Suffixes / Postpositions, Personal Forms Part 2

HOL? – WHERE?
mellettem – next to me
melletted – next to you
mellette – next to him/her/it
mellettünk – next to us
mellettetek – next to you
mellettük – next to them

Other options: beside me, beside you…

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
mellém – next to me
melléd – next to you
mellé – next to him/her/it
mellénk – next to us
mellétek – next to you
melléjük – next to them

Other options: beside me, beside you…

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
mellőlem – from me
mellőled – from you
mellőle – from him/her/it
mellőlünk – from us
mellőletek – from to you
mellőlük – from them

——————————————————

HOL? – WHERE?
köz(öt)tem – between me
köz(öt)ted – between you
köz(öt)te – between him/her/it
köz(öt)tünk – between us
köz(öt)tetek – between you
köz(öt)tük – between them

Other options: among us, among you…

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
közém – between me
közéd – between you
közé – between him/her/it
közénk – between us
közétek – between you
közéjük – between them

Other options: among us, among you…

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
közülem – from/of me
közüled – from/of you
közüle – from/of him/her/it
közülünk – from/of us
közületek – from/of you
közülük – from/of them

Other options: from among us, from among you…

——————————————————

HOL? – WHERE?
körülöttem – around me
körülötted – around you
körülötte – around him/her/it
körülöttünk – around us
körülöttetek – around you
körülöttük – around them

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
körém – around me
köréd – around you
köré – around him/her/it
körénk – around us
körétek – around you
köréjük – around them

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
No form exists

——————————————————

HOL? – WHERE?
No form exists

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
felém – towards me
feléd – towards you
felé – towards him/her/it
felénk – towards us
felétek – towards you
feléjük – towards them

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
felőlem – from me
felőled – from you
felőle – from him/her/it
felőlünk – from us
felőletek – from you
felőlük – from them

Next time I’ll write some examples and sentences so that you see these personal postpositions in different contexts.

Suffixes / Postpositions, Personal Forms Part 1

PERSONAL POSTPOSITIONS

Just like suffixes, postpositions also have their own personal forms.

NOTE! The personal adverbs of place are formed from suffixes plus a possessive ending: bennem, rajtunk…Now we’re talking about the personal forms of the postpositions we’ve discussed in the previous entry: előtt, alatt…

These forms take a possessive endings just like the personal adverbs of place.

HOL? – WHERE?
előttem – in front of me
előtted – in front of you
előtte – in front of him/her/it
előttünk – in front of us
előttetek – in front of you
előttük – in front of them

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
elém – in front of me
eléd – in front of you
elé, eléje – in front of him/her/it
elénk – in front of us
elétek – in front of you
eléjük – in front of them

Other options: to the front of me, to the front of you…

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
előlem – from me
előled – from you
előle – from him/her/it
előlünk – from us
előletek – from you
előlük – from them

——————————————–

HOL? – WHERE?
alattam – under me
alattad – under you
alatta – under him/her/it
alattunk – under us
alattatok – under you
alattuk – under them

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
alám – under me
alád – under you
alá, alája – under him/her/it
alánk – under us
alátok – under you
alájuk – under them

Other options: below me, below you…

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
alólam – from under me
alólad – from under you
alóla – from under him/her/it
alólunk – from under us
alólatok – from under you
alóluk – from under them

Other options: from below me, from below you…

——————————————–

HOL? – WHERE?
mögöttem – behind me
mögötted – behind you
mögötte – behind him/her/it
mögöttünk – behind us
mögöttetek – behind you
mögöttük – behind them

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
mögém – behind me
mögéd – behind you
mögé – behind him/her/it
mögénk – behind us
mögétek – behind you
mögéjük – behind them

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
mögülem – from behind me
mögüled – from behind you
mögüle – from behind him/her/it
mögülünk – from behind us
mögületek – from behind you
mögülük – from behind them

——————————————–

HOL? – WHERE?
fölöttem – above me
fölötted – above you
fölötte – above him/her/it
fölöttünk – above us
fölöttetek – above you
fölöttük – above them

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
fölém – over me
föléd – over you
fölé, föléje – over him/her/it
fölénk – over us
fölétek – over you
föléjük – over them

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
fölülem – from above me
fölüled – from above you
fölüle – from above him/her/it
fölülünk – from above us
fölületek – from above you
fölülük – from above them

Part 2 next time.

Suffixes / Postpositions, Introduction

OCCURRENCE IN A WIDER AREA – POSTPOSITIONS

This is the fourth group. These occurrences are expressed by means of postpositions which differ from suffixes in certain aspects:

1. The most important aspect is their meaning. A postposition by itself has its own meaning in contrast to a suffix.

2. Suffixes and endings have one syllable, while postpositions have two.

3. Suffixes and endings have two or three forms which have to comply with the vowel harmony. Postpositions have one form only.

POSTPOSITIONS FOR ADVERBS OF PLACE

Here is the list of the postpositions determining a place/direction. They have to be learned according to the three directions phenomenon, too.

On the whole, while in English one has to remember what preposition follows or precedes an adverb of place, Hungarian expresses these things in one word. Naturally, it is a must to learn the suffixes in accordance with the directions. And that goes as follows:

For the question Hova? the suffix is: -á, -é
For the question Hol? the suffix is: -tt, except körül
For the question Honnan? the suffix is: -ól, -ől, -ül

HOL? – WHERE?
előtt – in front of
mögött – behind
fölött – above
alatt – underneath, under, beneath
mellett – next to, near, beside
között – between, among
körül – around
–

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
elé – in/to front of
mögé – behind
fölé – over
alá – under, below, beneath
mellé – next to, near, beside, by
közé – between, among
köré – around
felé – towards

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
elől – from (the front of)
mögül – from behind
fölül – from above, from the top of
alól – from under, from below, from beneath
mellől – from (the vicinity of), from beside
közül – from between; of; among
–
felől – from (a direction)

SUMMARY:

HOL? – HOVA? – HONNAN?
előtt – elé – elől
mögött – mögé – mögül
fölött – fölé – fölül
alatt – alá – alól
mellett – mellé – mellől
között – közé – közül
körül – köré – ———-
——- – felé – felől

NOTE! The postposition felé (towards) has no version for position Hol?, just for Honnan? = felől (from). The postposition körül (around) has no version for from a direction Honnan?, just for Hova? = köré (around)

Watch them in sentences. Maybe that’s more help for you to understand their use.

Examples:

A ház előtt állok.
I’m standing in front of the house.

POSITION > Where? – in front of = Hol? – előtt

A fa mögé bújok.
I’ll hide behind the tree.

TOWARDS A DIRECTION > Where to – behind = Hova? – mögé

A madár a fészek fölé repül.
The bird flies up over the nest.

TOWARDS A DIRECTION > Where to – over = Hova? – fölé

A kocsi mellől rohan el.
He’s running away from the car.

FROM A DIRECTION > Where from? – from = Honnan? – mellől

Az emberek között érzi jól magát.
He feels good among people.

POSITION > Where? – among = Hol? – között

A föld alatt ás a vakond.
The mole is digging under the soil.

POSITION > Where? – under = Hol? – alatt

A Föld a Nap körül kering.
The Earth orbits around the sun.

POSITION > Where? – around = Hol? – körül

Vihar közeledik a város felé.
The tempest is approaching (going towards) the city.

TOWARDS A DIRECTION > Where to? – towards = Hova? – felé

So Hungarian takes directions seriously. We express exactly when being at a place, going to a place and coming from a place!

I know it seems like a big jumble now, so I would recommend learning the suffixes -á, -é / -tt / -ól, -ől, -ül. Then practise the postpositions above and try to create simple sentences for yourself. You can do that by writing a little bit far-fetched sentences in English.

A család az asztal körül ül. – The family is sitting around the table.
A család az asztal köré ül. – The family sits down around the table.

A levél a fa alatt van. – The leaf is under the tree.
A levél a fa alá esik. – The leaf falls under the tree.
A levél a fa alól elszáll. – The leaf flies away from under the tree.

I know it’s difficult because English uses quite the same adverbial prepositions for both Hol? and Hova?, but as you might have realized by now, Hungarian is an impish language.

Cheer up! And keep stuffing your head with my blog entries. 🙂 🙂 🙂

More about postpositions next time. Bye now!

Suffixes / Adverbs of Place – Emphasis, Accumulation

EMPHASIS ON THE PERSON

Just like the possessive endings (az én házam), personal adverbs of place can be stressed by prefixing personal pronouns to them. In this case the personal pronouns are written together with the adverbs, except the polite forms, which take the original suffixes. Here they are:

énbennem
tebenned
őbenne
Önben
Magában
mibennünk
tibennetek
őbennük
Önökben
Magukban

Examples:

Éntőlem nem kapsz semmit!
You’ll get nothing from me!

Tenálad van még mindig a tollam?
Do you still have my pen?

Őbennük bízom, nem tebenned.
I confide in them, not in you.

Őróla van szó, nem Magáról.
It’s about him/her, not about You.

ACCUMULATION OF SUFFIXES

We’ve already talked about suffixes able to take other suffixes. Examples:

az ágynál – (I’m) next to the bed
az ágyon – (I’m) on the bed
az ágyával – with his bed
az ágyaihoz – to(wards) his beds
az ágyukról – from their bed
az ágyadnál – by your bed

Next time we’ll start postpositions. Bye now! 🙂

Suffixes / Adverbs of Place – Personal Adverbs of Place

PERSONAL ADVERBS OF PLACE FORMED FROM SUFFIXES

Like the accusative and dative case of the personal pronouns have their own forms, personal adverbs of place dispose of their own forms, too. Examples: ”in me, with him, from you, etc.”

They are formed with the possessive endings attached to a suffix for adverb of place. Attention! Sometimes the suffix is deep, sometimes high! There’s no rőlem, only rólam! There is no bannam, only bennem! And so they have to be memorized. Here they are:

Personal adverbs of place for -BEN, -BE, -BŐL

HOL? – WHERE?
bennem – in me
benned – in you
benne – in him/her/it
bennünk – in us
bennetek – in you
bennük – in them

Other possible translations are: inside me, inside you…

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
belém – into me
beléd – into you
belé/bele/beléje – into him/her/it
belénk – into us
belétek – into you
beléjük – into them

The 3rd PS singular form has three versions. Use whichever you want.

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
belőlem – from me
belőled – from you
belőle – from him/her/it
belőlünk – from us
belőletek – from you
belőlük – from them

Other possible translations are: out of me, out of you…

The personal forms bennünk, bennetek answering the WHERE question are not to be confused with the accusative case pronouns bennünket, benneteket. These two forms can be difficult to tell apart. On the other hand, there are synonyms like minket, titeket in accusative case.

Meghívtak bennünket/minket vacsorára.
They invited us for dinner.

Kérnünk benneteket/titeket, hogy gyertek el.
We’re asking you to come.

Nem értelek, de biztosan bennem van a hiba.
I don’t understand you, but the fault must lie in me.

Bízom bennetek. – I have faith in you.

Personal adverbs of place for -ON, -RA, -RÓL

Note that the –on is replaced with rajta. And –ra becomes –rá because it ends in a in an open syllable.

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

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
rám – onto me
rád – onto you
rá – onto him/her/it
ránk – onto us
rátok – onto you
rájuk – onto them

There are older versions of rá-, which you can find in poems and older texts.

reám, reád, reá, reánk, reátok, reájuk

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
rólam – from me
rólad – from you
róla – from him/her/it
rólunk – from us
rólatok – from you
róluk – from them

Personal adverbs of place for -NÁL, -HOZ, -TŐL

HOL? – WHERE?
nálam – with me / at my place
nálad – with you / at your place
nála – with him, her, it / at his, her, its place
nálunk – with us / at our place
nálatok – with you / at your place
náluk – with them / at their place

Other possible translations: near me, near you…

HOVA? – WHERE TO?
hozzám – to me
hozzád – to you
hozzá – to him/her/it
hozzánk – to us
hozzátok – to you
hozzájuk – to them

Other possible translations: towards me, towards you…

HONNAN? – WHERE FROM?
tőlem – from me
tőled – from you
tőle – from him/her/it
tőlünk – from us
tőletek – from you
tőlük – from them

The possessive endings play a huge role in the Hungarian language. You can express the English possessive pronouns (my, your, her…) with them. They can help you memorize how to conjugate verbs (látom, látod, látja…). And now you’ve learned that they can be used to form personal adverbs of place (tőlem, nálad, rá…).

Suffixes / Adverbs of Place – ez, az

SUFFIXES LOVE THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
EZ, AZ

Remember this:

When the demonstrative pronouns ez, az (this, that) take a suffix learned before, the object following them also takes the same suffix according to vowel harmony!

Examples with subjective, accusative and dative case:

Sub: ez a lány – this girl
Acc: ezt a lányt – this girl
Dat: ennek a lánynak – to/for this girl

Sub: az a nő – that woman
Acc: azt a nőt – that woman
Dat: annak a nőnek – to/for that woman

Note that you have to use the DEFINITE ARTICLE after the demonstrative pronoun: ez a lány, az a nő

More examples in sentences:

Ez az étterem drága.
This restaurant is expensive.

Ezt az éttermet nem ismerem.
I don’t know this restaurant.

Ebben az étteremben jól főznek.
In this restaurant they cook well.

Ettől az étteremtől messze van.
It is far away from this restaurant.

Ehhez az étteremhez menj nyolcra!
Go to this restaurant by eight!

Az a kocsi régi.
That car is old.

Azt a kocsit eladom.
I’m going to sell that car.

Abban a kocsiban nincs benzin.
In that car is no gasoline.

Attól a kocsitól dübörög a ház.
The house is shaking with that car.

Ahhoz a kocsihoz lépek.
I’ll make a step to(wards) that car.

Ez, az assimilate with the suffixes and lose its z:

ez + be = ebbe
ez + ben = ebben
ez + ből = ebből
ez + re = erre
ez + en = ezen*
ez + ről = erről
ez + nél = ennél
ez + hez = ehhez*
ez + től = ettől

az + ba = abba
az + ban = abban
az + ból = abból
az + ra = arra
az + on = azon
az + ról = arról
az + nál = annál
az + hoz = ahhoz
az + tól = attól

* ez, az + -en, -on = no assimilation!
* ez, az + -hez, -hoz = assimilation causes double h not doubled in speech!

And the plural for ez, az is: EZEK, AZOK. Their use is simple because their plural form does not assimilate! Just a few examples:

ezekre (onto these), azokra (onto those), ezekben (in these), azokban (in those)…

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.

Vocabulary – otthon or itthon / haza vs. haza

The English title could be just: HOME

In Hungarian there is a slight difference between being at home and being at home. First let’s see itthon and otthon.

itt = here
ott = there
hon = native land (OR home in this case)

Let’s imagine this situation. You’re at home and you’re talking to your friend over phone saying:

I’m not in the shop. I’m at home.
Nem a boltban vagyok . Itthon vagyok.

You say itthon because you’re in your own house/flat. You’re here in your home. Do I make myself clear? I hope so 🙂

I’m at home in two minutes.
Két perc múlva otthon vagyok.

You say otthon because you talk about your home as a place which is far away from you. You’re not there yet.

So the rule is: if you’re at home, you say itthon. If you’re not at home, you just talk about it, you say otthon.

By the way, the word hon is used in this compound word: homepage = honlap 🙂

And what about haza?

This word is a noun and an adverb in one. As a noun it means: native land. As an adverb it means home as towards home. You use it in this case:

Hazamegyek. – I’m going home.
Te is hazajössz? – Are you coming home, too?

And as an adverb used with a verb, it is a verbal prefix, so the rules are valid for haza, as well.

Hazamegy. – She’s going home.
Menj haza! – Go home.
Nem megyek haza. – I’m not going home.

Normally, you write it together with the verb. But it is separated from the verb when in negation and imperative mood.

Summary:

itthon = at home (I’m at home already)
otthon = at home (I talk about my home)
haza = home (I’m going home)

And let’s see some examples for using them as a noun:

Ez az én otthonom. – This is my home.
Ez az én hazám. – This is my native land.

So otthon as a noun is used when you say home as a noun in English!

AND!

ház = house > házam = my house
haza = native land > hazám = my native land.

Easy, isn’t it? 🙂

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 🙂