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

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. 🙂

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

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! 🙂

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

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