Tag Archives: indefinite conjugation

Imperative Mood Indefinite Conjugation

The general ending for imperative mood is: -j

Formation: indefinite 3rd PS verb + -j ending + suffix

kér + -j + -él > kérjél = (you had better) ask

Indefinite conjugation suffixes:
-jak, -jek
-j / -jál, -jél
-jon, -jen, -jön
-junk, -jünk
-jatok, -jetek
-janak, -jenek

NOTE! Verbs with ö ő ü ű take the -jön suffix in 3rd PS. The 2nd PS form can be just the -j for both high and deep verbs or you can use the longer versions -jál, -jél. It’s your decision. Examples:

ÉLNI = TO LIVE
éljek
élj / éljél
éljen
éljünk
éljetek
éljenek

SZÜLNI = TO BEAR
szüljek
szülj / szüljél
szüljön
szüljünk
szüljetek
szüljenek

JÁRNI = TO WALK
járjak
járj / járjál
járjon
járjunk
járjatok
járjanak

NO LINK VOWEL IS NEEDED FOR EITHER OF THE IMPERATIVE CONJUGATION FORMS!

Some sentences:

Soká éljen a király!
May the king live long!

Járjunk egyet a strandon!
Let’s have a walk on the beach.

Nem tudom, szüljek-e gyereket.
I’m not sure if I should have a child.

Next time definite conjugation. Bye now! 🙂

Indefinite Conjugation in Past Tense

Indefinite conjugation for past tense:

Group 1:
-(ot)tam, -(et)tem, -(öt)tem
-(ot)tál, -(et)tél, -(öt)tél
-ott, -ett, -ött
-(ot)tunk, -(et)tünk, -(öt)tünk
-(ot)tatok, -(et)tetek, -(öt)tetek
-(ot)tak, -(et)tek, -(öt)tek

For now don’t get all confused about the brackets. We’ll need them for Group 2 verbs. First we’ll talk about Group 1 verbs.

Be careful with the 3rd PS form! It is: -ott, -ett, -ött. The ending -ött is used with verbs containing ö, ő, ü, ű in the last syllable: kötött, vesződött…

Let’s see some examples from Group 1.

LÉPNI = TO TAKE A STEP
léptem
léptél
lépett
léptünk
léptetek
léptek

VESZŐDNI = TO STRUGGLE
vesződtem
vesződtél
vesződött
vesződtünk
vesződtetek
vesződtek

RAKNI = TO PUT
raktam
raktál
rakott
raktunk
raktatok
raktak

As you see, lépni and vesződni are high-vowel verbs, so the only difference in their indefinite conjugation is the 3rd PS form: -ett, -ött.

NOTE! Verbs ending in J L N NY R take the 3rd PS indefinite suffixes with no link vowel! Examples:

fújt, énekelt, megszánt, hányt, várt

Let’s see some examples for verbs I mentioned in the previous entry!

Group 2:
Monosyllabic verbs in -t: köt (to knit), fut (to run)
kötöttem, kötöttél, kötött, kötöttünk, kötöttetek, kötöttek
futottam, futottál, futott, futottunk, futottatok, futottak

Verbs in two consonants: sejt (to suspect), gyújt (to light)
sejtettem, sejtettél, sejtett, sejtettünk, sejtettetek, sejtettek
gyújtottam, gyújtottál, gyújtott, gyújtottunk, gyújtottatok, gyújtottak

Verbs ending in -ít: lazítottam, segítettem, and so on…

Note! The verb LÁT (to see) is the only monosyllabic verb in -t that belongs to Group 1! So no link vowel is needed with this verb, except the 3rd PS form, of course.

láttam, láttál, látott, láttunk, láttatok, láttak

So the past tense endings also stay the same with the Group 2 verbs, but with a link vowel and one more t, which you can see in brackets at the beginning of this entry.

You have something to learn, again. More next time. Bye! 🙂

Indefinite Conjugation for “Exceptional” Verbs in -s, -sz, -z

I wrote exceptional verbs and not irregular verbs because the verbs we’re about to learn are not really irregular. They just suffer a small change in the indefinite conjugation. I’m talking about:

VERBS IN -S, -SZ, -Z

The difficulty arises in the 2nd PS form because the usual suffix is -sz. It would be quite difficult to pronounce such words, so here is the solution:

Verbs in -s, -sz, -z take the suffixes -OL, -EL, -ÖL in 2nd PS indefinite conjugation!

Examples: lesni (to peep), mosni (to wash), nézni (to watch), rázni (to shake), tenni (to put), mászni (to climb)

Deep verbs 2nd PS indef.: mosol, mászol, rázol
High vebs 2nd PS indef.: lesel, teszel, nézel

Note that mászni is actually an -ik verb: mászom, mászol, mászik…

-IK VERBS

The -ik verbs end with the -ik suffix in 3rd PS indefinite conjugation (hence the name). These verbs have more special features:

-They take -m in 1st PS indefinite conjugation instead of -k.
-They take -ol, -el, -öl in 2nd PS indefinite conjugation just as those verbs in -s, -sz, -z do.

Examples: mosakszik (to wash), esik (to fall), öltözik (to dress up)

1st PS: mosakszom, esem, öltözöm
2nd PS: mosakszol, esel, öltözöl
3rd PS: mosakszik, esik, öltözik

The rest of the conjugation is regular.

Note that there are real and false -ik verbs. Real-ik verbs end in -s, -sz, -z: mosakszik, esik, fázik

Example for false -ik verb: tűnik (to seem, to appear). It ends in -n, so it’s a false -ik verb. You conjugate such verbs regularly: tűnök, tűnsz, tűnik…

Summary for Indefinite Conjugation

SUMMARY: rakni (to put), félni (to fear), ülni (to sit)

1st PS: -ok, -ek, -ök (rakok, félek, ülök)

2nd PS: -sz (raksz, félsz, ülsz)

3rd PS: NO SUFFIX (rak, fél, ül)

1st PP: -unk, -ünk (rakunk, félünk, ülünk)

2nd PP: -tok, -tek, -tök (raktok, féltek, ültök)

3rd PP: -nak, -nek (raknak, félnek, ülnek)

Verbs in two consonants, verbs ending in -ít and verbs with long ű ending in -t take the 2nd PS, 2nd PP and 3rd PP indefinite suffixes with a link vowel:

2nd PS: -asz, -esz (lazítasz, fűtesz, gyújtasz)

2nd PP: -otok, -etek, -ötök (lazítotok, sejtetek, fűtötök)

3rd PP: -anak, -enek (lazítanak, sejtenek, fűtenek)

Digest this first. Then there are a couple of things about indefinite conjugation.

Indefinite Conjugation for Verbs in Two Consonants – Present Tense

You already know that verbs with indefinite conjugation take the 2nd PS, 2nd PP and 3rd PP suffixes with no link vowel.

lépsz, léptek, lépnek
futsz, futtok, futnak
ütsz, üttök, ütnek
szedsz, szedtek, szednek

and so on…

The problem arises when a verb ends in two consonants. Then it needs a link vowel. With such verbs, these suffixes are fitted with a link vowel: 2nd PS, 2nd PP, 3rd PP. And they look like this:

2nd PS: -esz, -asz
2nd PP: -etek, -ötök, -otok
3rd PP: -enek, -anak

The rest of the indefinite conjugation (1st PS, 1st PP, 3rd PS) is the same.

Examples:

Deep verb > mondani (to say)
mondok, mondasz, mond, mondunk, mond(o)tok, mondanak

High verb > menteni (to save)
mentek, mentesz, ment, mentünk, mentetek, mentenek

High verb with ö, ő, ü, ű > gyűjteni (to collect)
gyűjtök, gyűjtesz, gyűjt, gyűjtünk, gyűjtötök, gyűjtenek

Generally speaking of verbs in two consonants, I recommend you use a 2nd PP suffix with a  link vowel except with the verb mondani.

This rule is also valid for monosyllabic verbs with long ű ending in -t and verbs ending with the suffix -ít:

fűt (to heat), hűt (to cool), műt (to operate on), segít (to help), lazít (to relax)

2nd PS: fűtesz, hűtesz, műtesz, segítesz, lazítasz
2nd PP: fűtötök, hűtötök, műtötök, segítetek, lazítotok
3rd PP: fűtenek, hűtenek, műtenek, segítenek, lazítanak

Next time we’ll take a look at the indefinite conjugation. Bye 🙂

The Difference between Definite and Indefinite Conjugation

I’m trying to give you the simplest explanation ever. Here it is:

Definite conjugation: I see the tree. – Látom a fát.

Indefinite conjugation: I see a tree. – Látok egy fát.

The definite conjugation requires verbs conjugated with the definite suffixes, while the indefinite conjugation requires verbs conjugated with the indefinite suffixes. And what’s the difference?

If you talk about a specific/definite thing/person, you conjugate the verb with the definite suffixes. If you talk about an indefinite/unknown thing/person, you conjugate the verb with the indefinite suffixes.

Here’s the key to know when you should use one or the other:

DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES!

Take a look at the definite example: Látom a fát. You see the definite article, which means I see a definite tree. I know exactly what tree I’m talking about.

Take a look at the indefinite example: Látok egy fát. You see the indefinite article, which means I see a tree of some sort. I don’t know what tree it is. I’ve never seen it before.

NOTE! Purely intransitive verbs cannot be conjugated with the definite suffixes. Such verbs express existence or motion: van (to be), megy (to go), jön (to come)…

It is a vital grammatical rule because you can’t avoid using it!

WHAT IF THERE IS NO DEFINITE OR INDEFINITE ARTICLE IN THE SENTENCE?

USE THE INDEFINITE CONJUGATION IN THESE CASES:

– If there is no article at all, apply the indefinite conjugation.

– Indefinite numerals and indefinite pronouns also cause the verb to be conjugated with the indefinite suffixes.

– This rule is also visible if the noun is plural: Fákat látok. – I see trees. It is because the indefinite article is not used in the plural. If it is expressed with néhány (some), that’s no problem because it is an indefinite numeral!

USE THE DEFINITE CONJUGATION IN THESE CASES:

– The demonstrative pronouns require the verb to be conjugated with the definite suffixes given the fact that those pronouns refer to something specific/definite.

– Proper names (John, David, Bugs Bunny…) also need the definite conjugation since names already refer to a specific/definite person.

More examples:

Nézem a lányt. – I‘m watching the girl.
Nézek egy lányt. – I‘m watching a girl.

Azt a lányt nézik. – They‘re watching that girl.
Sok lányt néznek. – They‘re watching a lot of girls.

A fiúkat szereti. – She loves the boys.
Fiúkat szeret. – She loves boys.
Néhány fiút szeret. – She loves some boys.
Sehány fiút nem szeret. – She doesn’t love any boys.

NOTE! The nouns in such sentences are in the accusative case because follow/precede a transitive verb! (Remember the accusative case: Látom a folyót.)

Besides, different pieces of information in a conversation may allude to something determined or undetermined and then the answer has to agree with it.

In the following examples, the stress is on the verb. What is important is whether I’m watching the/a girl or I’m doing something else with her. To makes things simple, I’ll use the Present Simple Tense in English.

-Nézed a lányt? -Igen, nézem (őt).
-Do you watch the girl? -Yes, I watch her.

-Nézel egy lányt? -Igen, nézek (egyet).
-Do you watch a girl? -Yes, I watch one.

Next time, we’ll finally get to how to conjugate verbs. Bye now! 🙂