where the -m ending is impossible and ungrammatical (except in the definite conjugation, if meaningful), for example:
of a verb is the form suffixed by -ni, e.g. várni, kérni. There is a variant -ani/eni, which is used with the following groups:
Exceptions are állni "to stand", szállni "to fly", varrni "to sew", forrni "to boil", which have -ni despite the two consonants.
. Except in the 3rd person singular and plural, the -i of the infinitive is dropped, e.g. Mennem kell. ("I have to go."). The person can also be indicated using -nak/-nek, e.g. Nekem kell mennem. ("I have to go.), Jánosnak mennie kell ("János has to go.")
These forms use the o/e/ö set of suffixes (Type II, like possessive suffixes do), see Personal suffixes and link vowels.
The future can also be expressed by the auxiliary verb fog with the infinitive. Learner-oriented grammars refer to this as the future tense although it is not a tense in a strict grammarian's use of the word.
The verb to be, lenni has 3 tenses: past (volt as was), present (van as is) and future (lesz as will be).
-ending verbs differ from the rest, such as verbs ending in -s, -sz, -z and -dz. The chart below compares the conjugation of the regular kér 'ask' ("have a request") and vár 'wait' (as examples for front and back vowels) with the sibilant-ending keres 'look for' and mászik 'climb.' Example of verbs ending in the other two possible sonorants, -z and -dz, are húz 'pull' and edz 'train', which similarly double their stem consonants where -s and -sz are doubled (e.g. húzzuk, eddzük in the first person plural).
The forms marked in bold are those where the suffix of sibilant-ending verbs differ from the suffix of other verbs: either because of the alternative 2nd person ending l (to avoid two sibilants getting next to each other), or because of the assimilation of j. Incidentally, the latter forms (with doubled stem consonants) coincide with the subjunctive (or imperative) forms.
As far as the two phonetic variants are concerned, there are three types:
If the above phonetic guidelines don't help, it may be useful as a rule of thumb to learn the rules and exceptions only for Type I and Type III and use Type II otherwise, because this latter type comprises the broadest range of verbs.
The past tenses of sejt ("suspect", Type III) and sejtet ("make them suspect sth.", Type II) are identical, except for the third person indefinite form where it is sejt|ett for sejt, but sejtet|ett for sejtet. However, it usually turns out from the argument structure and the context which meaning is intended.
This ambiguity doesn't occur with back-vowel verbs because the linking vowel is different for the normal past tense and the causative, e.g. bontotta "s/he demolished it" (bont- + -otta) vs. bontatta "s/he had it demolished" (bont- + -at- + -ta). The linking vowel can only be o for back-vowel verbs (as stated above: -ott/-ett/-ött) and the causative can only have a with back vowels (-at/-et). Similarly, it doesn't occur with front-vowel verbs with a rounded vowel, either: e.g. gyűjtötte ("s/he collected them") vs gyűjtette (s/he had them collected").
Below is a chart to review the conjugation differences between coinciding forms of the same verb. Ambiguous forms in the same person are marked in bold.
It can also occur with similar back-vowel verbs, e.g. csináltatok "you [pl] did sth" or "I have sth done".
beszéltek can also have two interpretations (only indefinite forms involved, again):
This latter case is not possible with back-vowel verbs, due to the difference of the linking vowel: csináltok "you [pl] do sth" vs. csináltak "they did sth".
Below is a chart to review the conjugation differences between coinciding forms of the same verb (again). Ambiguous forms in different persons are marked with asterisks.
Below is a chart to review the conjugation differences between coinciding forms of unrelated verbs. Ambiguous forms in the same person are marked in bold; ambiguous forms in different persons are marked with asterisks.
: indicative, conditional
and subjunctive
/ imperative
. The indicative has a past and non-past tense. The conditional has a non-past tense and a past form, made up of the past tense indicative as the finite verb with the non-finite verb volna. The subjunctive only has a single tense.
In a sentence with "if", unlike in English, the appropriate conditional tense is used in both the "if" clause and the main clause. The present conditional is used to talk about unlikely or impossible events in the present or future, e.g. Ha találkoznál a királynővel, mit mondanál? ("If you met the Queen, what would you say?") (cf. the second conditional in English). The past conditional is used for past events which did not happen, e.g. Ha nem találkoztunk volna a királynővel, órákkal ezelőtt megérkeztünk volna. ("If we hadn't met the Queen, we would have arrived hours ago.") (cf. the third conditional in English).
The front-vowel suffix at the end of the 1st person singular indefinite form of the back-vowel verb (várnék) is an apparent exception from the vowel harmony: it may serve to distinguish from the 3rd person plural definite form (várnák). (The indefinite kérnék forms still coincide, just like the 1st and 2nd person plural endings.)
The only opposition between the 3rd person singular definite and indefinite forms is vowel length (although a–á and e–é differ in quality as well), which can be considered one of the rare fusional
traits in Hungarian.
A linking vowel is inserted into verbs with a consonant cluster or long vowel + t at the end, e.g. festenék 'I would paint', tanítanék 'I would teach', analogously to the rules given for the infinitive form.
or t ending differ from the rest, with two groups for the t ending: those with a preceding short vowel, and those with a preceding long vowel or a consonant.
Meanings of the verbs below: kér 'ask (have a request)', vár 'wait', keres 'look for', olvas 'read', fest 'paint', szeret 'love', fut 'run', ment 'save', tanít 'teach', egerészik 'chase mice', mászik 'climb', ereszt 'let go', akaszt 'hang', néz 'look at', húz 'pull', edz 'train', lopódzik 'sneak'.
Note: the definite conjugation may be ungrammatical for verbs that cannot have an object, e.g. fut 'run', egerészik 'chase mice', lopódzik 'sneak'. However, these forms may occur in constructions like végigfutja a távot 'run all through the distance', végigegerészi a napot 'spend all the day chasing mice', or perhaps even végiglopóddza az épületeket 'sneak through the buildings'. This solution doesn't work, though, for the forms affecting the 2nd person (unless in a poetic, vocative sense), that is why they are marked with an asterisk.
Forms marked with a preceding equality sign are identical with the indicative forms.
Second person forms have a short and a long variant both in indefinite and definite conjugation, with minimal difference in style.
(one which distinguishes between intransitive, ergative and accusative cases) rather than a purely nominative–accusative system. However, the two subject types in Hungarian are different from the intransitive/ergative distinction. They are:
There is no trace of this distinction in the morphology of nouns and pronouns.
This difference shows up in Hungarian verbs as two conjugation
s: definite and indefinite.
The indefinite conjugation is used:
The definite conjugation is used:
Examples:
Definite examples:
Indefinite examples:
is meant (i.e., the child is examined by one doctor).
Another means to express the passive meaning is using middle voice lexical forms or unaccusative verb
s, e.g. épül: "build"/ intransitive (cf. épít "build"/ transitive), alakul: "form"/ intransitive (cf. alakít "form"/ transitive). -ul/-ül is a common ending that expresses the middle voice, as opposed to -ít which expresses the active (these are transitive verb
s). Middle voice forms can also be created from some plain verbs by adding -ódik/-ődik, e.g. íródik "get written" (from ír "write"), ütődik "get hit" (from üt "hit"). These active/middle pairs comprise a considerable part among Hungarian verbs.
In the perfect, there is a third way to express passive meaning: the existential verb van (see van (to be)) plus the adverbial participle ending in -va/-ve (see Adverb derivation), e.g. meg van írva "it is written" (from megír "write"). It is used when the result of the action is emphasized. It can be formed in the past perfect and future perfect, too, with the past and future forms of van. – A similar structure is used in a past meaning with lett: meg lett írva "it was written" or "it has been written" (sometimes "it had been written").
Finally, the actual passive form does occur once in a while, formed with -atik/-etik or -tatik/-tetik. For example: születik ("be born", from szül "give birth"), adatik ("be given", from ad "give"), viseltetik ("owe sb certain feelings", from visel "bear"), foglaltatik ("be included", from (magába) foglal "include"). These can be formed by adding -ik to the causative (see Modal and causative suffixes). Most of these forms (except for születik) are considered obsolete.
es, but they are not true infixes because they are not inserted inside another morpheme.
-hat-/-het- has a modal
meaning of permission or opportunity, e.g. beszélek "I speak", beszélhetek "I may speak" or "I am allowed to speak".
Note: Ability ("I can speak") is usually expressed with "tud". See Auxiliary verbs (modal and temporal).
-at-/-et- and -tat-/-tet- have a causative
meaning. It can express "having something done" or "having/making someone do something". For example: beszélek "I speak", beszéltetek "I make sb speak". (Incidentally, it is the same form as "you [pl] spoke", analysed beszél|t|etek, see Past tense.)
-tat/-tet is used if the word ends in vowel + -t or if the stem ends in a consonant different from -t, but it has two or more syllables (excluding the verbal particle). In other cases, -at/-et is used: that is, with words ending in a consonant + t and with one-syllable words ending in a consonant different from -t.
The monosyllabic words which don't end in vowel + -t, but have -tat/-tet in the causative are áz|ik (áztat), buk|ik (buktat), kop|ik (koptat), szop|ik (szoptat), hány (hánytat), él (éltet), kel (keltet), lép (léptet), szűn|ik (szüntet [!]), jár (jártat), szök|ik (szöktet).
in English), e.g. Az úszás egészséges. ("Swimming is healthy.")
s in Hungarian. They are formed by adding the following suffixes to the verb stem:
Since the past participle usually expresses a perfected action/event, the verb sometimes changes into its perfective counterpart by taking a verbal particle (igekötő) with this function, as seen in the above example (megírt levél). This verbal particle may, however, be replaced by a noun, e.g. Annának írt levél ("a letter written to Anna"). – See more under Hungarian syntax.
s in English. The most common ones are meg- (perfective
), but some other ones, too, can take this function), fel- ("up"), le- ("down"/"off"), be- ("in"), ki- ("out"), el- ("away"), vissza- ("back"), át- ("over"/"through"), oda- ("there"), ide- ("here"), össze- ("together"), szét- ("apart").
The above meanings are the literal meanings, but they all can have figurative, idiomatic meanings. Examples of literal meanings for the verb ír ("write"): leír ("write down"), beír ("write into") as opposed to the non-literal meanings: leír ("declare as useless", cf "write off"), beír ("give a written warning [to a schoolchild]"). Different prefixes can express subtle differences (e.g. meghízik "get fat" vs. elhízik "get obese") as well as independent concepts (e.g. rúg "kick", kirúg "fire sb", berúg "get drunk"). They often serve to change the verb into perfective (along with other factors).
When the particle precedes the verb without any other inserted word, they are used as one word, e.g. Leírja ("He writes it down"). Syntactically, the particle may go behind the verb for various reasons. It may occur due to a stressed part in the sentence (the focus), e.g. Ő írja le ("It's him who writes it down") or a negation, e.g. Nem írja le ("He doesn't write it down"). The inverted order is also used in the imperative, e.g. Írja le! ("Write it down!"). Finally, it may also refer to continuity, like Lement a lépcsőn ("He went down the stairs") vs. Ment le a lépcsőn ("He was going down the stairs").
If the verb with the particle is in the infinitive, the finite verb
will be wedged between them, e.g. Le akarja írni ("He wants to write it down") or Le tudja írni ("He can write it down").
The particle may considerably affect the case
of the complement
: for example, the verb kezd ("start sth.") can take several different verb particles, all expressing the same concept (with minor differences), but their complement differs depending on the particle:
It happens because certain verb particles (the latter three among the examples) come from personal pronouns in the given case and they require agreement.
When giving a short positive answer to a yes/no question, the particle can refer back to the whole sentence, see Yes/no questions.
A verb may occasionally be a homonym in the above sense, i.e. being a single word or containing a particle, e.g. betűz ("spell [by letters]", no compound), but be|tűz ("stick in" or "shine in", a compound).
The other misleading cases are those verbs which were historically formed from nouns derived from verbs with particles, so they seemingly begin with particles, but they don't behave like them. An example is befolyásol ("influence", v) which derives from befolyás ("influence", n), a calque
from German Einfluß, literally "in-flow", including the particle be- ("in"). This element, being part of the original noun, will not act as a particle of the derived verb befolyásol. There are few such words, e.g. kivitelez ("implement") from kivitel ("exportation", cf "carrying out"). Kirándul ("go hiking") used to be a compound (ki + rándul), but people don't usually treat it like that any more so they say, e.g., Kirándulni akar. ("s/he wants to go hiking") instead of Ki akar rándulni, which is obsolete and only used jokingly. An opposite (exceptional) case is that of feltételez ("suppose" or "assume"), which comes from feltétel ("condition"), so the prefix is only part of the embedded noun, rather than of the full verb, but it is still separated: fel sem tételezhetjük, fel kell tételeznünk ("we can't even assume, we must suppose"). What functions as a verbal prefix sometimes may not be one other times, e.g. ellenáll 'resist' can separate like nem állok ellen 'I don't resist', but ellenőriz 'check' stays together like nem ellenőrzök 'I don't check'.
The suffix -hat/-het mentioned in the last row can be further conjugated, just like any verb.
The verb lehet is used impersonally, e.g. oda lehet menni "one can go there".
Examples:
The non-copula form of van is also used to express the equivalent of "There is/are":
The negation of the third person van (plural vannak) as a non-copula verb is the suppletive
nincs (plural nincsenek):
Hungarian has no verb which is equivalent to "to have". Instead, ownership/possession are expressed using van with a possessive suffix on the noun:
There is little difference between the two conditional forms. In theory, lennék etc. are preferred when an option is considered as possible (e.g. Ha otthon lennék, "if I were at home") and volnék etc. are preferred when it is considered impossible (e.g. Ha rózsa volnék, "if I were a rose"), but the limits are rather vague. It is probably not by chance that the former is akin to the future form (leszek), which might still become true, and the latter to the past form (voltam), which is already determined. In practice, the lennék series is somewhat more frequently used in both senses.
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s in Hungarian grammar
Hungarian grammar
Hungarian grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of the Hungarian language, a Uralic language spoken in Hungary and in adjacent areas of the seven neighboring countries, parts of which belonged to Hungary before 1920. Hungarian grammar possesses an extremely complex...
.
Lemma or citation form
There is basically only one pattern for verb endings, with predictable variations dependent on the phonological context.The lemma or citation form is always the third person singular indefinite present. This usually has a ∅ suffix, e.g. kér ("ask", "have a request").
-ik verbs
A slight variation to the standard pattern is with certain verbs which have third person singular indefinite present ending with -ik, e.g. dolgozik ("work"), and 1st singular indefinite present usually with -om/-em/-öm. The stem for this is reached by removing -ik. These verbs explain the reason for this form being the citation form.The -ik verbs were originally middle voice, reflexive
Reflexive verb
In grammar, a reflexive verb is a verb whose semantic agent and patient are the same. For example, the English verb to perjure is reflexive, since one can only perjure oneself...
or passive in meaning, which can still be seen e.g. about the pair tör ("s/he breaks sth") vs törik ("sth. breaks" / "sth gets broken"). However, most of them have lost this meaning so historically speaking they are like deponent verb
Deponent verb
In linguistics, a deponent verb is a verb that is active in meaning but takes its form from a different voice, most commonly the middle or passive. A deponent verb doesn't have active forms; it can be said to have deposited them .-Greek:...
s. There are some verb pairs that only differ in the presence or absence of the -ik ending, while they are unrelated in meaning, such as ér ('be worth sth.' or 'arrive') and érik ('ripen') as well as nyúl ('reach for sth.') and nyúlik ('stretch/extend'). (These -ik verbs also have a middle-voice meaning, their active version being érlel 'make sth. ripe' and nyújt 'stretch/extend sth.'.)
With these verbs, the third person singular (present, indefinite, indicative) form (i.e., the lemma) consistently uses the -ik form. What is more, new -ik words are constantly born (e.g. netezik "use the Internet") so their deviation needs to be followed.
However, as far as the first person singular (present, indefinite, indicative) suffix is concerned, it is often assimilated to the "normal" conjugation (as it has practically happened to the other -ik-specific forms) so most verbs usually take the regular form for this person (e.g. hazudok; *hazudom would be taken as hypercorrect
Hypercorrection
In linguistics or usage, hypercorrection is a non-standard usage that results from the over-application of a perceived rule of grammar or a usage prescription...
or incorrect). Nevertheless, with some basic -ik verbs, the assimilated variant is stigmatized (e.g. eszem is expected in educated speech, rather than *eszek), so with these verbs, the traditional form is advised.
Since this (3rd person singular indefinite) -ik ending coincides with the -ik ending of the 3rd person plural definite form, only the type of the object makes it possible to identify the subject:
- eszik egy almát: egy almát "an apple" is indefinite, so the verb must be a singular form, i.e. "s/he is eating an apple;"
- eszik az almát: az almát "the apple" is definite, so the verb must be a plural form, i.e. "they are eating the apple."
In fact, most -ik verbs are intransitive, and the context may clarify the question even if the subject is not made explicit.
| Regular (non -ik) verbs |
Non-traditional | Traditional | |
| -ik verbs | |||
| 1st person singular indefinite |
kérek | hazudok | eszem (*eszek) |
| 3rd person singular indefinite (lemma) |
kér∅ | hazudik | eszik |
| Meaning | "ask" ("request") |
"tell a lie" | "eat" |
Some important "traditional" -ik verbs are the following. It may seem uneducated or simply incorrect if someone uses the -k ending with them for the 1st person singular form:
- aggódik "worry", álmodik "dream", alszik "sleep", bízik "trust", dicsekszik "brag", dohányzik "smoke", dolgozik "work", emlékszik "remember", érdeklődik "be interested", érkezik "arrive", esküszik "swear", eszik "to eat", fázik "be cold", fekszik "lie" ("recline"), foglalkozik "deal with", gondolkodik or gondolkozik "be thinking", gondoskodik "look after", gyanakszik "suspect", gyönyörködik "delight in", hallatszik "be audible", haragszik "be angry", hiányzik "be missing", igyekszik "strive, hurry", iszik "drink", játszik "play", jelentkezik "apply", költözik "move (residence)", következik "follow", különbözik "differ", lakik "live" ("inhabit"), látszik "be visible", működik "function", növekszik "grow", nyugszik "rest", öregszik "grow old", panaszkodik "complain", származik "originate from", találkozik "meet", tartozik "owe" or "belong", tartózkodik "stay" ("reside"), törődik "care about", unatkozik "be bored", vágyik "desire", változik "change" (refl.), verekszik "fight" (e.g. at school), veszekszik "quarrel", vetkőzik "take off clothes", viselkedik "behave" and vitatkozik "argue".
For most other verbs, the -k ending is the most common in the indefinite meaning, even in educated speech (especially for -zik verbs that refer to using some tool, such as biciklizik "ride the bicycle" or gitározik "play the guitar").
In fact, there are a few non-traditional -ik verbs where the -m ending is impossible and ungrammatical (except in the definite conjugation, if meaningful), for example:
- bomlik "dissolve", (el)bújik "hide", érik "ripen", folyik "flow", gyűlik "assemble" (refl.), hazudik "tell a lie", illik "suit", kopik "wear off", múlik "pass", nyílik "open" (refl.), ömlik "pour" (refl.), születik "be born", (meg)szűnik "discontinue", telik "fill up", tojik "lay (eggs)", törik "get broken", tűnik "seem" and válik "become" or "divorce".
Infinitive
The infinitiveInfinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
of a verb is the form suffixed by -ni, e.g. várni, kérni. There is a variant -ani/eni, which is used with the following groups:
- verbs ending in two consonants (e.g. játszani, tartani, küldeni, választani, festeni, mondani, hallani, ajánlani),
- verbs ending in a long vowel + t (e.g. fűteni, véteni, tanítani, bocsátani) and
- the words véd and edz (védeni and edzeni respectively).
Exceptions are állni "to stand", szállni "to fly", varrni "to sew", forrni "to boil", which have -ni despite the two consonants.
Infinitive with personal suffixes
When an infinitive is used with an impersonal verb, the personal suffixes may be added to the infinitive to indicate the person, as in PortuguesePortuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
. Except in the 3rd person singular and plural, the -i of the infinitive is dropped, e.g. Mennem kell. ("I have to go."). The person can also be indicated using -nak/-nek, e.g. Nekem kell mennem. ("I have to go.), Jánosnak mennie kell ("János has to go.")
These forms use the o/e/ö set of suffixes (Type II, like possessive suffixes do), see Personal suffixes and link vowels.
| Person | menni (to go) | látni (to see) |
|---|---|---|
| for me to go etc. | for me to see etc. | |
| 1st Sg. | mennem | látnom |
| 2nd Sg. | menned | látnod |
| 3rd Sg. | mennie | látnia |
| 1st Pl. | mennünk | látnunk |
| 2nd Pl. | mennetek | látnotok |
| 3rd Pl. | menniük | látniuk |
Tenses
With the exception of lenni ("to be"), there are 2 tenses, usually called past and present. More accurate names would be past and non-past since the so-called "present" tense can also be used to refer to the future.The future can also be expressed by the auxiliary verb fog with the infinitive. Learner-oriented grammars refer to this as the future tense although it is not a tense in a strict grammarian's use of the word.
The verb to be, lenni has 3 tenses: past (volt as was), present (van as is) and future (lesz as will be).
Present
In the present tense, only sibilantSibilant consonant
A sibilant is a manner of articulation of fricative and affricate consonants, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the sharp edge of the teeth, which are held close together. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words sip, zip, ship, chip,...
-ending verbs differ from the rest, such as verbs ending in -s, -sz, -z and -dz. The chart below compares the conjugation of the regular kér 'ask' ("have a request") and vár 'wait' (as examples for front and back vowels) with the sibilant-ending keres 'look for' and mászik 'climb.' Example of verbs ending in the other two possible sonorants, -z and -dz, are húz 'pull' and edz 'train', which similarly double their stem consonants where -s and -sz are doubled (e.g. húzzuk, eddzük in the first person plural).
| Person | Indefinite conjugation | Definite conjugation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | Sibilant-ending | Regular | Sibilant-ending | |
| 1st Sg | kérek, várok | keresek, mászok* | kérem, várom | keresem, mászom |
| 2nd Sg | kérsz, vársz | keresel, mászol | kéred, várod | keresed, mászod |
| 3rd Sg | kér, vár | keres, mászik* | kéri, várja | keresi, mássza |
| 1st Pl | kérünk, várunk | keresünk, mászunk | kérjük, várjuk | keressük, másszuk |
| 2nd Pl | kértek, vártok | kerestek, másztok | kéritek, várjátok | keresitek, másszátok |
| 3rd Pl | kérnek, várnak | keresnek, másznak | kérik, várják | keresik, másszák |
| 1st > 2nd (e.g. 'I ask you') | kérlek, várlak | kereslek, mászlak | ||
* : mászik being an -ik verb, its indefinite 1st person singular form can be mászom instead of mászok in literary style. The ik ending in its indefinite 3rd person singular form naturally doesn't apply to verbs without this ending.
The forms marked in bold are those where the suffix of sibilant-ending verbs differ from the suffix of other verbs: either because of the alternative 2nd person ending l (to avoid two sibilants getting next to each other), or because of the assimilation of j. Incidentally, the latter forms (with doubled stem consonants) coincide with the subjunctive (or imperative) forms.
Futurity
Futurity can be expressed in a variety of ways:- By the auxiliary verb fog for any verb except van, expressing a strong intention of the subject or a necessity of events brought about by circumstances (cf. English "going to")
- For the verb van only, by the use of the future tense (leszek, leszel etc.), see van (to be)
- By the present tense only when the time is clear for some other reason (e.g. explicit temporal adverbs, e.g. majd, or verbs with perfective aspectPerfective aspectThe perfective aspect , sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed as a simple whole, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. The perfective aspect is equivalent to the aspectual component of past perfective forms...
)
Past tense
The past tense is expressed with the suffix -t or -ott/-ett/-ött and inflects for person and number. As in the present tense, there are special indefinite forms for transitive verbs with direct objects that are 1st or 2nd person or indefinite, while definite forms are used for intransitive verbs and transitive verbs with definite, 3rd person direct objects, and there is a special form used just for instances where there is a 1st person subject and 2nd person direct object.As far as the two phonetic variants are concerned, there are three types:
- Type I never uses link vowel (mostly those with "soft" ending consonants, i.e. sonorantSonorantIn phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...
s) - Type II only uses link vowel in the 3rd person singular indefinite (those that could be regarded as "middle-hard" consonants)
- Type III uses link vowel in every form (mostly those ending in the "hard" consonant t or a consonant cluster).
| Conjugation | Type I | Type II | Type III | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example Verb | vár ("wait for sb/sth") | mos ("wash sb/sth") | tanít ("teach sb/sth") | |||
| Direct Object | Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite |
| 1st sg. | vártam | vártam | mostam | mostam | tanítottam | tanítottam |
| 2nd sg. | vártál | vártad | mostál | mostad | tanítottál | tanítottad |
| 3rd sg. | várt | várta | mosott | mosta | tanított | tanította |
| 1st pl. | vártunk | vártuk | mostunk | mostuk | tanítottunk | tanítottuk |
| 2nd pl. | vártatok | vártátok | mostatok | mostátok | tanítottatok | tanítottátok |
| 3rd pl. | vártak | várták | mostak | mosták | tanítottak | tanították |
| 1st person subj., 2nd person object | vártalak | mostalak | tanítottalak | |||
| Regular endings |
|
|
|
|||
| Exceptions (partial list) |
|
Less important exceptions:
|
× | |||
- Note: Strike-through Roman numbers in the last row refer to the types which would apply if the verbs concerned were regular.
If the above phonetic guidelines don't help, it may be useful as a rule of thumb to learn the rules and exceptions only for Type I and Type III and use Type II otherwise, because this latter type comprises the broadest range of verbs.
Regular homonymy of plain and causative forms in the same tense
Front-vowel unrounded verbs that end in consonant + -t may have ambiguous (coinciding, homonymous) forms between plain and causative forms. Approx. a hundred verbs are concerned that end in one of the following endings: -jt, -lt, -mt, -nt, -rt, -st, -szt.| Homoverb | Meaning 1 | Meaning 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Megértette. | "S/he understood it." megért ("understand") + -ette (past tense Type III, def.) |
"S/he made them understand it." megért + -et- (causative Causative In linguistics, a causative is a form that indicates that a subject causes someone or something else to do or be something, or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event.... ) + -te (past tense Type II, def.) |
| Sejtette. | "S/he suspected it." sejt ("suspect") + -ette (past tense type III, def.) |
"S/he made them suspect it." sejt + -et- (causative) + -te (past tense type II, def.) |
The past tenses of sejt ("suspect", Type III) and sejtet ("make them suspect sth.", Type II) are identical, except for the third person indefinite form where it is sejt|ett for sejt, but sejtet|ett for sejtet. However, it usually turns out from the argument structure and the context which meaning is intended.
This ambiguity doesn't occur with back-vowel verbs because the linking vowel is different for the normal past tense and the causative, e.g. bontotta "s/he demolished it" (bont- + -otta) vs. bontatta "s/he had it demolished" (bont- + -at- + -ta). The linking vowel can only be o for back-vowel verbs (as stated above: -ott/-ett/-ött) and the causative can only have a with back vowels (-at/-et). Similarly, it doesn't occur with front-vowel verbs with a rounded vowel, either: e.g. gyűjtötte ("s/he collected them") vs gyűjtette (s/he had them collected").
Below is a chart to review the conjugation differences between coinciding forms of the same verb. Ambiguous forms in the same person are marked in bold.
| "I understood it" etc., past, def. | "I made them understand it" etc., past, def. | "I understood sth" etc., past, indef. | "I made them understand sth" etc., past, indef. |
| megértettem megértetted megértette megértettük megértettétek megértették |
megértettem megértetted megértette megértettük megértettétek megértették |
megértettem megértettél megértett megértettünk megértettetek megértettek |
megértettem megértettél megértetett megértettünk megértettetek megértettek |
Regular homonymy: other cases
Another kind of ambiguity can arise with type I verbs between the second person plural plain form and the first person singular causative form, e.g. beszéltetek (only indefinite forms involved):- "you [pl] spoke": beszél ("speak") + -t- (past) + -etek ("you [pl]")
- "I make sb speak": beszél + -tet- (causative) + -ek ("I").
It can also occur with similar back-vowel verbs, e.g. csináltatok "you [pl] did sth" or "I have sth done".
beszéltek can also have two interpretations (only indefinite forms involved, again):
- "you [pl] speak": beszél + -tek ("you [pl]")
- "they spoke": beszél + -t- (past) + -ek ("they")
This latter case is not possible with back-vowel verbs, due to the difference of the linking vowel: csináltok "you [pl] do sth" vs. csináltak "they did sth".
Below is a chart to review the conjugation differences between coinciding forms of the same verb (again). Ambiguous forms in different persons are marked with asterisks.
| "I speak" etc., present, indef. |
"I spoke" etc., past, indef. |
"I make sb speak" etc., present, indef. |
"I do" etc., present, indef. |
"I did" etc., past, indef. |
"I have sth done" etc., present, indef. |
| beszélek beszélsz beszél beszélünk beszéltek* beszélnek |
beszéltem beszéltél beszélt beszéltünk beszéltetek* beszéltek* |
beszéltetek* beszéltetsz beszéltet beszéltetünk beszéltettek beszéltetnek |
csinálok csinálsz csinál csinálunk csináltok csinálnak |
csináltam csináltál csinált csináltunk csináltatok* csináltak |
csináltatok* csináltatsz csináltat csináltatunk csináltattok csináltatnak |
Sporadic coincidences
Front-vowel verbs in type III that end in -t may cause ambiguity, like between the past tense of a verb and the present tense of another. For example:| Homonymous verb | Meaning 1 | Meaning 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Féltem. | "I was afraid." fél ("be afraid") + -tem (past tense type I, first person, indef.) |
"I fear for him/her/it." félt ("fear for sb/sth") + -em (present tense, first person, def.) |
| Nem ért hozzá. | "S/he didn't touch it." hozzá|ér ("touch") + -t (past tense type I, indef.) |
"S/he isn't familiar with it." ért (hozzá) ("be familiar [with sth.]", present tense, indef.) |
| Köszönt. | "S/he said hello." köszön ("say hello") + -t (past tense type I, indef.) |
"S/he welcomes [you]." köszönt ("welcome", present tense, indef.) |
| Megbánt valamit. | "S/he regretted something." megbán ("regret") + -t (past tense type I, indef.) |
"S/he offends something." megbánt ("offend", present tense, indef.) |
Below is a chart to review the conjugation differences between coinciding forms of unrelated verbs. Ambiguous forms in the same person are marked in bold; ambiguous forms in different persons are marked with asterisks.
| "I was afraid" etc., past, indef. | "I fear for sb" etc., present, indef. | "I fear for him/her/it" etc., present, def. | "I am not familiar with it" etc., present, indef. | "I didn't touch it" etc., past, indef. |
| féltem féltél félt féltünk féltetek féltek* |
féltek* féltesz félt féltünk féltetek féltenek |
féltem félted félti féltjük féltitek féltik |
nem értek hozzá* nem értesz hozzá nem ért hozzá nem értünk hozzá nem értetek hozzá nem értenek hozzá |
nem értem hozzá nem értél hozzá nem ért hozzá nem értünk hozzá nem értetek hozzá nem értek hozzá* |
Moods
Hungarian verbs have 3 moodsGrammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
: indicative, conditional
Conditional mood
In linguistics, the conditional mood is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances...
and subjunctive
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
/ imperative
Imperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
. The indicative has a past and non-past tense. The conditional has a non-past tense and a past form, made up of the past tense indicative as the finite verb with the non-finite verb volna. The subjunctive only has a single tense.
Conditional
Use of the conditional:In a sentence with "if", unlike in English, the appropriate conditional tense is used in both the "if" clause and the main clause. The present conditional is used to talk about unlikely or impossible events in the present or future, e.g. Ha találkoznál a királynővel, mit mondanál? ("If you met the Queen, what would you say?") (cf. the second conditional in English). The past conditional is used for past events which did not happen, e.g. Ha nem találkoztunk volna a királynővel, órákkal ezelőtt megérkeztünk volna. ("If we hadn't met the Queen, we would have arrived hours ago.") (cf. the third conditional in English).
Forms of the conditional
| Person | Indefinite | Definite |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Sg. | kérnék, várnék | kérném, várnám |
| 2nd Sg. | kérnél, várnál | kérnéd, várnád |
| 3rd Sg. | kérne, várna | kérné, várná |
| 1st Pl. | kérnénk, várnánk | kérnénk, várnánk |
| 2nd Pl. | kérnétek, várnátok | kérnétek, várnátok |
| 3rd Pl. | kérnének, várnának | kérnék, várnák |
The front-vowel suffix at the end of the 1st person singular indefinite form of the back-vowel verb (várnék) is an apparent exception from the vowel harmony: it may serve to distinguish from the 3rd person plural definite form (várnák). (The indefinite kérnék forms still coincide, just like the 1st and 2nd person plural endings.)
The only opposition between the 3rd person singular definite and indefinite forms is vowel length (although a–á and e–é differ in quality as well), which can be considered one of the rare fusional
Fusional language
A fusional language is a type of synthetic language, distinguished from agglutinative languages by its tendency to overlay many morphemes in a way that can be difficult to segment....
traits in Hungarian.
A linking vowel is inserted into verbs with a consonant cluster or long vowel + t at the end, e.g. festenék 'I would paint', tanítanék 'I would teach', analogously to the rules given for the infinitive form.
Subjunctive (imperative)
Uses of the subjunctive:- For a command (i.e. an imperative)
- For a request
- For hesitant questions with 1st singular subject (cf. English "Shall I …?")
- For suggestions for joint action with 1st plural subject (cf. English "Let's …")
- For wishes (3rd person singular and plural)
- In subordinate clauses after verbs expressing orders, requests, suggestions, wishes, permission, etc.
- In hogy subordinate clauses expressing purpose
Forms of the subjunctive
In the subjunctive or imperative mood, verbs with a sibilantSibilant consonant
A sibilant is a manner of articulation of fricative and affricate consonants, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the sharp edge of the teeth, which are held close together. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words sip, zip, ship, chip,...
or t ending differ from the rest, with two groups for the t ending: those with a preceding short vowel, and those with a preceding long vowel or a consonant.
Meanings of the verbs below: kér 'ask (have a request)', vár 'wait', keres 'look for', olvas 'read', fest 'paint', szeret 'love', fut 'run', ment 'save', tanít 'teach', egerészik 'chase mice', mászik 'climb', ereszt 'let go', akaszt 'hang', néz 'look at', húz 'pull', edz 'train', lopódzik 'sneak'.
| INDEFINITE CONJUGATION | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem Forms | kér, vár | keres, olvas | fest | szeret, fut | ment, tanít | egerészik, mászik | ereszt, akaszt | néz, húz | edz, lopódzik | |
| Original Stem | (all but the following) | -S | -ST | short vowel + T | other + T | -SZ | -SZT | -Z | -DZ | |
| Altered Stem | above + J | | SS | TS | | SSZ | ZZ | DDZ | ||||
| 1st Sg | kérjek, várjak | keressek, olvassak | fessek | szeressek, fussak | mentsek, tanítsak | egerésszek, másszak | eresszek, akasszak | nézzek, húzzak | eddzek, lopóddzak | |
| 2nd Sg | kérj(él), várj(ál) |
keress(él), olvass(ál) |
fess(él) | szeress(él), fuss(ál) |
ments(él), taníts(ál) |
egeréssz(él), mássz(ál) |
eressz(él), akassz(ál) |
nézz(él), húzz(ál) |
eddz(él), lopóddz(ál) |
|
| 3rd Sg | kérjen, várjon | keressen, olvasson | fessen | szeressen, fusson | mentsen, tanítson | egerésszen, másszon | eresszen, akasszon | nézzen, húzzon | eddzen, lopóddzon | |
| 1st Pl | kérjünk, várjunk | keressünk, olvassunk | fessünk | szeressünk, fussunk | mentsünk, tanítsunk | egerésszünk, másszunk | eresszünk, akasszunk | nézzünk, húzzunk | eddzünk, lopóddzunk | |
| 2nd Pl | kérjetek, várjatok | keressetek, olvassatok | fessetek | szeressetek, fussatok | mentsetek, tanítsatok | egerésszetek, másszatok | eresszetek, akasszatok | nézzetek, húzzatok | eddzetek, lopóddzatok | |
| 3rd Pl | kérjenek, várjanak | keressenek, olvassanak | fessenek | szeressenek, fussanak | mentsenek, tanítsanak | egerésszenek, másszanak | eresszenek, akasszanak | nézzenek, húzzanak | eddzenek, lopóddzanak | |
| DEFINITE CONJUGATION | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem Forms | kér, vár | keres, olvas | fest | szeret, fut | ment, tanít | egerészik, mászik | ereszt, akaszt | néz, húz | edz, lopódzik |
| Original Stem | (all but the following) | -S | -ST | short vowel + T | other + T | -SZ | -SZT | -Z | -DZ |
| Altered Stem | above + J | | SS | TS | | SSZ | ZZ | DDZ | |||
| 1st Sg | kérjem, várjam | keressem, olvassam | fessem | szeressem, fussam | mentsem, tanítsam | egerésszem, másszam | eresszem, akasszam | nézzem, húzzam | eddzem, lopóddzam |
| 2nd Sg | kér(je)d, vár(ja)d |
keres(se)d, olvas(sa)d |
fes(se)d | szeres(se)d, fus(sa)d |
ments(e)d, taníts(a)d |
egerészd/egerésszed, mászd/másszad |
ereszd/eresszed, akaszd/akasszad |
néz(ze)d, húz(za)d |
edzd/eddzed, lopódzd/lopóddzad |
| 3rd Sg | kérje, =várja |
keresse, =olvassa |
fesse | szeresse, fussa |
mentse, tanítsa |
egeréssze, =mássza |
eressze, akassza |
nézze, =húzza |
eddze, =lopóddza |
| 1st Pl | kérjük, =várjuk |
=keressük, =olvassuk |
fessük | szeressük, fussuk |
mentsük, tanítsuk |
=egerésszük, =másszuk |
eresszük, akasszuk |
=nézzük, =húzzuk |
=eddzük, =lopóddzuk |
| 2nd Pl | kérjétek, =várjátok | keressétek, =olvassátok | fessétek | szeressétek, fussátok | mentsétek, tanítsátok | egerésszétek, =másszátok | eresszétek, akasszátok | nézzétek, =húzzátok | eddzétek, =lopóddzátok |
| 3rd Pl | kérjék, =várják |
keressék, =olvassák |
fessék | szeressék, fussák |
mentsék, tanítsák |
egerésszék, =másszák |
eresszék, akasszák |
nézzék, =húzzák |
eddzék, =lopóddzák |
| 1st > 2nd | kérjelek, várjalak | keresselek, olvassalak | fesselek | szeresselek, *fussalak | mentselek, tanítsalak | *egerésszelek, másszalak | eresszelek, akasszalak | nézzelek, húzzalak | eddzelek, *lopóddzalak |
Note: the definite conjugation may be ungrammatical for verbs that cannot have an object, e.g. fut 'run', egerészik 'chase mice', lopódzik 'sneak'. However, these forms may occur in constructions like végigfutja a távot 'run all through the distance', végigegerészi a napot 'spend all the day chasing mice', or perhaps even végiglopóddza az épületeket 'sneak through the buildings'. This solution doesn't work, though, for the forms affecting the 2nd person (unless in a poetic, vocative sense), that is why they are marked with an asterisk.
Forms marked with a preceding equality sign are identical with the indicative forms.
Second person forms have a short and a long variant both in indefinite and definite conjugation, with minimal difference in style.
Definite and indefinite conjugations
The morphology of Hungarian verbs has characteristics which give it some similarity to a tripartite systemTripartite language
A tripartite language, also called an ergative–accusative language, is one that treats the subject of an intransitive verb, the subject of a transitive verb, and the object of a transitive verb each in different ways...
(one which distinguishes between intransitive, ergative and accusative cases) rather than a purely nominative–accusative system. However, the two subject types in Hungarian are different from the intransitive/ergative distinction. They are:
- The subject of an intransitive verb or of a transitive verb with an indefiniteDefinitenessIn grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context and entities which are not ....
object - The subject of a transitive verb with a definiteDefinitenessIn grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context and entities which are not ....
object
There is no trace of this distinction in the morphology of nouns and pronouns.
| Verb with subject-marking suffix |
Object | ||
| Intransitive verb ("I'm reading.") |
Olvasok (type 1) |
∅ | |
| Transitive verb ("I'm reading… |
with an indefinite object …a book.") |
egy könyvet. | |
| with a definite object …the book.") |
Olvasom (type 2) |
a könyvet. | |
| Nominative–accusative trait | "Ergative–absolutive trait" |
|---|---|
| The form of the subject of the intransitive verb is not the same as the form of the (definite) object of the transitive verb (as in ergative–absolutive languages)… | …but it doesn't seem to agree with the form of the subject of the transitive verb, either (as in nominative–accusative languages). |
This difference shows up in Hungarian verbs as two conjugation
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
s: definite and indefinite.
The indefinite conjugation is used:
- With an intransitive verb
- With an indefinite object including an indefinite pronoun object
- With most question words as the object
- With a relative pronoun as the object
- With a 1st or 2nd person pronoun as the object, whether stated or unstated
The definite conjugation is used:
- With a definite object
- With a following clause with hogy ("that")
- With questions with melyik and hányadik ("which") as the object
- With a 3rd person pronoun as the object, whether stated or unstated
Examples:
| Indefinite (látsz) | Definite (látod) |
|---|---|
| You (can) see ∅. You can see something. You can see a book. You can see me/us. (!) You can see some/two (of them). You can't see anything/anyone. You can see everything/everyone. Who/What/how many can you see? The person/book that you can see is... |
You can see the book. You can see this book. You can see him/her/it/them. You can see yourself. You can see Mary. You can see both (books). You can see all (the books). Which (person/book) can you see? You can see (that) I'm here. |
No explicit object
If no explicit object is present, the most common interpretation of the definite verb forms is including "him/her/it". If an indefinite verb form semantically requires an object, "me" or "you [sg]" or – obviously – an indefinite object (third person) can be inferred. (The plural forms are generally made explicit.) This difference makes it possible for the writer or speaker to refer to people without making them explicit. In most cases it's enough through the context to differentiate between 3rd person and non-3rd person pronouns.Definite examples:
- olvassa ("s/he is reading") – most common meaning: s/he is reading it (the book etc.)
- nézi ("s/he is looking") – most common meaning: s/he is looking at him/her/it
Indefinite examples:
- fut ("s/he is running") – usually can't have an object so its meaning is unambiguous
- olvas ("s/he is reading") – most common meaning: s/he is reading something (the object may be omitted like in English)
- néz ("s/he is looking") – most common meaning: s/he is looking at me or you (or: gazing in the air)
-lak/-lek
An isolated verb suffix exists which is used solely for a first person singular subject with a second person singular or plural object, e.g. Szeretlek. ("I love you.", singular), Szeretlek titeket. ("I love you all.")Grammatical voice
Hungarian uses active forms not only in the active sense (e.g. "He opened the door") and in the middle voice sense (e.g. "The door opened"), but also to express the passive (e.g. "The door was opened by Jane"), with the third person plural active form. For example Megvizsgálják a gyereket literally means "They examine the child", but it is more commonly meant like "The child is examined". The fact that this sentence behaves like a passive voice is shown by the fact that the above (third person plural) form can be used even when only one agentAgent (grammar)
In linguistics, a grammatical agent is the cause or initiator of an event. Agent is the name of the thematic role...
is meant (i.e., the child is examined by one doctor).
Another means to express the passive meaning is using middle voice lexical forms or unaccusative verb
Unaccusative verb
In linguistics, an unaccusative verb is an intransitive verb whose subject is not a agent; that is, it does not actively initiate, or is not actively responsible for, the action of the verb. Unaccusative verbs thus contrast with unergative verbs...
s, e.g. épül: "build"/ intransitive (cf. épít "build"/ transitive), alakul: "form"/ intransitive (cf. alakít "form"/ transitive). -ul/-ül is a common ending that expresses the middle voice, as opposed to -ít which expresses the active (these are transitive verb
Transitive verb
In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...
s). Middle voice forms can also be created from some plain verbs by adding -ódik/-ődik, e.g. íródik "get written" (from ír "write"), ütődik "get hit" (from üt "hit"). These active/middle pairs comprise a considerable part among Hungarian verbs.
In the perfect, there is a third way to express passive meaning: the existential verb van (see van (to be)) plus the adverbial participle ending in -va/-ve (see Adverb derivation), e.g. meg van írva "it is written" (from megír "write"). It is used when the result of the action is emphasized. It can be formed in the past perfect and future perfect, too, with the past and future forms of van. – A similar structure is used in a past meaning with lett: meg lett írva "it was written" or "it has been written" (sometimes "it had been written").
Finally, the actual passive form does occur once in a while, formed with -atik/-etik or -tatik/-tetik. For example: születik ("be born", from szül "give birth"), adatik ("be given", from ad "give"), viseltetik ("owe sb certain feelings", from visel "bear"), foglaltatik ("be included", from (magába) foglal "include"). These can be formed by adding -ik to the causative (see Modal and causative suffixes). Most of these forms (except for születik) are considered obsolete.
An example regular verb
Here is a regular verb, kér ("ask", "have a request"). The personal suffixes are marked in bold.| Indefinite | Definite | |||||||||||
| Indicative Mood | ||||||||||||
| Present | kérek | kérsz | kér | kérünk | kértek | kérnek | kérem | kéred | kéri | kérjük | kéritek | kérik |
| Past | kértem | kértél | kért | kértünk | kértetek | kértek | kértem | kérted | kérte | kértük | kértétek | kérték |
| Conditional Mood | ||||||||||||
| Present | kérnék | kérnél | kérne | kérnénk | kérnétek | kérnének | kérném | kérnéd | kérné | kérnénk | kérnétek | kérnék |
| Past | kértem volna |
kértél volna |
kért volna |
kértünk volna |
kértetek volna |
kértek volna |
kértem volna |
kérted volna |
kérte volna |
kértük volna |
kértétek volna |
kérték volna |
| Subjunctive Mood | ||||||||||||
| Present | kérjek | kérjél or kérj |
kérjen | kérjünk | kérjetek | kérjenek | kérjem | kérjed or kérd |
kérje | kérjük | kérjétek | kérjék |
Modal and causative suffixes
Hungarian has 2 forms which can be added to the verb stem to modify the meaning. These are sometimes referred to as infixInfix
An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Indonesian:...
es, but they are not true infixes because they are not inserted inside another morpheme.
-hat-/-het- has a modal
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
meaning of permission or opportunity, e.g. beszélek "I speak", beszélhetek "I may speak" or "I am allowed to speak".
Note: Ability ("I can speak") is usually expressed with "tud". See Auxiliary verbs (modal and temporal).
-at-/-et- and -tat-/-tet- have a causative
Causative
In linguistics, a causative is a form that indicates that a subject causes someone or something else to do or be something, or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event....
meaning. It can express "having something done" or "having/making someone do something". For example: beszélek "I speak", beszéltetek "I make sb speak". (Incidentally, it is the same form as "you [pl] spoke", analysed beszél|t|etek, see Past tense.)
-tat/-tet is used if the word ends in vowel + -t or if the stem ends in a consonant different from -t, but it has two or more syllables (excluding the verbal particle). In other cases, -at/-et is used: that is, with words ending in a consonant + t and with one-syllable words ending in a consonant different from -t.
| Ending | |-t | |not -t | |
|---|---|---|---|
| vowel + -t | consonant + -t | ||
| One syllable | süttet "to have sth baked", láttat "to make sth seen" | gyűjtet "to have sth collected", festet "to have sth painted" | írat "to have sth written", mosat "to have sth washed", fürdet "to give sb a bath" Also: ki+dobat "to have sb. thrown out", el+fogat "to have sb caught" (See the exceptions below) |
| Several syllables | taníttat "to have sb taught", felszólíttat "to have sb warned" | felébresztet "to have sb woken up", halasztat "to have sth postponed" | beszéltet "to have sb speak", dolgoztat "to make sb work", olvastat "to have sb read" |
The monosyllabic words which don't end in vowel + -t, but have -tat/-tet in the causative are áz|ik (áztat), buk|ik (buktat), kop|ik (koptat), szop|ik (szoptat), hány (hánytat), él (éltet), kel (keltet), lép (léptet), szűn|ik (szüntet [!]), jár (jártat), szök|ik (szöktet).
Verbal noun
A noun is formed from a verb by adding -ás/-és to the verb stem (cf. gerundGerund
In linguistics* As applied to English, it refers to the usage of a verb as a noun ....
in English), e.g. Az úszás egészséges. ("Swimming is healthy.")
Participles
There are three participleParticiple
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
s in Hungarian. They are formed by adding the following suffixes to the verb stem:
- -ó/-ő - present participle, e.g. író ember ("a writing person")
- -ott/-ett/-ött/-t - past participle, e.g. megírt levél ("a written letter" /"the letter that has been written")
- -andó/-endő - future participle, e.g. írandó levél ("a letter to be written")
Since the past participle usually expresses a perfected action/event, the verb sometimes changes into its perfective counterpart by taking a verbal particle (igekötő) with this function, as seen in the above example (megírt levél). This verbal particle may, however, be replaced by a noun, e.g. Annának írt levél ("a letter written to Anna"). – See more under Hungarian syntax.
Verb particles /prefixes (igekötők)
Hungarian verbs can have verb particles or prefixes, similar to phrasal verbPhrasal verb
A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition, any of which are part of the syntax of the sentence, and so are a complete semantic unit. Sentences may contain direct and indirect objects in addition to the phrasal...
s in English. The most common ones are meg- (perfective
Perfective aspect
The perfective aspect , sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed as a simple whole, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. The perfective aspect is equivalent to the aspectual component of past perfective forms...
), but some other ones, too, can take this function), fel- ("up"), le- ("down"/"off"), be- ("in"), ki- ("out"), el- ("away"), vissza- ("back"), át- ("over"/"through"), oda- ("there"), ide- ("here"), össze- ("together"), szét- ("apart").
The above meanings are the literal meanings, but they all can have figurative, idiomatic meanings. Examples of literal meanings for the verb ír ("write"): leír ("write down"), beír ("write into") as opposed to the non-literal meanings: leír ("declare as useless", cf "write off"), beír ("give a written warning [to a schoolchild]"). Different prefixes can express subtle differences (e.g. meghízik "get fat" vs. elhízik "get obese") as well as independent concepts (e.g. rúg "kick", kirúg "fire sb", berúg "get drunk"). They often serve to change the verb into perfective (along with other factors).
When the particle precedes the verb without any other inserted word, they are used as one word, e.g. Leírja ("He writes it down"). Syntactically, the particle may go behind the verb for various reasons. It may occur due to a stressed part in the sentence (the focus), e.g. Ő írja le ("It's him who writes it down") or a negation, e.g. Nem írja le ("He doesn't write it down"). The inverted order is also used in the imperative, e.g. Írja le! ("Write it down!"). Finally, it may also refer to continuity, like Lement a lépcsőn ("He went down the stairs") vs. Ment le a lépcsőn ("He was going down the stairs").
If the verb with the particle is in the infinitive, the finite verb
Finite verb
A finite verb is a verb that is inflected for person and for tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs. Finite verbs can form independent clauses, which can stand on their own as complete sentences....
will be wedged between them, e.g. Le akarja írni ("He wants to write it down") or Le tudja írni ("He can write it down").
The particle may considerably affect the case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
of the complement
Complement (linguistics)
In grammar the term complement is used with different meanings. The primary meaning is a word, phrase or clause that is necessary in a sentence to complete its meaning. We find complements that function as an argument and complements that exist within arguments.Both complements and modifiers add...
: for example, the verb kezd ("start sth.") can take several different verb particles, all expressing the same concept (with minor differences), but their complement differs depending on the particle:
- elkezd valamit (accusativeAccusative caseThe accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
) - nekikezd valaminek (dativeDative caseThe dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
) - belekezd valamibe (illativeIllative caseIllative is, in the Finnish language, Estonian language and the Hungarian language, the third of the locative cases with the basic meaning of "into ". An example from Hungarian is "a házba"...
) - hozzákezd valamihez (allativeAllative caseAllative case is a type of the locative cases used in several languages. The term allative is generally used for the lative case in the majority of languages which do not make finer distinctions.-Finnish language:In the Finnish language, the allative is the fifth of the locative cases, with the...
)
It happens because certain verb particles (the latter three among the examples) come from personal pronouns in the given case and they require agreement.
When giving a short positive answer to a yes/no question, the particle can refer back to the whole sentence, see Yes/no questions.
Cases needing attention
There are a few words which appear to begin with a particle, but don't actually, e.g. felel ("reply"), lehel ("breathe/puff"), kiált ("give a shout") and beszél ("speak") where fel-, le-, ki- and be- are parts of the words themselves, rather than actual particles. The difference is important in the above-mentioned syntactic cases when these elements will – naturally – not function like particles do. Compare the above kiált (no compound) with ki|áll ("stand out", a compound): nem kiált ("he doesn't give a shout"), but nem áll ki ("he doesn't stand out"). – A similar case is fellebbez ("appeal [in court]"), from the adverb fellebb ("upper", today: feljebb), containing no particle.A verb may occasionally be a homonym in the above sense, i.e. being a single word or containing a particle, e.g. betűz ("spell [by letters]", no compound), but be|tűz ("stick in" or "shine in", a compound).
The other misleading cases are those verbs which were historically formed from nouns derived from verbs with particles, so they seemingly begin with particles, but they don't behave like them. An example is befolyásol ("influence", v) which derives from befolyás ("influence", n), a calque
Calque
In linguistics, a calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation.-Calque:...
from German Einfluß, literally "in-flow", including the particle be- ("in"). This element, being part of the original noun, will not act as a particle of the derived verb befolyásol. There are few such words, e.g. kivitelez ("implement") from kivitel ("exportation", cf "carrying out"). Kirándul ("go hiking") used to be a compound (ki + rándul), but people don't usually treat it like that any more so they say, e.g., Kirándulni akar. ("s/he wants to go hiking") instead of Ki akar rándulni, which is obsolete and only used jokingly. An opposite (exceptional) case is that of feltételez ("suppose" or "assume"), which comes from feltétel ("condition"), so the prefix is only part of the embedded noun, rather than of the full verb, but it is still separated: fel sem tételezhetjük, fel kell tételeznünk ("we can't even assume, we must suppose"). What functions as a verbal prefix sometimes may not be one other times, e.g. ellenáll 'resist' can separate like nem állok ellen 'I don't resist', but ellenőriz 'check' stays together like nem ellenőrzök 'I don't check'.
Auxiliary verbs (modal and temporal)
Most Hungarian auxiliary verbs are impersonal; beside them, the suffixed infinitive is used. A few are conjugated. (Note: personal suffixes are marked in bold.)| Auxiliary verb | Meaning | Form | Example with meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| kell | obligation | impersonal | kell mennem | I must/ have to go |
| kellene /kéne | advice & suggestions | impersonal | kellene mennem kéne mennem |
I should/ought to go |
| muszáj | strong obligation | impersonal | muszáj mennem | I have got to go |
| szabad | permission | impersonal | szabad mennem | I am allowed to go |
| tilos | prohibition | impersonal | tilos mennem | I must not go |
| fog | future intention | conjugated | fogok menni | I am going to go |
| tud | ability | conjugated | tudok menni | I can go |
| Modal suffix | ||||
| opportunity, permission | conjugated | mehetek | I can go I may go |
|
The suffix -hat/-het mentioned in the last row can be further conjugated, just like any verb.
The verb lehet is used impersonally, e.g. oda lehet menni "one can go there".
szokott
The verb szokott is conjugated like a regular past tense one (though it can have the indefinite and the definite forms, too), however, used with an infinitive, it has the meaning of a habitual action which includes the present time.Examples:
- Szoktam álmodni ("I dream usually")
- Meg szoktam mosni ("I usually wash it")
Irregular verbs
The verbs van ("to be"), jön ("to come") and megy ("to go") have an irregular present tense and irregular stems for different tenses. jön also has irregular forms in the subjunctive. A further group of 9 verbs have irregular stems for different tenses, but follow the same pattern of irregularity as each other. A few other verbs shorten or drop a vowel with certain suffixes.| A regular verb compared to an irregular | |||
| Regular verb: él (to live) | Irregular verb: megy (to go) | ||
| Past | Present | Past | Present |
| éltem | élek | mentem | megyek |
| éltél | élsz | mentél | mész (sometimes also mégy (archaic)) |
| élt | él | ment | megy |
| éltünk | élünk | mentünk | megyünk |
| éltetek | éltek | mentetek | mentek |
| éltek | élnek | mentek | mennek |
Use
When the verb is used as a copula i.e. if one speaks about what someone or something is, it is omitted in the third person singular and plural of the present tense. The verb is required in all other tenses and persons when speaking about where or how something is, or to emphasize the existence or availability of something. Examples:- Péter orvos ∅. – Peter is a doctor. (present tense, third person, speaking about what someone is: no linking verb in Hungarian)
- Péter jól van. – Peter is well.
- Péter itt van. – Peter is here.
- Péter orvos volt. – Peter was a doctor.
- Orvos vagyok. – I am a doctor.
The non-copula form of van is also used to express the equivalent of "There is/are":
- Van orvos a szobában. – There is a doctor in the room.
The negation of the third person van (plural vannak) as a non-copula verb is the suppletive
Suppletion
In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irregular" or even "highly irregular". The term "suppletion" implies...
nincs (plural nincsenek):
- Itt van Péter. – Peter is here.
- Nincs itt Péter. – Peter isn't here.
Hungarian has no verb which is equivalent to "to have". Instead, ownership/possession are expressed using van with a possessive suffix on the noun:
- Van könyvem. ("I have a book.", literally "There-is book-my")
Conjugation
Like the verb "to be" in most other languages, van is irregular. It comes from three (or four) bases: vagy- (or van-), vol-, and len-. These overlap to some extent with the verb lesz ("become"). As it cannot have an object, it doesn't have definite forms. It is the only verb in Hungarian which has a future form.| Indicative Mood | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present Tense | vagyok | vagy | van | vagyunk | vagytok | vannak |
| Past Tense | voltam | voltál | volt | voltunk | voltatok | voltak |
| Future Tense | leszek | leszel | lesz | leszünk | lesztek | lesznek |
| Conditional Mood | ||||||
| Present Tense | lennék or volnék |
lennél or volnál |
lenne or volna |
lennénk or volnánk |
lennétek or volnátok |
lennének or volnának |
| Past Tense | lettem volna |
lettél volna |
lett volna |
lettünk volna |
lettetek volna |
lettek volna |
| Subjunctive Mood | ||||||
| Present Tense | legyek | legyél or légy |
legyen | legyünk | legyetek | legyenek |
There is little difference between the two conditional forms. In theory, lennék etc. are preferred when an option is considered as possible (e.g. Ha otthon lennék, "if I were at home") and volnék etc. are preferred when it is considered impossible (e.g. Ha rózsa volnék, "if I were a rose"), but the limits are rather vague. It is probably not by chance that the former is akin to the future form (leszek), which might still become true, and the latter to the past form (voltam), which is already determined. In practice, the lennék series is somewhat more frequently used in both senses.
External links
- Hungarian verb conjugator, with opportunity for testing and practising
- Online morphology charts at the website of the Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Hungarian verb conjugator Jargot.com's verb conjugator