Category Archives: Cases/Postpositions

Suffixes / Adverbs of Place – Countries And Cities

SUFFIXES FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES

Another weird thing in Hungarian is the determination of a certain direction when it comes to non-Hungarian countries, geographical places.

Countries other than Hungary take the suffixes for occurrences inside an object: –ba, -be, -ban, -ben, -ból, -ből. Words containing the word ország (land, country) take the deep suffixes -ba, -ban, -ból because ország is a deep-vowel word! Other countries without ország are recognizable for English speakers and they take these suffixes according to vowel harmony. Continents also take these suffixes.

Olaszországba – (I’m going) to Italy
Olaszországban – (I’m) in Italy
Olaszországból – from Italy

Kínába – (I’m going) to China
Kínában – (I’m) in China
Kínából – from China

Chilebe – (I’m going) to Chile
Chileben – (I’m) in Chile
Chileből – from Chile

Európába – (I’m going) to Europe
Európában – (I’m) in Europe
Európából – from Europe

Though this formula is valid for foreign places, it is not for the Hungarian places. Hungarian people attach ’the suffix of occurrences on the surface’ to their own country!

Magyarországra – (I’m going) to Hungary
Magyarországon – (I’m) in Hungary
Magyarországról – from Hungary

Technically speaking, we say ”on Hungary”, almost giving the impression of some kind of superiority.

CITIES

Some examples for foreign cities:

Berlinbe – (I’m going) to Berlin
Berlinben – (I’m) in Berlin
Berlinből – from Berlin

Rómába – (I’m going) to Rome
Rómában – (I’m) in Rome
Rómából – from Rome

It’s easy to doubt that this rule is not valid in all cases. 🙂

Foreign cities and Hungarian cities ending in –j, -m, -n, -ny, -i take the suffixes -ba, -be, -ban, ben, -ból, -ből. All other Hungarian cities (more or less) take -ra, -re, -ról, -ről and -on, -en, -ön like Magyarország.

Esztergomba – Esztergomban – Esztergomból
Tihanyba – Tihanyban – Tihanyból
Sopronba – Sopronban – Sopronból

Budapest – Budapestre – Budapesten – Budapestről
Pécs – Pécsre – Pécsen/Pécsett – Pécsről
Százhalombatta – Százhalombattára – Százhalombattán – Százhalombattáról
Kolozsvár – Kolozsvárra – Kolozsváron/Kolozsvárott – Kolozsvárról

Supplemental: some city names can take two suffixes like Pécs and Kolozsvár. It is because the suffix -tt comes from the Finno-Ugric times and it is still used with some cities, but it is heard more and more rarely in the spoken language. Another example: Győr – Győrbe – Győrben/Győrött – Győrből.

Islands take -ra, -re, -on, -en, -ön, -ról, -ről for obvious reasons. You can go onto the surface of an island: Hawaii-ra, a Kanári szigeteken, Korzikáról

NOTE

Like ’ország’, the following nouns take -ba, -be; -ban, -ben; -ból, -ből: köztársaság (republic), királyság (kingdom), hercegség (princedom) , szultánság (sultanate), közösség (community), állam (state), föderáció/szövetség (federation)

Any country ending with ’föld’ takes -ra, -re; -on, -en, -ön, -ról, -ről: Malájföldön, Thaiföldön, Lappföldön. And any ’alföld, felföld – lowland, highland’ take the same suffixes, too: La Plata-alföldön

Just because a country is situated on an island, it doesn’t necessarily take -ra, -re and co. What matters is if the name ends with the word ’sziget’ or not, thus: Fülöp-szigeteki Köztársaságban, but Fülöp-szigeteken.

Suffixes / Adverbs of Place – Different Point of View

DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW

Foreign students have to be careful how to translate certain suffixes in English. The use of Hungarian suffixes often differs from that of English prepositions. In the following examples you see the Hungarian sentence first, then the English translation and then the exact translation from Hungarian. Examples:

Az egyetemen vagyok. – I’m at the university.
I’m on the university.

Iskolában vagyok. – I’m at school.
I’m in school.

Az állomáson vagyok – I’m at the station.
I’m on the station.

Az egyetemre megyek. – I’m going to the university.
I’m going onto the university.

Iskolába megyek. – I’m going to school.
I’m going into school.

Az állomásra megyek. – I’m going to the station.
I’m going onto the station.

A villamosra szállok. – I’m getting on the tram.
I’m getting onto the tram.

Az egyetemről jövök. – I’m coming from the university.
I’m coming from the university.

Az iskolából jövök. – I’m coming from school.
I’m coming from school.

Az állomásról jövök. – I’m coming from the station.
I’m coming from the station.

A villamosról leszállok. – I’m getting off the tram.
I’m getting from the tram.

Hungarian people go on the surface of the station, inside the school in a more proper sense. Basically, what you should do is thinking in a literal sense:

If I go to school, I have to go inside the building in order to be in school. So I use the suffixes -ban, -ben (in). If I go to the station, and I’m at the station already, I must have stepped onto the surface of the station to be on the station, so I use and -on, -en, -ön (on).

Sorry for this circumlocutional explanation, but what I’m trying to say is:

Think logically

Of course, a language wouldn’t be a language without exceptions and irregularities, so the general rule above isn’t always true. You can see an example for that right above in those sentences.

Egyetemre megyek.

A university must be a building, so I should go inside the building. How can Hungarian people ”go onto the university”? Well, it is an exception. To make it simple for you, here’s a small list of places you have to use -ra, -re with, instead of -ba, -be. And so if you ARE at those places, the suffixes are -on, -en, -ön.

egyetem (university), főiskola (college), posta (post office), rendőrség (police), tűzoltóság (fire department), állomás (station)

Postára megyek. – I’m going to the post office.
A postán vagyok. – I am in the post office.

A rendőrségre megy. – He’s going to the police.
A rendőrségen van. – He’s at the police.

Beside those words up there, there are some more exceptions, but those have something to do with countries. That’s going to be our next topic.

In the meantime, practise using the suffixes we’ve learned.

SUMMARY

Grouping suffixes according to position:

Inside: -ba, -be, -ban, -ben, -ból, -ből
On the surface: -ra, -re, -n, -on, -en, -ön, -ról, -ről
Near, next to: -hoz, -hez, -höz, -nál, -nél, -tól, -től

Grouping suffixes according to direction:

Towards: -ba, -be; -ra, -re; -hoz, -hez, -höz
Position: -ban, -ben; -n, -on, -en, -ön; -nál, -nél
Away from: -ból, -ből; -ról, -ről; -tól, -től

Suffixes / Adverbs of Place – Occurrences Next To An Object

OCCURRENCE NEXT TO AN OBJECT

Generally speaking, these suffixes can be expressed with the English adverbs next to sg, near sg, beside sg. Watch the examples!

Hol? = -nál, -nél (> by, at, next to)
Hova? = -hoz, -hez, -höz (> to, towards)
Honnan? = -tól, -től (> from, from the vicinity of)

Examples for deep and high words:

a háznál – next to the house
a házhoz – to(wards) the house
a háztól – from the house

a kertésznél – at the gardener’s place
a kertészhez – to the gardener
a kertésztől – from the gardener

English is more complicated when Hungarian simply says -nál, -nél. Compare:

Az ügyvédnél vagyok. – I’m at the lawyer’s place.
A barátomnál vagyok. – I’m at my friend’s place. / I’m with my friend.

The vowels a, e become á, é in those words: fa, gereblye

a fánál – next to the tree
a fához – to the tree
a fától – from the tree

a gereblyénél – next to/by the rake
a gereblyéhez – to the rake
a gereblyétől – from the rake

Examples in sentences:

A háznál állok. – I’m standing by/next to the house.
A házhoz megyek. – I’m going to the house.
A háztól eljövök. – I’m coming from the house.

A kertésznél vagyok. – I’m with the gardener/at the gardener’s place.
A kertészhez megyek. – I’m going to the gardener.
A kertésztől jövök. – I’m coming from the gardener.

A fánál piknikezünk. – We’re doing a picnic by the tree.
A fához fut. – He runs up to the tree.
A fától elfut a bogár. – The bug runs away from the tree.

A gereblyénél vakond túr. – The mole digs near the rake.
A gereblyéhez fut a vakond. – The mole runs up to the rake.
A gereblyétől menekül a vakond. – The mole runs away from the rake.

The difference between -nál, -nél and -hoz, -hez, -höz:

Az orvosnál vagyok. – I’m with the doctor/at the doctor‘s place.
Az orvoshoz megyek. – I’m going to the doctor.

Summary for suffixes near the object:
-hoz, -hez, -höz = towards a direction
-nál, -nél = position > something is to be found somewhere
-tól, -től = from a direction

More next time. See ya 🙂

Suffixes / Adverbs of Place – Occurrences On The Surface of An Object

OCCURRENCE ON THE SURFACE OF AN OBJECT

The suffixes are:

Hol? = -n, -on, -en, -ön (> on, at)
Hova? = -ra, -re (> onto, to)
Honnan? = -ról, -ről (> from, from the surface of)

Examples for deep and high words:

az asztalon – on the table
az asztalra – onto the table
az asztalról – from the table

a széken – on the chair
a székre – onto the chair
a székről – from the chair

Like in the previous case, these can agree with different English prepositions. Understanding the Hungarian point of view is the only help you can count on. However, like I said before, once understood, you’ll see it’s absolutely logical. The suffix -n is used with words in a vowel.

The vowels a, e become á, é in those words: fa, gereblye

a fán – on the tree
a fára – onto the tree
a fáról – from the tree

a gereblyén – on the rake
a gereblyére – onto the rake
a gereblyéről – from the rake

Examples in sentences:

Az asztalon van a toll. – The pen is on the table.
Az asztalra teszem a tollat. – I’ll put the pen on(to) the table.
Az asztalról leesik a toll. – The pen falls from the table.

A széken van a táska. – The bag is on the chair.
A székre teszem a táskát. – I’ll put the bag on(to) the chair.
A székről leesik a táska. – The bag falls from the chair.

A fán énekel a madár. – The bird is singing on the tree.
A fára száll a madár. – The bird flies on(to) the tree.
A fáról elrepül a madár. – The bird flies away from the tree.

A gereblyén tücsök ciripel. – A cricket’s chirping on the rake.
A gereblyére tücsök ugrik. – A cricket jumps on(to) the rake.
A gereblyéről leugrik a tücsök. – The cricket jumps from the rake.

The difference between -ra, -re and -n, -on, -en, -ön:

Felmászok a hegyre. – I climb up (to) the mountain.
A hegyen sétálok. – I’m walking on the mountain.

Summary for suffixes on the surface of an object:
-ra, -re = towards a direction
-n, -on, -en, -ön = position > something is to be found somewhere
-ról, -ről = from a direction

So far you know these suffixes:
-ba, -be = into
-ban, -ben = in
-ból, -ből = from (inside)
-ra, -re = onto
-n, -on, -en, -ön = on
-ról, -ről = from (the surface of)

As you see some suffixes have two versions for high and deep, some have three. Learn the suffixes as you see here. There is no ö version (-bön) for -ban, -ben or an a version (-bal) for -ból, -ből. They have to be memorized as they are. For example -ből is used for standard high words and words having ö ő ü ű. However, -en is for standard high words, -ön is for high words containing ö ő ü ű. And so on…

What I mean by that is: DON’T INVENT SUFFIXES JUST BECAUSE IT WOULD AGREE WITH VOWEL HARMONY. There are only the versions you see here.

More next time. Bye now 🙂

Suffixes / Adverbs of Place – Occurrence Inside An Object

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!

Suffixes / Adverbs of Place – Introduction

ADVERBS OF PLACE

Hungarian adverbs of place can be divided into four groups:

-occurrence inside an object
-occurrence on the surface of an object
-occurrence next to an object
-occurrence in a wider area (postpositions)

The fourth group contains the majority of the adverbs of place because the occurrences in the other three are restricted to a specific direction.

It’s important to remember that Hungarian uses suffixes, endings and postpositions instead of prepositions. That is, suffixes behave according to vowel harmony: high-vowel words take high-vowel suffixes, deep-vowel words take deep-vowel suffixes.

That being said, one should start learning the interrogative words relative to these adverbs. Here they are:

Hol? – Where?
Hova? – Where to?
Honnan? – Where from?

Hungarian has three different words for getting information about a specific direction. It is called irányhármasság, that is the three directions phenomenon. Think of the spanish interrogative words Dónde? A dónde? De dónde?

And another thing! Hova? can also have the form Hová? in which the á vowel is at the end of the word instead of the a vowel. Doesn’t matter which you use!

Next time we jump into the occurrences! Be prepared. It is an extensive topic. 🙂