OCCURRENCE INSIDE AN OBJECT

The suffixes that refer to inside are:

Hol? = -ban, -ben (> in, at)
Hova? = -ba, -be (> in, into, to)
Honnan? = -ból, -ből (> from, from inside)

Examples for deep and high words:

a várban – in the castle
a várba – into the castle
a várból – from the castle

a fűben – in the grass
a fűbe – into the grass
a fűből – from the grass

The vowels a, e become á, é when these suffixes are attached to such a noun. Remember? The vowels a, e in an open syllable become á, é in plural and that’s true for these nouns, too: iskola, medence

az iskolában – at school
az iskolába – to school
az iskolából – from school

a medencében – in the pool
a medencébe – into the pool
a medencéből – from the pool

In fact, Hungarian is more logical in this respect compared to Germanic or Indo-European languages. When you have understood the Hungarian point of view, you’ll think that, too. 🙂

Examples in sentences:

A király a várban van. – The king is in the castle.
Bemegyek a várba. – I go into the castle.
Kijövök a várból. – I come out from the castle.

A nyúl a fűben alszik. – The bunny sleeps in the grass.
A nyúl a fűbe ugrik. – The bunny jumps into the grass.
A nyúl kiszalad a fűből. – The bunny runs out from the grass.

Tanulni lehet az iskolában. – You can learn at school.
Kedden megyek iskolába. – On Tuesday I go to school.
Kijövök az iskolából. – I come out from school.

A medencében úszok. – I swim in the pool.
A medencébe ugrok. – I jump into the pool.
A medencéből kiabálok. – I shout from the pool.

I know some sentences seem clumsy, but I think you got my point. And I also know that Present Simple Continuous would be more suitable in some sentences above, but there is not much space to write a longer line on this blog. 🙂

Some examples with questions:

–Hol van most? – A boltban. / Az erdőben.
–Where is he now? –In the shop. / In the forest.

–Hova megy? -A boltba. / Az erdőbe.
–Where is he going? –To the shop. / To the forest.

–Honnan jön? -A boltból. / Az erdőből.
–Where is he coming from? –From the shop. / From the forest.

NOTE! English doesn’t really ask ‘Where are you going to?’. You just say ‘Where are you going?’ without the to preposition. That’s why it’s important to be careful. The English question Where? means Hol? and Hova? at the same time.

In English the difference between -ba, -be and -ban, -ben is not always visible because both can be just translated with the in preposition sometimes. The following examples will surely help you.

Moziba megyek. – I’m going to the cinema.
Moziban vagyok. – I am in the cinema.

Summary for suffixes refering to inside:
-ba, -be = towards a direction
-ban, -ben = position > something is to be found somewhere
-ból, -ből = from a direction

This will be important for learning the other suffixes to express directions!