Borrowed fromGermanmusssein (“mustbe”), frommüssen(“to have to”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈmusaːj]
• Hyphenation:mu‧száj
• Rhymes:-aːj

muszáj(invariable)

1. (only predicatively, often used with an infinitive)must,have to, beobliged to

   Synonyms:kell,szükséges,köteles,kénytelen

   Muszáj mennem. ―Imust go.

Even though its most natural English equivalents are verbs, this Hungarian word is not classified as a verb because it cannot have any inflection characteristic of a verb. Instead, it is used in the past and the future tense just like a noun or an adjective, i.e., supplemented with a form ofvan, such asmuszáj volt (“it was necessary [for one to…]”; “[one] had to…”) andmuszáj lesz (“it will be necessary [for one to…]”, “[one] will have to…”), similarly to its synonymsszükséges(“necessary”) (impersonal in this sense),köteles(“[be] obliged [to]”), andkénytelen(“[be] compelled [to]”).

muszáj (usuallyuncountable,pluralmuszájok)

1. (literary, only in certain phrases)necessity,constraint,pressure

   Synonyms:kényszer,kényszerűség,szükség,szükségesség,szükségszerűség,nyomás

It is practically only used in this sense in the formmuszájból(“out of necessity”) and in the phrasenagy úr a muszáj(“necessity knows no law”, literally“necessity is a powerful master”).

• → Romanian:musai

• Category:Hungarian auxiliary verbs

• muszáj in Géza Bárczi,László Országh,et al., editors,A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.Fifth ed., 1992:→ISBN.

• Hungarian terms borrowed from German
• Hungarian terms derived from German
• Hungarian terms with IPA pronunciation
• Rhymes:Hungarian/aːj
• Rhymes:Hungarian/aːj/2 syllables
• Hungarian lemmas
• Hungarian nouns
• Hungarian terms with usage examples
• Hungarian uncountable nouns
• Hungarian literary terms

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