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Hungarian grammar is the grammar ofHungarian, aFinno-Ugric language that is spoken mainly inHungary and in parts of its seven neighboring countries.
Hungarian is a highlyagglutinative language which uses variousaffixes, mainlysuffixes, to change the meaning of words and their grammatical function. These affixes are mostly attached according tovowel harmony.
Verbs are conjugated according todefiniteness,tense,mood,person andnumber.Nouns can be declined with 18 case suffixes, most of which correspond to English prepositions.
Hungarian is atopic-prominent language and so its word order depends on thetopic-comment structure of the sentence (that is, what aspect is assumed to be known and what is emphasized).
Neutral Hungarian sentences have asubject–verb–object word order, like English. Hungarian is anull-subject language and so the subject does not have to be explicitly stated.Word order is determined not bysyntactic roles but rather bypragmatic factors.[citation needed] Emphasis is placed on the word or phrase immediately before thefinite verb.
The four parts that a sentence usually contains are topic, focus, verb and the rest; however, any of the four parts may be empty. The topic and the rest may contain any number of phrases, but the focus may contain only one phrase.
The tables below contain some Hungarian variations of the sentenceJános tegnap elvitt két könyvet Péternek. ("John took two books to Peter yesterday.") Besides the verb, the sentence contains four other elements:János ("John"),Péternek ("to Peter"),két könyvet ("two books") andtegnap ("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, and there is no special emphasis.) |
| János | tegnap | két könyvet | vitt el | Péternek. | It wastwo books that John took to 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 wasyesterday that John took two books to Peter. (John took Peter two books sometime, but it was done specifically yesterday.) |
| ∅ | ∅ | János | vitt el | tegnap két könyvet Péternek. | It wasJohn who took two books to Peter. |
| ∅ | ∅ | Péternek | vitt el | tegnap János két könyvet. | It was toPeter whom John took two books to yesterday. |
| János | tegnap | Péternek | vitt el | két könyvet. | John took two books yesterday specifically toPeter, not to anybody else. |
| ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | Elvitt | János tegnap két könyvet Péternek. | Two books were taken by John to Peter yesterday. (The action was completed, and the books are at Peter's place now. Emphasis on the action.) |
| Két könyvet | tegnap | ∅ | elvitt | János Péternek. | Two books were indeed taken by John to Peter. (Perhaps something else was brought to him, as well. However, the two books may not be the most important thing; for example, John may have left Peter's documents at home.) |
| ∅ | ∅ | Két könyvet | vitt el | János tegnap Péternek. | John tooktwo books and nothing else to Peter yesterday. |
The topic contains a phrase or phrases that the speaker considers to be known and are used to introduce thetopic of the statement, equivalent to "as far as X is concerned,...". The focus attracts the attention to an element of the event that is considered to be unknown, or it may be a refutation to a possible opposing belief. It excludes the validity of the statement for all other individuals in question and is equivalent to "it was X and nothing else that...".
If a focus is present, the verbal prefix will be put after the verb (vitt el is used instead ofelvitt). If there is no verbal prefix, there may be ambiguity in writing since the phrase before the verb may be either a topic or a focus. For example, in the sentenceÉva szereti a virágokat ("Eve likes [the] flowers"),Éva may be a topic and the sentence may be neutral, orÉva may be a focus and the sentence may emphasize that it is Eve who likes flowers:
| Sentence | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| Éva szereti a virágokat. | Eve likes flowers. |
| Szereti Éva a virágokat. | Evelikes flowers (despite what someone thinks). |
| Éva szereti a virágokat. | Eve likes flowers (and not someone else). |
| Évaa virágokat szereti. | Eve likesflowers (and not something else). |
| A virágokatÉva szereti. | It isEve who likesflowers (and not someone else although something else may be liked by someone else). |
| A virágokat szereti Éva. | It isflowers that Eve likes (and not something else). |
Hungarian is anagglutinative language. Most grammatical information is given throughsuffixes: "on the table" =asztalon (space relation), "at 5 o'clock" =öt órakor (time relation). There is also one grammaticalprefix (leg- for superlatives).[clarification needed]
In Hungarian, the endings are common mostly for endings of pronouns with suffixes and postpositions, possessive endings of nouns and endings of verbs. (The accusative of pronouns is also given for comparison, but 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 |
| "You" (formal) | (When to use which form: "Maga" when a higher ranking person speaks to a lower ranking person with formality. (ex.: boss to employee) "Ön" when a lower ranking person speaks to a higher ranking person with formality. (ex.: employee to boss) When speaking to the elderly the "Ön form" is used, as the "Maga form" can have pejorative undertones.) | ||||||
| Ön, Maga | Önt Magát | Önnél Magánál | Ön alatt Maga alatt | az Ön lakása a Maga lakása | Ön lát Maga lát | Ön látja Maga látja | (-a/-e) |
| Önök, Maguk | Önöket Magukat | Önöknél Maguknál | Önök alatt Maguk alatt | az Önök lakása a Maguk lakása | Önök látnak Maguk látnak | Önök látják Maguk látják | (-k) |
Front-back vowel harmony is important in Hungarian morphophonology. Certain suffixes also distinguish between front unrounded vowels and front rounded vowels.SeeHungarian phonology orvowel harmony for a more detailed explanation.
Most (if not all) morphological word endings in Hungarian for verb conjugations (definite and indefinite), possessive suffixes and 'case-related' postpositions can be thought of as 'templates' that are, in turn, 'filled in' with vowels. While the template itself consists mainly of consonants (and sometimes vowels), the vowels that 'fill in' the template depend on the class of vowels (front, back, long, short, rounded, unrounded) in the word to which the template is attached.
For example, 'bVn' would be the template for the postposition meaning 'in' (with 'V' being the 'fill-in' vowel position) and it can be 'filled in' with either 'a' (for back vowels), thus forming 'ban,' or with 'e' (for front vowels), thus forming 'ben.' On the other hand, 'hVz' would be the template for the postposition meaning 'to' and this can be 'filled in' with 'o' (back), 'e' (front unrounded), or 'ö' (front rounded). The particular vowel or vowels taken by a template must mostly be memorized by a learner of Hungarian, but certain patterns can be noted by observing the particular phonological makeup of the consonants in the template. For example, 'vVl' is the template meaning 'with,' but the first consonant ('v') changes to match the final consonant of the word to which it is attached (provided the word ends in a consonant).
Note that the stem-finala ande, as well aso andö in foreign words, are lengthened before suffixes:alma → almát, mese → mesét, pianó → pianót, Malmö → Malmőt. (Shorto andö cannot occur at the end of Hungarian words.) Shorti,u andü retain their length:ami → amit, kapu → kaput, menü → menüt.
Here are the vowels that form parallel pairs or triads in harmonic suffixes:
| Back | Front |
|---|---|
| variant | |
| o | e/ö |
| a | e |
| á | é |
| u | ü |
| ú | ű |
| ó | ő |
It can be seen the members of these pairs/triads agree mostly inheight andlength but differ inbackness. (An exception is the pairá/é for whichá (openfront unrounded vowel) is considered to beback.)
In the cases ofo vs.e andö and ofa ande there appears a difference inroundedness, too.
Notes:
The suffixes can be classified into the following phonological types:
Minor variations:
Note that the long vowelsá/é,ú/ű andó/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 |
|
| |||
This difference often disambiguates meanings, e.g.jöttek means "they came" (past) andjöttök means "you [pl.] come" (present).
An extreme example is the longest Hungarian word 'megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért' (means 'due to your repeatedly not being possible to be desecrated'). This word contains mass of inflexions, prefix, suffix, etc. The core of the word is 'szent', meaning "sacred."
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) | |
|---|---|---|
|
|
As well as the noun suffixes, which are often equivalent to English prepositions, Hungarian also haspostpositions.
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, seepostpositions with personal suffixes.
The following postpositions differ from the above in that they are never suffixed with personal endings:
| Spatial postpositions | Time postpositions | Other postpositions |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
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 take either the nominative or the dative suffix, seeOther noun endings.)
| dative | 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 asprepositions:át (over/across),keresztül (through),együtt (together with),szemben (opposite),túl (beyond), e.g.át a folyón ora folyón át ("across the river").
Adjectives are unmarked for case.Attributive adjectives are unmarked for number butpredicative adjectives are marked:pirosalmák ("red apples") butAz 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 in apresent participle (rather than a noun):
When combined with a form of the existential verb(van), it expresses the result of an action:
Such participles (note theadverbial usage) are referred to by term "adverbial participle" (distinguished fromadjectival participle).
In Hungarian adverbs can be usedpredicatively withvan ("is"):Korán van. ("It's early.")Nyitva van. ("It's open.")
Some degree adverbs are formed from adjectives. The suffixes are the same ones that are usually used on nouns:
Comparative adjectives and adverbs are formed by adding-abb/-ebb/-bb to theadjective stem:gyors ("quick"),gyorsabb ("quicker"),gyorsan ("quickly"),gyorsabban ("more quickly").
To state the thing that is being compared with (like English "than"), Hungarian uses the noun suffix-nál/-nél or the prepositionmint (mint is the onlypreposition in Hungarian):gyorsabb a szélnél orgyorsabb, mint a szél ("faster than the wind").
Superlative adjectives and adverbs are formed by adding the prefixleg- to the comparative: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") ornyolc 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 asn9,f9 andh9 (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.:
...orfél kilenc lesz tíz perc múlva (literally "it will be half 9 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 withnem except in thesubjunctive, whenne is used.
Double or multiple negativeis mandatory with negative pronouns (likenobody, nothing, never, nowhere).
Ki? is the basic question word for a person ("who?"), andmi? is the basic question word for a thing ("what?"). If it is meaningful, they can take the full range of case and noun suffixes:kit?,miben?,miképp?mi +ért ("for the purpose of") gives the question wordmiért? ("why?").
Milyen? is used to ask for a description and can be used either to ask about a whole noun phrase (Milyen a tanárod? "What is your teacher like?") or as a determiner (Milyen lakást akarsz? "What kind of flat do you want?"). There is no case suffix-lyan/-lyen, but that ending still occurs inilyen ("this kind of"),olyan ("that kind of"),valamilyen ("some kind of") andsemmilyen ("no kind of").
The strict three-way distinction in direction that occurs in the positional suffixes also occurs in the question words:hol? ("where?"),hova? /hová? ("where to?") andhonnan? ("where from?").
Hány? is used to ask questions about numbers ("how many?"), andmennyi? is used to ask about quantities ("how much?"). If it is meaningful, they can take the full range of case and noun suffixes, andhánnyal?,hánykor?,mennyibe?,mennyiért?hány? can also take the full range of suffixes used for numbers and to express quantity:hányadik?,hányas?
Yes–no questions are expressed by intonation and not by any modification to syntax or morphology.
A short positive answer to a yes–no question is often given by repeating theverb particle (or the full verb, if it has no particle), rather than by using the wordsIgen ("Yes"). Examples:
A negative answer to a yes–no question may include the wordNem ("No"), the negation of the requested part of the sentence or both.
Tag questions are made by addingugye to the beginning or end of a statement:Elment, ugye? orUgye elment? ("He has left, hasn't he?"). The latter form more strongly suggests a 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 [not for some other reason].)
Relative clauses usually have an explicitantecedent in the main clause, e.g.Attól félek/tartok, (hogy) nem mehetek el. ("I'm afraid [of the fact that] I can't go.")
