Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of Time, The Suffix -kor

THE SUFFIX -KOR

The suffix -kor determines a certain period. It is called TEMPORAL CASE. Not to be confused with the noun kór written with long ó, which means disease! But there’s another noun kor with short o, which means age, era!

kór – disease
kor – age, era, period
–kor – preposition at

It has one form only! The question word is Mikor? = When? Examples:

Mikor? – When?
éjfélkor – at midnight
szürkületkor – at nightfall
napnyugtakor, napkeltekor – at sunset, at sunrise
pirkadatkor – at dawn
Hatkor találkozunk. – I’ll see you at six.
karácsonykor – at Christmas
húsvétkor – at Easter
máskor – another time
bármikor – whenever; at all hours
ilyenkor – at this time; in this case

Of course, it can be attached to the pronouns ez, az: ekkor, akkor.

ekkor = then, at this time
akkor = then, at that time

Other periods of day or season are expressed in a different way. Either with -ban, -ben or -n, -on, -en, -ön or there’s just a word for them.

hajnalban – at dawn
délben – at noon
télen – in winter
nyáron – in summer
délelőtt – in the morning
délután – in the afternoon

Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of time, Still About -val, -vel

THE SUFFIXES -VAL, -VEL WITH THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS EZ, AZ

The possibilities are two: the v in -val, -vel assimilates with the z in az, ez or vice versa.

ezzel – with this
evvel – with this
azzal – with that
avval – with that

And the plural: ezekkel – with these, azokkal – with those

According to grammatical rules evvel, avval, ezzel are pronouns, whereas azzal is a conjunction when followed with ”hogy”.

Evvel/Ezzel a tollal írok.
I’m writing with this pen.

Avval a lánnyal táncolok.
I’m dancing with that girl.

Nem segítesz azzal, hogy hazudsz nekem.
You don’t help with lying to me.

Azzal, hogy hazudsz, nem segítesz.
Since you’re lying to me, you’re not much of a help.

However, this distinctive use has faded out from the spoken language. You could also say:

Avval, hogy hazudsz…

”WITH TIME”

Now what on earth has -val, -vel anything to do with adverbs of time? The answer is: a lot of adverbs are formed with these suffixes.

I could start explaining myself with this sentence:

Idővel minden seb begyógyul. – All wounds heal in time.

You see English says ’in time’, but Hungarian prefers ’with time’! I’m getting at the fact that in Hungarian it is possible to use -val, -vel more often than the preposition with in English. And the reason for that is:

éjjel – at night
nappal – daytime, by day
reggel – in the morning
ősszel – in autumn/fall
tavasszal – in spring
egyúttal – at the same time
idővel – in time
éjjel-nappal – day and night

It’s apparent that a bunch of adverbs of time can be paired with -val, -vel. Some of them can do without: este – in the evening; éjszaka – at night. In addition, some of them behave like adverb and noun at the same time.

éjjel – night; at night
nappal – daytime; in the daytime
reggel – morning; in the morning
este – evening; in the evening
éjszaka – night; at night

Éjszaka and éjjel have the same meaning.

Éjjel/Éjszaka a baglyok huhognak.
Owls ululate at night.

Bye now! 🙂

Suffixes / Postpositions – Adverbs of Time, Introduction

Once learned the adverbs of place, adverbs of time are nothing to make a whole new grammar book about. It’s easy to follow this reasoning since English uses the same method to some extent. And that method goes like this:

Some words can be both prepositions and adverbs.

Examples:

Az ágy fölött polc van.
There’s a shelf above the bed.

Az ágyhoz képest a polc feljebb van.
Compared to the bed, the shelf is more above.

’Above’ in the first sentence is a preposition (postposition in Hungarian), and an adverb in the second one.

However, before losing ourselves in how to use these words, let’s begin with something that doesn’t seem to be relative to adverbs of time. That is the INSTRUMENTAL CASE expressed with the suffixes -val, -vel, whose English equivalent is the preposition: with

THE SUFFIXES -VAL, -VEL

The question words with -val, -vel are formed like this:

Mivel? – What…with?
Kivel? – Who…with?
Hánnyal? – How many…with?
Mennyivel? – How much…with?
Kiével? – Whose…with?
Melyikkel? – Which…with?

Example:

Kinek a tollával írod meg a tesztet?
Whose pen are you going to write the test?

Their use requires a little more explanation:

-If a word ends in a vowel, there is no problem whatsoever.

a kutyával > with the dog

-If a word ends in a consonant, -val, -vel assimilate with that last consonant:

a ház + -val = a házzal > with the house
a kert + -vel = a kerttel > with the garden

Ceruzával írok. – I’m writing with a pencil.
Tollal írok. – I’m writing with a pen.
A feleségével táncol. – He’s dancing with his wife.
Busszal jár. – He takes the bus. (literally: He goes with bus)

Remember! The v in -val, -vel assimilates with the last consonant!

-And the personal forms for it are:

velem – with me
veled – with you
vele – with him/her/it
velünk – with us
veletek – with you
velük – with them

-The polite forms are: önnel, magával, önökkel, magukkal. Of course, they can be intensified: énvelem, teveled, ővele, mivelünk, tiveletek, ővelük

-The polite forms cannot be intensified.

Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of Place – SUMMARY

SUMMARY TABLE FOR SUFFIXES AND POSTPOSITIONS REGARDING ADVERBS OF PLACE

Below you see the adverbs of place and the linguistic names for the suffixes enumerated.

SUMMARY FOR SUFFIXES:

-ba, -be > illative case = into, inside
movement into the interior of something

-ban, -ben > inessive case = in, inside
occurrence inside something

-ból, -ből > elative case = from (inside), out of
movement from the inside of something

-ra, -re > sublative case = onto
movement towards the surface

-n, -on, -en, -ön > superessive case = on
occurrence on the surface of something

-ról, -ről > delative case = from (the surface of)
movement from the surface of something

-hoz, -hez, -höz > allative case = to, towards
movement towards the vicinity of something

-nál, -nél > adesive case = at, by, next to, near
occurrence next to something

-tól, től > ablative case = from (near), away from
movement from the vicinity of something

SUMMARY FOR POSTPOSITIONS:

elé – (go) in/to front of
előtt – (be) in front of
elől – from (the front of)

mögé – (go) behind
mögött – (be) behind
mögül – from behind

fölé – (go) over
fölött – (be) above
fölül – from above

alá – (go) under
alatt – (be) underneath
alól – from under

mellé – (go) next to/beside
mellett – (be) next to/beside
mellől – from beside

közé – (go) between, among
között – (be) between, among
közül – from between; of, from among

köré – (go) around
körül – (be) around

felé – (go) towards
felől – from the direction of

vmn,vkn kívül – outside of sg, sy; besides sg, sy; apart from sg, sy
vmn belül – inside sg, in the interior of sg
vmn alul – below sg, sy
vmn,vkn felül – above/over sg, sy
vmn innen – over sg
vmn, vkn túl – over sg; beside sg, sy
vmn, vkn át – through/across sg
vmn, vkn keresztül – through sy, by means of sy, sg
vmn végig – along sg, up to the end of sg
vm mentén – along sg
vm, vk ellen – against sg, sy
vmvel, vkvel szemben – against sg, sy, counter to sg, sy
vmvel, vkvel együtt – together/along with sg, sy

NOTE!
Abbreviation for valami (something) is: vm
Abbreviation for valaki (somebody) is: vk

valamin, valakin = vmn, vkn
valamivel, valakivel = vmvel, vkvel

Suffixes / Postpositions – együtt, szemben, ellen

EGYÜTT, SZEMBEN, ELLEN

valamivel, valakivel együtt = together/along with sy, sg
valamivel, valakivel szemben = against / in front of sy, sg
valami, valaki ellen =against sy, sg

A ruháival együtt minden holmiját viszi.
Along with her clothes she’ll take all her stuff.

Veletek együtt jöttek ők is.
They came along with you.

A bankkal szemben van egy hivatal.
In front of the bank there’s an office.

Vele szemben nem mernek fellázadni.
They don’t dare to rebel against him.

NOTE! The word ”ellen” is used with valami, valaki without the suffixes of surface! Besides, ellen has personal forms:

ellenem
ellened
ellene
ellenünk
ellenetek
ellenük

The polite forms:
Ön ellen, Maga ellen, Önök ellen, Maguk ellen

The personal forms for együtt, szemben are done like this:

velem együtt – together with me
veled együtt – together with you
vele/önnel/magával együtt – together with him/her
velünk együtt – together with us
veletek együtt – together with you
velük/önökkel/magukkal együtt – together with them

velem szemben – against me
veled szemben – against you
vele/önnel/magával szemben – against him/her
velünk szemben – against us
veletek szemben – against you
velük/önökkel/magukkal szemben – against them

All right. This is the last entry about adverbs of place. Next time I’ll give you a summary and write more things you don’t know about this topic yet.

NOTE! If you’ve learned these postpositions and their use, you’re half for adverbs of time because a lot of the postpositions you see here are used for expressing time, as well. Bye now. 🙂

Suffixes / Postpositions – more adverbs of place

PERSONAL FORMS FOR ADVERBS WITH SOMEBODY, SOMETHING

Now we’ll talk about these adverbs: kívül, felül, túl, keresztül. The rest is said in a different way or they don’t have such a form. For obvious reasons, we only deal with the Hol? question in this case. The others (Hova?, Honnan?) would not make any sense. And this is how the personal forms are done:

HOL? – WHERE?
rajtam kívül – besides me
rajtad kívül – besides you
rajta kívül – besides him/her/it
rajtunk kívül – besides us
rajtatok kívül – besides you
rajtuk kívül – besides them

rajtam felül – above me
rajtad felül – above you
rajta felül – above him/her/it
rajtunk felül – above us
rajtatok felül – above you
rajtuk felül – above them

rajtam túl – over me
rajtad túl – over you
rajta túl – over him/her/it
rajtunk túl – over us
rajtatok túl – over you
rajtuk túl – over them

rajtam keresztül – through me
rajtad keresztül – through you
rajta keresztül – through him/her/it
rajtunk keresztül – through us
rajtatok keresztül – through you
rajtuk keresztül – through them

And you say the polite forms like this:

Ön(ök)ön kívül, Magán kívül, Magukon kívül

Suffixes / Postpositions – kint, bent, fent, lent and others

OTHER FUNDAMENTAL ADVERBS OF PLACE

Here they are: kint, bent, fent, lent and kívül, belül, alul, felül. Let’s see them in details!

HOL? – WHERE?
kint, kinn / kívül – outside
bent, benn / belül – inside
lent, lenn / alul – below, underneath
fent, fenn / felül – above, up

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
ki(felé) / kívülre – (to) outside, outwards
be(felé) / belülre – (to) inside, inwards
le(felé) / alulra – down(wards)
fel(felé) / felülre – up(wards)

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
kintről / kívülről – from outside
bentről / belülről – from inside
lentről / alulról – from underneath
fentről / felülről – from above

First of all, kint, bent, lent, fent have other forms meaning the same thing: kinn, benn, lenn, fenn. The rule is: you can choose whichever you want from the HOL? group. Then you see ki, be, le, fel can be stressed with –felé: kifelé…

And now another thing that might be confusing for a foreigner: English doesn’t make much of a difference between outside and outside, but Hungarian does! So what the heck is the difference between kint and kívül, for example? The answer is simple: kívül, belül, alul, felül are missing something! Literally something!

valamin, valakin kívül – outside something, somebody
valamin, valakin belül – within something, somebody
valamin, valakin alul – under something, somebody
valamin, valakin felül – above something, somebody
valamin innen – over something, somebody
valamin, valakin túl – over something, somebody
valamin, valakin át – through something, somebody
valamin, valakin keresztül – through/across something, somebody
valamin, valakin végig – along something, somebody
valaki, valami mentén – along something, somebody

Note that ‘innen’ can only be applied to something. It is not used frequently at all. An example can be a fairy-tale as follows:

…az üveghegyen innen és túl, ahol a kurta farkú malac túr, élt egy öregember.
…over the glass mountain where a pig with short tail is digging there was an old man.

Furthermore, you can see ‘végig’ and ‘mentén’ are translated with ‘along’. It is because the two are synonyms in this context.

In this context the above-mentioned indefinite pronouns (valaki, valami) take the suffixes -on, -en, -ön, -n, except the postposition mentén. That’s why you say valamin, valakin! They’re used both in general and figurative sense. Note that nouns followed by kívül, belül, etc. take those suffixes, too: a réten keresztül – across the meadow, a városon belül – inside the city…

Examples:

The English sentences might be constrained, but I want to show you what the Hungarian sentences literally are.

Kint vagyok a kertben.
I’m outside in the garden.

–Hova mész? –Ki a kertbe.
–Where are you going? –Out to the garden.

Kintről jövök.
I’m coming from outside.

Benn ül a házban.
He’s sitting in(side) the house.

Lent piknikeznek a völgyben.
They’re doing a picnic down there in the valley.

Fentről kiabál a hegymászó.
The mountainer shouts from above.

Lővávolságon kívül van.
It’s out of a shooting range.

A normál értékeken belül van.
It’s within normal values.

Várakozáson felül teljesít.
Literally: do sg above expectation.

Áron alul adja el a villáját.
He sells his cottage at a loss. (under price)

MORE EXAMPLES:

Watch the use of the adverbs and observe the difference compared to English!

az országon kívül
outside the country

kívül-belül
in and out

Rajtam kívül senki nincs itt.
There’s nobody here besides me.

Rómán át Párizsba repülünk.
We’re flying through Rome to Paris.

A repülő Rómán keresztül repül.
The plane will fly through Rome.

Ezen felül nincs más mondanivalóm.
I have nothing to say other than that. (above that)

A Tiszán innen gyönyörű a táj.
There’s a beautiful landscape over the Tisza.
(A Tiszán innen = after leaving the Tisza behind us)

A városon át megyek haza.
I’m going home across the city.

Menj végig a parton!
Go along the shore!

Menj a part végéig!
Go up to the end of the shore!

A folyó mentén horgászok pecáznak.
There are anglers fishing along the river.

Végig has the meaning of to the end of a place and also along a place, whereas mentén means along, next to. Besides, these adverbs can act like verbal prefixes.

túlcsordul  – to overflow
átkel – to cross (to go across)
keresztüldöf – to drive through, to pierce
végigcsinál – to do something until it’s done

Today I’ve talked about a lot of things, so I suggest reading this entry again and again. I tried to write it logically, so I just hope you will have no big problem with these adverbs of place. Bye now! 🙂

Suffixes / Postpositions – Adverbs of Place, Other Issues

POSTPOSITIONS WITH VERBAL PREFIXES

Like verbal prefixes are added to the verbs, postpositions can be added to verbs when used as prefixes in the same way.

melléesik = to fall near sg
aláír = to sign (literally: underwrite)
körülhajóz = circumnavigate

and so on…

EMPHASIS ON THE PERSON

The person can be brought into relief in this case, too.

énelőttem, teelőtted, őelőtte, mielőttünk, tielőttetek, őelőttük
Ön előtt, Maga előtt, Önök előtt, Maguk előtt

ATTENTION! When you use the polite forms, those postpositions are written separately from the polite pronouns. Examples:

Ön(ök) előtt, Ön(ök) elé, Ön(ök) elől
Maga/Maguk alatt, Maga/Maguk alá, Maga/Maguk alól

and so on…

LET’S GO HERE AND THERE!

Now let’s talk about two adverbs of place: here/there. Again, learn them according to directions.

HOL? = itt, ott
WHERE? = here, there

HOVA? = ide, oda
WHERE TO? = over here, over there

HONNAN? = innen, onnan
WHERE FROM? = from here, from there

Examples:

Itt vagyok. – I’m here.
Ide jövök. – I’m coming here.
Innen indulok. – I’m starting from here.
Ott vannak. – They’re there. There they are!
Oda mennek. – They’re going there.
Onnan indulnak. – They’re starting from there.

And now let’s see what happens if the suffixes -ra, -re / -ról, -ről are attached to the demonstrative pronouns az, ez. Again, according to directions.

ez – erre > A bank erre van. – The bank is this way.
az – arra > A bank arra van. – The bank is that way.

ez – erre(felé) > Erre megyek. – I’m going this way.
az – arra(felé) > Arra megyek. – I’m going that way.

ez – erről > Erről jövök. – I’m coming from this way.
az – arról > Arról jövök. – I’m coming from that way.

The postposition -felé serves for intensifying the direction. The question word is Hova? whose equivalent can be Merre? and they have the same meaning. Choose whichever you want.

–Hova mész? – Arrafelé.
–Where are you going? –That way.

–Merre mész? – Errefelé.
–Where are you going? –This way.

The question word Honnan? has an equivalent, too: Merről?

SUMMARY FOR ERRE, ARRA:
Hol? / Merre? = erre, arra > position
Hova? / Merre? = erre(felé), arra(felé) > towards a direction
Honnan? / Merről? = erről, arról > from a direction

Suffixes / Postpositions with Demonstrative Pronouns (ez, az)

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS WITH POSTPOSITIONS

Obviously, these can be coupled with postpositions. But be careful! There’s a phenomenon you’ve already learned with the suffixes. Remember?

Ennek a háznak nincs teteje.
This house has no roof.

Azokat az embereket még nem láttam.
I haven’t seen those people yet.

Both the demonstrative pronoun and the object take the suffix!

ALSO

Both the demonstrative pronoun and the object take the postposition! And you also need the definite article:

e felett az épület felett = above this building

Furthermore, ”ez, az” lose their z if the postposition begins with a consonant! Example: e mögött, ez alatt, a mögött, az alatt. Of course, this rule is not valid for the plural forms of ez, az: ezek mögött, azok alatt…

ez alatt a ház alatt – under this house
az előtt a fa előtt – in front of that tree
e mellé a könyv mellé – beside that book
a fölött a polc fölött – above that shelf
A mögött a fal mögött még egy fal van. – Behind that wall there’s another wall.

But you can avoid this phenomenon with a method, namely with the adverbs of place itt, ott, ide, oda, innen, onnan:

itt a ház alatt – here under the house
ott a fa előtt – there in front of the tree
ide a könyv mellé – (to) here beside this book
ott a polc fölött – there above the shelf
ott a fal mögött – there behind the wall

More examples:

A mögött a ház mögött áll egy idős hölgy.
Ott a ház mögött áll egy idős hölgy.
There’s an old lady standing behind that house.

E körül a szökőkút körül gyerekek játszanak.
Itt a szökőkút körül gyerekek játszanak.
There are children playing around this fountain.

Az előtt a fa előtt napozik egy pár.
Ott a fa előtt napozik egy pár.
There is a couple sunbathing in front of that tree.

E mögé a fal mögé tesszük a téglákat.
Ide a fal mögé tesszük a téglákat.
We’ll put the bricks behind this wall.

Azok felé az utak felé ne menj!
Oda az utak felé ne menj!
Don’t go to(wards) those roads.

Ezek felől az emberek felől jön a zaj.
Innen az emberek felől jön a zaj.
The noise is coming from these people.

Another piece of advice. Keep practising. 🙂

Suffixes / Postpositions – More Examples For Personal Forms

More examples for personal postpositions:

NOTE! Some English sentences might sound constrained, but I want to show how to use these forms in Hungarian context.

A toll az ágy alatt van.
The pen is under the bed.
A toll az ágy alá gurult.
The pen rolled under the bed.
A tollat az ágy alól szedtem ki.
I took the pen from under the bed.

A repülő a ház felett repül.
The airplane is flying above the house.
A repülő a ház fölé repül.
The airplane is flying over the house.
A repülő a ház fölül repül el.
The airplane is flying from (above) the house.

A tolvaj a tömeg között bujkál.
The thief is hiding among the crowd.
A tolvaj a tömeg közé bújt.
The thief has hidden among the crowd.
A tolvaj a tömeg közül került elő.
The thief turned up from (among) the crowd.

A bank az iskola mellett van.
The bank is next to/beside the school.
A bank az iskola mellé épült.
The bank was built next to/beside the school.
A bankot elköltöztetik az iskola mellől.
The bank will be moved from (beside) the school.

A kert körül kerítés van.
There is a fence around the garden.
A kert köré kerítést teszek.
I’ll put a fence around the garden.

A vándor a falu felé sétál.
The wanderer is walking to(wards) the village.
A vándor a falu felől sétál.
The wanderer is walking from (the direction of) the village.

A bokor mögött lapul a sün.
The hedgehog is skulking behind the bush.
A bokor mögé mászik a sün.
The hedgehog is crawling behind the bush.
A bokor mögül jön elő a sün.
The hedgehog comes out from (behind) the bush.

NOTE! When it’s about from a direction, English often uses the from preposition. That’s why I put the adverbs in brackets.

It must be especially difficult for you to understand this direction, when something happens from a direction. You just say ’from’, and Hungarian people overcomplicate it, right? 🙂

Take my advice. In those cases you should simply use these suffixes: -tól, -től OR -ból, -ből (depending on being next to or being inside). Take a look at this:

A repülő a ház fölül repül el. =
A repülő a háztól repül el.

A tolvaj a tömeg közül került elő. =
A tolvaj a tömegből kerül elő.

A bankot elköltöztetik az iskola mellől. =
A bankot elköltöztetik az iskolától.

A vándor a falu felől sétál el. =
A vándor a falutól sétál el.

A bokor mögül jön elő a sün. =
A bokorból jön elő a sün.