Tag Archives: hungarian grammar

Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of Manner, the Suffixes -l, -ul, -ül

GROUP 3: –L, -UL, -ÜL

These suffixes are attached to languages and adjectives with the privative suffixes -talan, -telen, -atlan, -etlen and some other adjectives.

bizonytalanul – vaguely
kelletlenül – reluctantly
magyarul – in Hungarian
olaszul – in Italian
angolul – in English
németül – in German
jól – well, right
rosszul – badly, wrong

Hungarian ’well’ and ’badly’ are not irregular. More examples:

például – for example
végül – in the end; finally, at last
feleségül megy valakihez – marry him (go to him as a wife)
vendégül lát – to entertain sy at one’s table
segítségül hív – to invoke
hírül ad – to report, to send a word
Jól beszél magyarul. – He speaks Hungarian well.
Rosszul tanul. – He’s bad at school.
Beszélek olaszul. – I speak Italian.

No confusion here please!

végleg – definitely
végül – in the end, finally, at last
a végén – at the end
Végre! – At last!

IMPORTANT! These suffixes (-ul, -ül) are always used when someone speaks/writes/learns a language! You see the examples above.

English does not always have a preposition before languages. More examples:

Olaszul írja a levelet. – He’s writing the letter in Italian.
Japánul tanul. – He’s learning Japanese.
Finnül beszél. – He speaks Finnish.

BUT!

-Hány nyelven beszélsz? – Három nyelven beszélek.
-How many languages do you speak? – I speak three languages.

Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of Manner, -n, -on, -an, -en; -lag, -leg

The usual method to form adverbs of manner in English is adding –ly to the adjective. Hungarian has several suffixes for that, depending on what adjective you form an adverb of manner from.

GROUP 1: -N, -ON, -AN, -EN

These suffixes are the general ones to form adverbs of manner. Important to mention: depending on what plural suffix adjectives require, such a suffix for these adverbs of manner must be chosen. I’m talking about link vowels: –an, –en, –on or –n attached to words in a vowel. Examples:

okos > okosak = okosan (in a clever/smart way)
béna > bénák = bénán (crippled; in a lame way)
ügyes > ügyesek = ügyesen (ably)
vastag > vastagok = vastagon (in a thick way)

Of course there are exceptions: boldog > boldogok = boldogan (happily)

Adjectives formed with the suffixes -s, -os, -es, -ös always take these suffixes! Sometimes, words that end with ó, ő, ú, ű take -n (keserűn), but these forms sound a bit antiquated. Besides, other words can take them, too. Not to be confused with the suffixes of surface -n, -on, -en, -ön!

haragos – haragosan = testy – testily
fényes – fényesen = bright – brightly
gyors – gyorsan = quick – quickly
olcsó – olcsón = cheap – at a low price
drága – drágán = expensive – at a high price

Apparently, also English has its own forms now and then which can’t be translated in the same way.

ATTENTION! There are exceptions going through a change when transformed into adverbs of manner. These words end with ú, ű.

lassú – lassan = slow – slowly
könnyű – könnyen = easy – easily
szörnyű – szörnyen = terrible – terribly

NOTE! The adjective nagy means big, the adverb nagyon means very.

nagy = big > nagyon = very
nagy ház = big house > nagyon nagy ház = very big house

GROUP 2: -LAG, -LEG

These suffixes are attached mostly to words which end with ó, ő, ú, ű. Adjectives formed with the suffix -i take -lag, -leg, too.

állítólag – allegedly
ellenkezőleg – on the contrary
valószínűleg – probably
barátilag – in a friendly way
eredetileg – originally

But it doesn’t mean that other words must not take them:

aránylag – relatively
tényleg – really
végleg – definitely

Adjectives with these suffixes – that is as adverbs of manner – must not be compared at superlative degree!

Next time we’ll take a look at the suffixes -ul, -ül. Bye now! 🙂

Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of Manner, Hogy?

HOGY?

English equivalent is: How?

ATTENTION! How? corresponds with the Hungarian word only if you express mode, condition, NEVER PROPERTY OR QUALITY. Of course, there are exceptions:

How was your day? – Milyen napod volt?

If the question word How? requires a specific quality as an answer, one says: Milyen?

But now we’re interested in Hogy? Examples:

Hogy vagy? – How are you?
Hogy jöttél ide? – How did you come here?
Hogy megy a munka? – How is your work going?

There’s a longer version of this word: Hogyan? No difference between the two forms, but the short version is more in use.

The answers to the question could be: jól – fine; gyalog – on foot; lassan – slowly. These words are adverbs of manner. The possibilities to form them are quite a few! Besides, there are adverbs of manner representing this part of the speech by themselves (gyalog). Standard English adverbs of manner are formed from adjectives with the ending –ly: happily, mainly, and so on…

Hungarian equivalents are:
-lag, -leg
-ul, -ül
-an, -en

Next time we’ll see their use.

Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of Manner, the Suffix -ért

THE SUFFIX -ÉRT

The basic meaning of -ért is: for, for the sake of

The same rules are valid for it as for the other suffixes. It is simply attached to a word and if that word ends with a or e, then those vowels become á, é:

alma-almáért, gereblye-gereblyéért

It also has personal forms:
értem – for me
érted – for you
érte – for him/her/it
értünk – for us
értetek – for you
értük – for them

And the polite forms are: önért, magáért, önökért, magukért

It can be intensified: énértem, teérted, őérte, etc. The forms for the polite forms are intensified in the speech: önért, magáért

Not to be confused with the verb ért, that is to understand!

(Azt) értem. – I understand (that).
(Ezt) értem tetted? – You did (this) for me?

Like always az, ez can take this suffix.

azért – for that
ezért – for this

Ezért also means: therefore, this is why
Azért also means: therefore, that is why

Examples:

A népemért bármit megteszek.
I do anything for my people.

A lány beesett a Dunába, ő meg beugrott érte.
The girl fell into the Danube and he jumped after her.

Csak érted tettem, amit tettem.
I only did for you what I did.

Értem te ne hazudj a tanárnak!
Don’t lie to the teacher for my sake.

Kettőkor érte megyek az állomásra.
I’m going to pick her up at the station at two.

Nem jött, ezért hazamentem, nem vártam tovább.
He didn’t come, so I went home. I didn’t wait any longer.

Beteg volt és ezért nem hívott fel.
She was ill and this is why she didn’t call me.

Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of Manner, Introduction

INTRODUCTION TO ADVERBS OF MANNER

Hungarian adverbs of manner have a crucial part in expressing mood and condition, answering the question How? = Hogy?

But first let’s see another case in connection with a purpose or a reason. The base for that could be the question word ’Why?’, whose equivalent is Miért? That is, the question word Mi? takes the suffix -ért, whose meaning is the same as the preposition for.

In a word, Hungarian question words are: Miért? – Why? AND Kiért? – For whom?

If you want to say that somebody does something for a purpose or a reason, then do this.

–Miért vagy itt? –Azért vagyok itt, hogy beszéljek veled.
–Why are you here?- I’m here to talk to you.

–Miért vagy itt? –Azért vagyok itt, mert beszélni akarok veled.
–Why are you here? -I’m here because I want to talk to you.

So the question Miért? can be answered with a sentence explaining the purpose or the reason.

ATTENTION! In Hungarian, sometimes there’s an ANTECEDENT at the beginning of the sentence (in this case: Azért). This phenomenon does not exist in English. The first sentence literally is:

I’m here (for the purpose) so that I talk to you.

Whereas the second one:

I’m here (for the reason) that I want to talk to you.

Summary:

PURPOSE CLAUSE:
Question: Miért = Why?
Answer: Azért, …hogy = …(in order) to

REASON CLAUSE:
Question: Miért? = Why?
Answer: Azért, …mert = …because

So much for the introduction.

As for the following issues, we’ll learn the meaning of the suffix -ért and how to form adverbs of manner expressed with -ly in English (happily, easily…)

Bye now!

Time, Date and Century

TELLING THE TIME

The Hungarian word for time is: idő which also means weather. Another word for weather is időjárás.

Egy óra van. – It’s one o’clock.
Két óra van. – It’s two o’clock.
Dél van. – It’s noon.
Éjfél van. – It’s midnight.

You see it’s simple to say the time in Hungarian. But what if you want to say: five past ten, etc. Here’s the solution:

negyed négy – quarter past three
(literally: quarter four)

fél négy – half past three (literally: half four)

háromnegyed négy – quarter to four
(literally: three-quarter four)

If 15 minutes have passed after three o’clock, it means that it’s only a quarter part of fourth hour (am and pm, too). That’s why we say: negyed négy, and so on…

Examples:

Hány óra van? – What time is it?
Mennyi az idő? – What’s the time?
Egy óra van. – It’s one o’clock.
Negyed kettő van. – It’s quarter past one.
Fél kettő van. – It’s half past one.
Háromnegyed kettő van. – It’s quarter to two.
Két óra van. – It’s two o’clock.
Negyed négy van. – It’s quarter past three.
Fél tíz van. – It’s half past nine.
Háromnegyed hat van. – It’s quarter to six.
Hány órakor? Mikor? – At what time? When?
egykor – at one
hétkor – at seven
fél ötkor – at half past four
Negyed nyolc után tíz perccel. – at twenty-five past seven
Tíz óra elmúlt. – It’s past ten.
Öt perc múlva három. – It’s five to three.
Mikorra? Ötre. – By what time? By five.

STATING A DATE

Let’s see a comparison now! The example is:

25th February, 1992 or February 25th 1992

1. 1992. február 25.
2. 1992. feb. 25.
3. 1992. 02. 25.
4. 1992. II. 25.

1. You can state a date by writing out the month.
2. You can state a date by writing the abbreviation of the month.
3. You can state a date by writing everything in numbers.
4. You can state a date by writing the month in Roman letters, but it’s rarely used!

All members of a date are followed by a dot. An exception is a completely written out month. And the most important thing of all:

Hungarian dating goes from the bigger unit to the smaller unit.

YEAR + MONTH + DAY

If you want to say in 1992, use the suffixes –ban, -ben with a hyphen:

1992-ben, 2008-ban

Use the suffixes -án, -én with a hyphen if you want to say for example: 2005. május 5.-én.

2005. május 5-én összeházasodunk.
We’ll get married on 5th May, 2005.

Dates are said like this:

1995. 01. 06. = ezerkilencszázkilencvenöt január hatodika
1995. 01. 06-án = ezerkilencszázkilencvenöt január hatodikán
2017. 04. 05. = kétezertizenhét április ötödike
2017. 04. 05-én = kétezertizenhét április ötödikén
2017. 12. 07. = kétezertizenhét április hetedike
2017. 12. 07-én = kétezertizenhét április hetedikén

Furthermore, there’s a little trouble with the number ONE. If you say ’1st May’, you have to use the word: elseje, elsején.

1st May = május elseje
on 1st May = május elsején

Note that the Hungarian word óra has different aspects in English: hour, clock, watch. Everything is óra in Hungarian! 🙂

Words for óra:

karóra – wrist watch
fali óra – wall-clock
villanyóra – electricity meter
vízóra – water-meter
gázóra – gas-meter

It also means class, lesson:

Hétkor órám van. – I have class at seven.
Órán vagyok. – I’m in a class.

Other examples:

Ma 2005. június 16. csütörtök van.
Today is Thursday 16th June, 2005.

Hányadika van ma?
What is the date today? What date is it today?

Mikor? – When?

Melyik évben? 1990-ben.
(In) which year? In 1990.

májusban – in May

1990 májusában – in May, 1990

Mettől meddig? Hétfőtől szombatig.
For how long?/From when to when? From Monday to Saturday.

Mennyi ideig? Hat napig.
(for) How long? For six days.

Mióta? 1990 óta.
Since when? Since 1990.

-Mióta vagy itt? -2 hete.
-How long have you been here? -For 2 weeks.

NOTE! Hungarian says 1995 as: a thousand-ninehundred-ninety-five. We don’t use the English method: nineteen ninetyfive!

CENTURY

Hungarian equivalent: század or évszázad.

a 16. század (tizenhatodik) – the 16th century
a 20. század (huszadik) – the 20th century
a 21. század (huszonegyedik) – the 21st century

All right. We’re finished with adverbs of time. Next time we begin adverbs of manner and after finishing that topic, we’ll take a closer look at all CASES. Bye! 🙂

Seasons and Holidays

SEASONS

The word for season is évszak, the plural is évszakok.

Évszakok: tél (winter), tavasz (spring), nyár (summer), ősz (autumn, fall). They want -val, -vel or -en, -on badly!

télen – in winter
nyáron – in summer
tavasszal – in spring
ősszel – in autumn

telente/minden télen – every winter
nyaranta/minden nyáron – every summer
minden tavasszal – every spring
minden ősszel – every autumn

HOLIDAY, FEAST

Hungarian uses the word: ünnep and the plural is ünnepek.

karácsonykor – at Christmas
húsvétkor – at Easter
Anyák napján – on Mother’s Day
születésnapon – on birthday
a születésnapomon – on my birthday
névnapomon – on my name-day

Note that Hungarian does not write these words in capital letters. Perhaps it’s more polite to write ”Anyák napja” like that, but it is not mandatory.

And the verb formed from ünnep is: (meg)ünnepel = to celebrate

-Mit ünneplünk? –A születésnapomat ünnepeljük.
-What are we celebrating? –We’re celebrating my birthday.

Megünnepeltem, hogy leérettségiztem.
I celebrated my graduation from high-school.

Date and Time with Month, Days and Periods

DATE AND TIME

napok (days), hónapok (months), évek (years), óra-órák (hours), percek (minutes), másodpercek (seconds), évtizedek (decades), évszázadok (centuries), évezredek (millennia), pillanatok (moments)

Month

Month is hónap in Hungarian and the plural is hónapok.

Hónapok: január, február, március, április, május, június, július, augusztus, szeptember, október, november, december

If you want to say ’in February, in November’, use the suffixes -ban, -ben: februárban, novemberben. Note that Hungarian writes months in lower-case.

Days

Day is nap in Hungarian and the plural is napok.

Napok: hétfő, kedd, szerda, csütörtök, péntek, szombat, vasárnap

If you want to say ’on Monday, on Tuesday’, use the suffixes -n, -on, -en, -ön: hétfőn, kedden. Exception to this rule is vasárnap, which is a noun and an adverb at the same time: on Sunday – vasárnap!

If you want to say ’on Mondays/every Monday’, use the suffixes -n, -on, -en, -ön + -ként: hétfőnként, szerdánként. In this case vasárnap takes the suffixes, too: vasárnaponként! Or just say: minden hétfőn, minden vasárnap, minden pénteken…

ma (today), holnap (tomorrow), tegnap (yesterday), holnapután (the day after tomorrow), tegnapelőtt (the day before yesterday)

ma reggel/este (this morning/evening), holnap délután (tomorrow in the afternoon), jövőre (next year), tavaly (last year), múlt héten (last week), hétvége > hétvégén (weekend > at weekend) hétköznap (on weekday)

Periods

Period has a couple of meanings in Hungarian. Now you need the words napszak and the plural is napszakok.

Napszakok: reggel (morning), délelőtt (morning), nappal (day-time), dél (noon), délután (afternoon), este (evening), éjszaka (night), éjfél (midnight), hajnal (dawn)

Some periods of the day can be a noun and an adverb of time in one, some can’t. The underlined part indicates the ones that require suffixes.

reggel – morning / in the morning
délelőtt – morning / in the morning
nappal – day-time / in the day-time
dél > délben – noon > at noon
délután – afternoon / in the afternoon
este – evening / in the evening
éjszaka – night / at night
éjfél > éjfélkor– midnight > at midnight
hajnal > hajnalban – dawn > at dawn

If you want to say ’I had a great time on this evening’, use -n, -on, -en, -ön:

Jól éreztem magam ezen az estén.

And another thing: this very morning = még ma reggel; this very day = még ma

NOTE!

The words délelőtt and reggel are translated into one word in English: morning. Délelőtt literally means before noon. Reggel refers more to period from the beginning of the morning to about eight/nine o’clock.

Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of Time, Summary

So we’ve arrived at the end of this topic (adverbs of time). Below you see a summary with the names of the cases. However, we’re still talking about TIME in the following entries, too. Expressing time, date and so on…

SUMMARY TABLE FOR ADVERBS OF TIME

Suffixes/Postpositions > Case
= English Equilvalent

-val, -vel > instrumental case
= with

-kor > temporal case
= at (five, dawn)

-ig > terminative case
= until (tomorrow), up to (the house)

-tól, -től…-ig = from…(up) to

-(o/e)nként, -(o)nta, -(e)nte > distributive temporal case
= every, each, on…s (every day, on Mondays)

óta = for (a day), since (I arrived)

múlva = in, within (a year)

közben, alatt, során, folyamán = during, in the course of

körül, tájt, tájban = about (nine o’clock), round, towards (midnight)

felé = towards morning (a period of hour or day starts)

előtt, után = before, after

-val, -vel ezelőtt = ago (two days ago)

között = between (two and three o’clock)

hosszat = for (hours on end)

-n, -on, -en, -ön át/keresztül = for (two days)

-n, -on, -en, -ön belül = within (a week)

Suffixes / Postpositions, Adverbs of Time, More Stuff

…-VAL, -VEL EZELŐTT

This construction expresses a moment in the past and even determines it. English equivalent is: ago. Előtt is not to be confused with ezelőtt!

Öt perccel ezelőtt láttam.
I saw her five minutes ago.

Kilenc hónappal ezelőtt még nem tudtam róla.
I didn’t know about it nine months ago.

-(O)NTA, -(E)NTE, -NKÉNT

These express frequency, that something repeats at certain intervals.

The English equivalents are: every or on…s. The suffix -nként is used for the days of the week and periods of the day.

These suffixes can be replaced by the indefinite pronoun minden, meaning every. In this case, minden is followed by -n, -on, -en, -ön for days and –ban, -ben for year, month! See the examples:

naponta = minden nap > every day
hetente = minden héten > every week
havonta = minden hónapban > every month
évente = minden évben > every year
hétfőnként = minden hétfőn > every Monday, on Mondays
keddenként = minden kedden > every Tuesday, on Tuesdays
esténként = minden este > every night
délutánonként = minden délután > every afternoon

The questions are: Milyen gyakran? Hányszor? = How often? How many times?

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE AZ

Sometimes the definite article may assume the function of putting an adverb of time in past or future tense.

az este = tegnap este > last night
a héten = ezen a héten > this week
a napokban = az elmúlt napokban > the other day

Az este nem tudtam aludni. – I couldn’t get a sleep last night.
A héten alig láttalak. – I hardly saw you this week.
A napokban hallottam a hírt. – I’ve heard the news recently.
Majd a nyáron napozunk! – We’ll sunbathe next summer.

FELÉ

This postposition equals to: towards. You see the literal translation below.

este felé – towards night
reggel felé – towards morning

KÖZÖTT

English equivalent: between. It expresses a given moment between two points in time.

két és három óra között – between two and three o’clock

TÁJBAN, TÁJT, KÖRÜL

If something happens approximately at a specific moment, Hungarian offers more possibilities: körül, tájban, tájt.

Dél körül ebédelni megyünk.
We’ll go to have lunch round at noon.

Nyolc körül várlak a színházban.
I’ll wait for you in the theatre at about eight.

Éjféltájt szinte mindenki alszik.
Almost everybody sleeps around midnight.

Öt óra tájban érkezik a vonat.
The train arrives at about five.

IN PROGRESS

Hungarian has at least four postpositions to express something in progress, something happening during a specific moment. Here they are: KÖZBEN, ALATT, SORÁN, FOLYAMÁN. They’re equivalents to during, in the course of.

Alvás közben tehetetlenek vagyunk.
While sleeping, we’re helpless.

Evés közben jön meg az étvágy.
Appetite comes while eating. (Much will have more.)

A tárgyalás alatt minden rendben ment.
Everything was alright during the negotiation.

A verseny folyamán páran megsérültek.
In the course of the race some people have been injured.

A vizsgálat során nem találtak hibát.
No error was found during the investigation.

-N, -EN, -ON, -ÖN KERESZTÜL / ÁT

In this way, one can express a longer, more extended period. English equivalent: for.

Éveken át hallgattam a nyavajgását.
I’ve been listening to his complains for years now.

Hónapokon keresztül nem ehet zsíros ételt.
He’s not allowed to eat fat meals for months.

Két órán keresztül bámult maga elé.
He stared in front of him for two hours.

It’s worth to mention hosszat which has the same meaning, but it is used in certain expressions only:

órák hosszat = for hours on end; naphosszat = all days long

MIELŐTT

English says: before

Mielőtt megszidsz, hallgass meg (engem)!
Before you haul me over the coals, please listen to me!

SOME FREQUENT ADVERBS OF TIME

soha – never
néha – sometimes, now and then
valaha – ever (Have you ever loved me?)
soká(ra) – late
sokáig – for a long time
örökké – forever
soha többet/többé soha/többé nem – never again
éppen most/az előbb/az imént – just now
későn – late
korán – early
nyomban/azonnal/rögtön/tüstént – right away, right now, immediately, on the spot
már – already, yet (I know already. Have you arrived yet?)
most – now
ma este/ma délután/ma reggel – tonight/this afternoon/this morning
még ma – this very day

WHICH YEAR?

Hungarian has special words to express which year I will do something.

az idén – this year
tavaly – last year
jövőre – next year

Examples in sentences:

Az idén érettségizek.
I’ll graduate from a high school this year.

Tavaly nősültem meg.
I married last year.

Jövőre egyetemre megyek.
Next year I’ll go to a college.