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Accusative Case

ACCUSATIVE CASE

The accusative case has a very important role in the Hungarian language. It makes sentences with a fairly free word order possible. The suffix for it is: -t

What is it all about?

An English direct object must be in a certain position in the sentence so that it can be recognized. A Hungarian direct object is fitted with -t, thus can be recognized anywhere in the sentence. Example:

I SEE THE RIVER. What do I see? The river. River is the direct object which has to have the suffix -t in Hungarian. The Hungarian translation is: Látom a folyót

Basically, the rules for it follow those for the plural form.

TO BEGIN WITH:

Some nouns ending in j, l, ly, n, ny, r, s, sz, z take the suffix -t without link vowels.

bajt  – (cause) trouble
bált – (organize a) ball
villamost – (catch the) tram
kárt – (cause) damage
osztályt – (teach a) class
pillért – (build a) pier
pofont – (give a) wham
regényt – (read a) novel
lépést – (take a)  step
szeszt – (drink) spirit
szószt – (eat) sauce
pénzt – (earn) money

IMPORTANT! If a monosyllabic deep-vowel noun having A, Á takes the plural -OK, then it takes the accusative -T. If such a noun takes the plural -AK, it takes the accusative -AT!

bajok – bajt BUT vajak – vajat
károk – kárt BUT zárak – zárat
bálok – bált BUT tálak – tálat

Remember this first. Next time we’ll talk about the groups we took a look at when discussing the plural.

If you don’t remember how to make nouns plural, then go back to those entries because putting nouns in the accusative case is based on those rules! That being said…

Group 1: A becomes Á, E becomes É at the end of the word like in plural.

alma – almát (apple)
apa – apát (father)
medve – medvét (bear)
lecke – leckét (homework, task)

Nouns ending in any other short vowel never behave like A and E when adding -t. Those vowels (i, ö, u, ü) always stay short: aput (dad), kocsit (car), revüt (revue). Hungarian words never end in short O or Ö, so there is no trouble with them.

Group 2: High -vowel nouns take the accusative suffix -ET or -ÖT. The rules for the plural form with -ET/-ÖT are the same as those for -EK/-ÖK in nominative case: fülek/fület (ear); kürtök/kürtöt (horn)

1. High-vowel nouns containing e, é, i, í, ö, ő ,ü, ű take -ET if ö, ő, ü, ű is NOT in the last syllable.

gyereket (child), széket (chair), füzetet (exercise book)

2. High-vowel nouns whose last syllable contains ö, ő, ü, ű take -ÖT.

gyümölcsöt (fruit), köldököt (navel), erődöt (fortress)

3. Monosyllabic high-vowel nouns ending in one or two consonants and containing ö, ő, ü, ű either take -ET or -ÖT. No rule for them. It is a matter of memorization. Just a few examples:

tököt (marrow), gyököt (root), ködöt (fog), böjtöt (fasting), fürtöt (cluster)…

BUT

őzet (roe), könyvet (book), földet (land)…

4. High-vowel suffixes take -ET or -T (because they take -EK in plural).

emelvényt – platform
teljesítményt – performance
kérést – request
tehetséget – gift (like somebody is gifted)
emeletet – floor, storey
fedezetet – cover
kertészt – gardener

Group 3: Deep-vowel nouns take -OT or -AT. (again, remember the plural)

1. Standard deep-vowel nouns take -OT.

családot (family), kalapot (hat), vonatot (train)

2. Two monosyllabic nouns having short o take -AT: fogat (tooth), tollat (pen)

3. Some monosyllabic nouns having A, Á in them take the accusative -AT. They must be memorized. A few examples:

zárat (lock), kádat (bath-tub), vállat (shoulder)

4. Monosyllabic deep-vowel nouns ending in two consonants and having A, Á either take -OT or -AT. Memorize!

társat (mate), nyársat (prod)…

BUT

lángot (flame), táncot (dance)…

5. Deep-vowel suffixes take -OT or -T. (remember the plural)

utalványt – voucher
szállítmányt – shipment
vágást – cutting
válságot – crisis
falatot – bite
fokozatot – degree
jogászt – jurist

Group 4: DROP-VOWEL NOUNS

Once again ( I know I’m repeating myself) if you know how to make nouns plural, you know how to make them accusative. Remember those steps? At the end you add -T instead of -K. That’s all!

Plural: BOKOR – BOKR – BOKRO – BOKROK

Accusative: BOKOR – BOKR – BOKRO – BOKROT

That’s it! More examples with both plural and accusative:

eper  – eprek – epret (strawberry)
átok – átkok – átkot (curse)
vödör – vödrök – vödröt (bucket)
torony – tornyok – tornyot (tower)
ajak – ajkak – ajkat (lips)
méreg – mérgek – mérget (poison)
érem – érmek – érmet (medal)
nyereg – nyergek – nyerget (saddle)
üröm – ürmök – ürmöt (artemisia)
izom – izmok – izmot (muscle)
vászon – vásznak – vásznat (canvas)

As you see, vászon is an exception within the exception: the O becomes A. Some nouns like sarok (ankle/corner) have two versions: sarkat (ankle)/sarkot (corner). You can take a look at the rest of them if you download the book in the ‘Download the grammar book’ category.

Group 5: NOUNS WITH THE LAST VOWEL SHORTENED

Examples with plural and accusative to give you a reference:

szél – szelek – szelet (wind)
kötél – kötelek – kötelet (rope)
kenyér – kenyerek – kenyeret (bread)

madár – madarak – madarat (bird)
kanál – kanalak – kanalat (spoon)
nyár – nyarak – nyarat (summer)

út – utak – utat (road)
kút – kutak – kutat (well)

There are dozens of nouns like these above, but there is no rule for them. It is a matter of memorization. Most nouns having similar forms don’t change: tányér – tányérok – tányért (plate), méz – mézek – mézet (honey), etc. Usually nouns ending in -ár/-ér, -ál/-él fall under this shortened vowel category.

Group 6: V- NOUNS

V-nouns get a V inserted in the plural and in the accusative, too. Those few words are:

kő – kövek – követ (stone)
cső – csövek – csövet (tube)
tő – tövek – tövet (root)

ló  – lovak – lovat (horse)
tó – tavak – tavat (lake)
hó – havak – havat (snow) > the Ó becomes A

mű – művek – művet (works, factory) > the Ű does not change
nyű – nyüvek – nyüvet (maggot)
fű – füvek – füvet (grass)

Other nouns with two plural forms have two forms for the accusative case.

mag – magot – magvat (seed)
lé – lét – levet (juice)
daru – darut – darvat (crane)
falu – falut – falvat (village)
tetű – tetűt – tetvet (cootie)
szó – szót ! (word) ONE ACCUSATIVE CASE AND THE PLURAL IS SZÓKAT or SZAVAKAT!
fattyú – fattyút – fattyat (bastard)

Group 7: MIXED NOUNS

Mixed nouns are mixed because they contain e, é, i, í + a deep-vowel.

1. Mixed words i, í + plus a deep vowel take the accusative suffix -OT or -T. (The plural is -OK, remember!)

iratot (document), kavicsot (pebble), tintát (ink)

Obviously nouns ending in a vowel like ‘tinta’ belong to this category, too. They just get a -t because they end in a vowel.

Also, remember that some nouns ending in a certain consonant (see above Group 1) simply take -t with no link vowel:

bíborost (cardinal), zivatart (storm)

2. Mixed nouns with e, é  + a deep vowel take –OT or -T.

sétányt (avenue, promenade), játékot (toy), ajándékot (present, gift)

3. Monosyllabic nouns containing long í are either high or deep. Remember their plural form because then you know the accusative suffix, too: -OT, -AT, -ET.

gyíkot (lizard), síkot (plane), sípot (fife), csíkot (stripe)

díjat (award/fee), íjat (bow), szíjat (strap), ín-inat (tendon), nyíl-nyilat (arrow), híd-hidat (bridge)

ívet (arch), rímet (rhyme), címet (title), víz-vizet (water)

AND csíny (prank), kín (pain), íny (gums), sír (tomb), szín (colour), ír (Irish), dísz (ornament), hír (news), sín (rail), íz (flavour), rizs (rice) become: csínyt, kínt, ínyt, sírt, színt, írt, dísz, hírt, sínt, ízt, rizst. But if you refer to an Irish person, it is better to say: ír férfit, ír nőt.

The three long ú nouns take -AT: borjú – borjat (calf), varjú-varjat (crow), fiú-fiút-fiat (boy-son)

Group 8: COMPOUND WORDS

Compound nouns are made accusative according to the last noun.

házépítést – house construction
rövidnadrágot – shorts
fénykardot – light saber

Group 9: ADOPTED WORDS OR LOAN-WORDS

hotelt (hotel), fotelt (armchair), dizájnt (design), ímélt (e-mail), hárdvert (hardware), szoftvert (software), kommunikációt (communication)

SUPPLEMENTAL

férfi – férfiak – férfit (man) DEEP-VOWEL WORD!

ujj – ujjak – ujjat (finger) DEEP-VOWEL WORD!

arany – aranyak – aranyat  (gold) DEEP-VOWEL WORD!

E-Ö words: csend/csönd – csendet/csöndet (silence)

cseppet/csöppöt-csöppet: csepp/csöpp means drop (like a drop of water); If the the accusative is csöppet, it means a bit. If the accusative is csöppöt, then it’s the accusative for drop!!

PLURAL FOR ACCUSATIVE CASE

Example for the plural form for nouns in accusative case:

ház – házak – házat – házakat

So you first make the noun plural and then accusative with a link vowel because there’s a -k plural suffix. That’s all. But let’s see more examples:

szem – szemek – szemet – szemeket (high-vowel noun) / eyes

dolog – dolgok – dolgot – dolgokat (drop-vowel noun) / things

szamár – szamarak – szamarat – szamarakat (last vowel shortened) / donkeys

ív – ívek – ívet – íveket (monosyllabic high-vowel noun) / archs

and so on…

So remember! FIRST PLURAL + THEN ATTACH ACCUSATIVE! = NOUN + LINK VOWEL (if needed) + -K + LINK VOWEL + -T

Nouns and Plural Form – Nominative Case

NOUNS AND PLURAL FORM – NOMINATIVE CASE

First the solution to the article exercise:

az ablak – the window

a konyha – the kitchen

egy ajtó – a door

egy kalap – a hat

egy / az élet – a life, the life

NOUNS

There is no need to worry about Hungarian nouns. As there is no gender discrimination, nouns are neither masculine nor feminine. We don’t have neuter nouns, either. They are nouns just like in English.

In English, the plural is formed in this way: houses, oxen, and there are a couple of exceptions for different reasons like fish, information, advice, police, people, man/men, child/children…

Hungarian plural is formed the suffix -k. You add that -k to the end of the nouns like this: méhek (bees), emberek (people), házak (houses), állomások (stations). So far so good. The difficulty is that there are exceptions worthy of consideration.

Rule 1: a/e become á/é in the plural at the end of a noun.

anya – anyák (mother – mothers)
apa – apák (father – fathers)
kacsa – kacsák (duck – ducks)
kefe – kefék (brush – brushes)
eke – ekék (plough – ploughs)
teve – tevék (camel – camels)

Any other vowel is free from this rule. You just add -k to end of a noun: kapuk (gates), padlók (floors), erdők (forests), kesztyűk (gloves).

NOTE! Hungarian nouns never end in Á, É, O, Ö!

Rule 2: If nouns end a in consonant or two, it would be difficult even for us to pronounce them with the -k suffix. That’s way we need a vowel between the noun and the plural suffix -k. It’s called LINK VOWEL. Link vowels can be: o, a, e, ö.

Let’s see the high-vowel nouns first! High vowels are: e, é, ö, ő, ü, ű. Now let’s forget about i, í for a moment.

1. High-vowel nouns take the suffix -k + an E or Ö link vowel. Suffixes for such nouns are -EK or -ÖK. Nouns having e, é take -EK. Examples:

emberek (people), jelek (signs), székek (chairs), gépek (machines)

2. High-vowel nouns whose last syllable is ö, ő, ü, ű take the plural -ÖK. Examples:

elnökök (presidents), gyümölcsök (fruits), köldökök (navels), küszöbök (thresholds), örömök (delights)

3. Monosyllabic high-vowel nouns containing ö, ő, ü, ű and ending in one or two consonants take -EK or -ÖK. These nouns must be memorized!

övek (belts), őzek (roes), tőgyek (udders), fülek (ears), ügyek (affairs), rügyek (burgeons), völgyek (valleys), hölgyek (ladies), könyvek (books), tölgyek (oaks), szörnyek (monsters), földek (lands), törzsek (trunks)

Irregular nouns are: szűz – szüzek (virgins) and tűz – tüzek (fires) whose long ű becomes short ü in the plural form.

tökök (marrows), gyökök (roots), körök (circles), szőrök (hairs), bőrök (skins), gőzök (steams), bűzök (stenches), őrök (guards), böjtök (fasts), szörpök (syrups), görcsök (cramps), fürtök (clusters), kürtök (horns)

4. High-vowel suffixes requiring -EK. You don’t have to know what those suffixes do, but if you see them, you’ll know how to put them in the plural form.

  • -vény / emelvények – platforms
  • -mény / élmények – experiences
  • -és / kérések – requests
  • -et / felületek – surfaces
  • -ség / térségek – areas
  • -ész / kertészek – gardeners
  • -zet / mennyezetek – ceilings

Sorry if some English nouns (which shouldn’t be) are made plural, but I want to show you how those Hungarian nouns can be made plural.

Now we’ll talk about deep-vowel nouns.

Rule 3: Deep-vowel nouns take the plural -OK or -AK.

1. Standard deep-vowel nouns simply take -OK:

kalapok (hats), állatok (animals), vonatok (trains), lányok (girls)

2. Two monosyllabic deep-vowel nouns take -AK: fogak (teeth), tollak (pens; feathers)

3. Some monosyllabic deep-vowel nouns containing a, á take the plural -AK (because of historical reasons). I’m going to write just a few of them. You can see and learn the rest in the book you can download:

kádak (bath-tubs), falak (walls), halak (fish), gyárak (factories)

4. Monosyllabic deep-vowel nouns ending in two consonants and having a, á either take -OK or -AK. No rules for them. You’d better memorize them.

árnyak (shadows), szárnyak (wings), nyársak (prods), társak (mates), sarjak (sprouts), tárgyak (objects)

BUT!

tapsok (applauses), kardok (swords), partok (shores, beaches), pártok (political parties), pántok (hinges), táncok (dances), sáncok (fortifications)

5. Deep-vowel suffixes requiring -OK. You don’t need to know (yet) what these suffixes do, but if you see them, you know you have to make them plural with -OK.

-vány / látványok  – spectacles
-mány / takarmányok – forages
-ás / szokások – customs
-at / lakatok – padlocks
-ság / társaságok – companionships
-ász / jogászok – jurists
-zat / ruházatok – clothings

Furthermore, there are three nouns ending in ú and taking the plural -AK:

borjú / borjak (calves)
varjú / varjak (crows)

AND

fiú has two plural forms: fiúk / fiak. The plural FIÚK means BOYS, while the plural FIAK means SONS.

DROP-VOWEL NOUNS

Drop-vowel nouns suffer some kind of mutation when made plural (and also accusative. Later about that). Let’s see this example: BOKOR (bush)

Step 1: Remove the last vowel BOKOR and you get this: BOKR

Step 2: Figure out what link vowel you need. In this case, it’s logical. We need O: BOKRO

Step 3: Add the plural suffix -K: BOKROK

BOKOR – bush
BOKROK – bushes

There are a couple of nouns like bokor. I’ll give you a few examples. Please check the rest of the nouns belonging to this category in the ‘Download the grammar book’ section. Listing them all would take a lot of space in this entry.

álom / álmok (dreams), dolog /dolgok (things), ököl / öklök (fists), szobor / szobrok (statues)

Typical drop-vowel nouns end in -ALOM, -ELEM suffix: szerelem / szerelmek (loves), hatalom / hatalmak (powers).

-ALOM becomes -ALMAK
-ELEM becomes -ELMEK

I cannot give you an exact number of how many nouns like these above exist because -alom, -elem turn verbs into nouns. It depends on what you would like to say.

 

NOUNS WITH THE LAST VOWEL SHORTENED

With these nouns it is easy to know the plural. -Ek for high-vowel nouns, -AK for deep-vowel nouns. This concerns nouns containing Á or É in that last closed syllable.

Let me show two examples of ‘last vowel change’:

MADÁR (bird)
MADARAK (birds)

EGÉR (mouse)
EGEREK (mice)

You see the Á becomes A and the noun takes the plural -AK, as well, as the É becomes E and the noun takes the plural -EK. That’s it. These nouns (and those two above) are the ones you should be careful with:

DEEP-VOWEL WORDS WITH THE LAST VOWEL SHORTENED

kanál / kanalak – spoons
szamár / szamarak – donkeys
pohár / poharak – glasses (to drink from)
bogár / bogarak – bugs
nyár / nyarak – summers
sár / sarak – muds
mocsár / mocsarak – marshes
sugár / sugarak – rays
kosár / kosarak – baskets

Some monosyllabic words having long ú becoming short u:

kút / kutak – wells
lúd / ludak – geese
úr / urak – lords, gentlemen
út / utak – roads
nyúl / nyulak – rabbits
rúd / rudak – rods

HIGH-VOWEL NOUNS WITH THE LAST VOWEL SHORTENED

Please check the rest of these nouns in the downloadable book. There you can find a more extended list.

szekér / szekerek – carts
tehén / tehenek – cows
kenyér / kenyerek – slices of bread
fedél /fedelek – roofs, covers
veréb / verebek – sparrows
cserép / cserepek – tiles, shards
szemét / szemetek – rubbish
levél / levelek – leaves, letters
ég / egek – skies
ér / erek – veins
fél /felek – members; halves
szél / szelek – winds
bél / belek – bowels
tél / telek – winters
dél / delek – noons
nyél / nyelek – handles, shafts
dér / derek – white frosts
tér / terek – squares, areas
légy / legyek – flies

And in parallel with the monosyllabic long ú nouns, here we have two monosyllabic long ű nouns. That long ű becomes short ü in the plural. You already know these words, actually.

szűz / szüzek – virgins
tűz / tüzek – fires

And two irregular nouns: DERÉK / DEREKAK (waists), FAZÉK / FAZEKAK (pots)

Note that usually nouns ending in -ár/-ér, -ál/-él are subject to such changes. There are a couple of them, so they should be memorized. Most of the nouns with similar forms are regular: tálak (dishes), határok (boundaries), etc.

V-NOUNS

V-nouns get a V inserted in the plural. High-vowel nouns take the plural suffix -EK, deep-vowel nouns take the suffix -AK. Furthermore, the long vowel (ő, ű, ó) becomes short (ö, ü, o) in the plural. Just a few words belong there:

kő / kövek – stones
cső / csövek – tubes
tő / tövek – roots, stems
ló / lovak – horses
hó / havak – snows > Ó becomes A
tó / tavak – lakes
fű / füvek – grass(es)
mű / művek – works, factories > Ű stays Ű
nyű / nyüvek – maggots
fű / füvek – grasses

NOTE! The long ű in MŰVEK doesn’t change in the plural.

Here you can learn two adjectives: bő – bővek (abundant); jó – jók/javak (good/possessions)

Some other nouns behace like V-nouns, but they have two plural forms. A regular plural and a V-plural. Some have different meanings.

mag / magok / magvak – seeds
lé / lék /levek – juices
daru / daruk / darvak – cranes
falu / faluk / falvak – villages
tetű / tetűk / tetvek – cooties
szó / szók /szavak – words
fattyú / fattyúk / fattyak – bastards (extramarital children)

The plurals for mag, lé, falu, tetű, fattyú mean the same thing.

DARU: daruk refers to machines, while darvak means birds.

SZÓ: szók is used with grammatical expressions (kérdőszók – interrogative words), whereas szavak is used with general expressions (szép szavak – nice words)

MIXED NOUNS

Mixed nouns contain both deep and high vowels! They are mixed because they have I, Í, E, É in them + a deep vowel. As a rule, the last vowel decides if a noun is a high or deep.

1. Mixed nouns having I, Í + a deep-vowel in them are deep-vowel words and take the plural -OK:

iratok (documents), szállítmányok (shipments), kavicsok (pebbles), tinták (inks)

2. Mixed nouns with E, É + a deep-vowel in them are deep-vowel words and take the plural -OK:

sétányok (avenues), játékok (toys), tányérok (plates), szomszédok (neighbours)

3. Monosyllabic nouns containing long í are either high or deep. They should be memorized. The plural can be: -ok, -ak, -ek

gyíkok (lizards)
kínok (pains)
sípok (fifes)
síkok (planes)
sírok (tombs)
csíkok (stripes)

díjak (awards)
íjak (bows)
szíjak (straps)
ín / inak (tendons) LONG Í BECOMES SHORT I
híd / hidak (bridges) LONG Í BECOMES SHORT I
nyíl / nyilak (arrows) LONG Í BECOMES SHORT I

csínyek (pranks)
színek (colors)
ívek (archs)
rímek (rhymes)
címek (titles)
írek (Irish)
díszek (ornaments)
hírek (news)
ínyek (palates, gums)
sínek (rails)
ízek (flavors)
víz / vizek (waters) LONG Í BECOMES SHORT I

And another word: rizs / rizsek (rice)

COMPOUND WORDS

A compound word consists of two individual nouns.

Hungarian compound words are deep or high according to the last word. Here you see what such words become and the plural form attached to them.

ház + építések = házépítések – house constructions
torna + terem = tornatermek – gymnasia (literally: gymnastics rooms)
lámpa + oszlop = lámpaoszlopok – lamp posts

ADOPTED WORDS or LOAN-WORDS

LOAN-WORDS are foreign words already adopted to the Hungarian writing system. Their plural forms still vary, but there’s no difference in their meaning.

fotel / fotelok or fotelek – armchairs
hotel / hotelok or hotelek – hotels BUT

konténer / konténerek – containers
hieroglifa / hieroglifák – hieroglyphs

NOTE! Hungarian writing likes the assimilation f foreign words if the use of those words has become prevalent enough.

dizájnok – designs
ímélek – emails
szoftverek – softwares
hárdverek – hardwares

ALSO NOTE! Foreign words are often mixed words by Hungarian concept, so we need to decide which group they belong to (high or deep) and deal with them accordingly.

SUPPLEMENTAL

Let’s see some nouns we haven’t talked about yet. These nouns are irregular, so be careful with them.

FÉRFI – man: looks a harmless high-vowel noun, but it is a DEEP-VOWEL NOUN! Its plural is: FÉRFIAK – men

UJJ – finger: obviously a deep-vowel noun and its plural is UJJAK – fingers

ARANY – gold: deep-vowel noun and the plural is ARANYAK – golds

Furthermore, there are high-vowel noun having E or Ö whose vowels are still changing. NOTE! The plural for such nouns is -EK. Example:

CSEND – silence / CSENDEK  – (silences)
CSÖND – silence / CSÖNDEK – (silences)

It’s not important which you use if they stand alone. If they’re part of a compound word the E version is used.

CSENDHÁBORÍTÁS – riot (literally: breach of silence )

CSEPPFOLYÓS – liquid, fluid

GOOD NEWS! WE’RE DONE WITH NOUNS!!!!

From the next entry on, we’ll take a look at the ACCUSATIVE CASE of these nouns.

Adjectives

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are words describing nouns. They express quality, characteristics, condition and the fact that something/somebody belongs to somewhere, something is fitted with something

Let’s divide adjectives in two groups: attributive adjectives and predicative adjectives.

ATTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVES

Hungarian attributive adjectives are like their English fellows. They precede nouns and under this condition they’re unmarked for case, that is they must not made plural, accusative and so on…They’re just adjectives like in English. Examples:

szép lány – beautiful girl
szép lányok – beautiful girls
Látom a szép lányt. – I see the beautiful girl.
Látom a szép lányokat. – I see the beautiful girls.

See? The adjective szép is unmarked for case. Easy

PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVES

Hungarian predicative adjectives are part of predicative expressions and so they follow nouns and are MARKED FOR CASE! Example:

A lány szép. – The girl is beautiful.
A lányok szépek. – The girls are beautiful.

NOTE! Hungarian predicative adjectives do not use the substantive verb (van, vannak) in 3rd person singular and plural when in present tense. You see English uses ‘is’ and ‘are’ in such sentences. Hungarian doesn’t! In any other person/number and tense, they must be used. Compare:

Én szép vagyok. – I’m beautiful.

Te szép vagy. – You’re beautiful.

Ő szép. – She’s beautiful. (Note, a sentence like ”Ő szép van” is wrong! No substantive verb!)

Mi szépek vagyunk. – We’re beautiful.

Ti szépek vagytok. – You’re beautiful.

Ők szépek. – They’re beautiful. (Note, a sentence like ”Ők szépek vannak” is wrong! No substantive verb!)

NOTE! In such sentences the substantive verb is at the end of the sentence: Kedvesek vagytok. – You’re (pl) kind. Furthermore, such sentences are fitted with predicative adjectives, so I used the personal pronouns to have a visible subject, but these pronouns can be omitted: Szépek vagytok and so on…

And one more thing! As these are sentences with predicative adjectives, the adjectives are to be made plural in the plural numbers and persons: SZÉPEK vagyunk (we’re beautiful), and not SZÉP vagyunk!

As predicative adjectives are marked for case, they can take suffixes nouns also can! Since you already know the accusative case (I hope ), let’s take a look at adjectives made accusative. In such sentences English has this solution: the + adjective + one. Now let’s see what I’m talking about:

Which one do you choose? – The red one.
Melyiket választod? – A pirosat. (piros-red is made accusative singular because I choose it, it’s a direct object!)

Which one do you choose? – The red ones.
Melyiket választod? – A pirosakat. (piros is made accusative plural because I choose them, it’s a direct object!)

Which are you talking about? – (About) the red one.
Melyikről beszélsz? – A pirosról. (with suffix -ról corresponding with the preposition ‘about’ in this sentence)

-The bus driver hit the car. – The blue one? -No, the red one.
-A buszvezető nekiment a kocsinak. –A kéknek? -Nem, a pirosnak. (Now with the suffix -nak because the verb requires this suffix, while English requires a simple object ‘hit something’)

I recommend you read this through over and over again. Next time we’ll talk about how to make adjectives plural! But I’ll give you a summary about this entry.

SUMMARY

Attributive adjectives:
– precede nouns and are unmarked for case, that is they must not take any suffix.

Predicative adjectives:
– follow nouns and are marked for case, whatever case is needed.
– The 3rd person singular and plural (van, vannak) of the substantive verb is omitted in present tense. But they’re required in any other person/number and tense!
– Remember to make adjectives plural in such sentences when needed (in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person plural).

PLURAL ADJECTIVES

Like nouns, adjectives can be made plural, too. Remember those groups for nouns? We have groups (quite) like that for adjectives. Let’s get started!

The plural suffix is -k like for nouns! We also use link vowels if necessary.

Group 1: Adjectives ending in certain vowels

1. If the final vowel is A, E in an adjective, it becomes Á, É. (the same situation as for nouns)

laza – lazák (loose), enyhe – enyhék (mild)

2. Adjectives ending in long Ó, Ő take the plural -K or -AK, -EK. And how you know when to use what? Adjectives that are already used as nouns take -K. Real adjectives can take -K or -AK, -EK. Of course, you should take heed of vowel harmony like always.

adjectives already used as a noun: szállítók (suppliers)
real adjectives: kérkedők / kérkedőek (ostentatious), meghatók / meghatóak (touching – like the films are touching)

3. Adjectives in long Ú, Ű take -AK, -EK.

hosszúak (long), szomorúak (sad), egyszerűek (simple), hűek (faithful)

Examples in sentences:

-A hosszú padokat tegyük a terembe? -Igen, a hosszúak jók lesznek.
-Shall we put the long benches in the room? – Yes, the long ones will do.

Az indoeurópai nyelvek egyszerűek. – Indo-European languages are simple.

A kérkedőket senki sem szereti. – Nobody likes the ostentatious.

A déli területeken a telek enyhék. – Winters are mild in the southern areas.

Group 2: High-vowel adjectives

a. High-vowel adjectives take the plural -EK. (Remember nouns!)

keskenyek (narrow), szépek (beautiful), ügyesek (able, brave), szelídek (tame)

b. Remember the rules for nouns whose last syllable is ö, ő, ü, ű? Actually, I don’t recall one single adjective with that characteristics unless it has a suffix to make the word adjective. If you ever meet such a word, let’s just say such adjectives can take both -EK and -ÖK. You choose. I’d like to give you an example of an old word not used anymore. That word is: gőzös.

Gőzös is an old word for train (the modern day word for train is vonat). This word is made up of the noun gőz meaning steam and the suffix -ös. Literally meaning steamy. If you put this word in the plural with -ÖK, gőzösök, it refers to trains. If you use the plural -EK with it, gőzösek, it refers to several things that are full of steam. Well, we don’t use this word anymore, just an example for a possible difference in meaning. BUT it already has the suffix -ÖS!

c. High-vowel suffixes creating adjectives take -EK or -ÖK. Memorize them please. You don’t have to know what these suffixes mean (yet), but if you see them, you know how to make them plural.

-s / félősek – félősök (timid)
-ös / közönyösek – közönyösök (unconcerned)
-es / tüzesek (fiery)
-telen / szemtelenek (impudent)
-etlen / kellemetlenek (inconvenient)
-elmes / kényelmesek (comfortable)
-énk / élénkek (vivid)
-ékeny / érzékenyek (sensitive)
-i / szűziek (chaste, virginal)
-tt / küldöttek (emissary)

Group 3: Deep-vowel adjectives

a. Deep-vowel adjectives take the plural -OK or AK. It has to be memorized. However, monosyllabic words having a, á can be a starting point.

vastagok (thick), nagyok (big), rosszak (bad), vékonyak (thin), alacsonyak (small)

Note! It’s not plural, BUT adjectives formed from monosyllabic a, á nouns with -ak plural take -as, not -os!

vaj – vajak – vajas  (buttery)
haj – hajak – hajas (hairy – like someone has hair on his head)
társ – társak – társas (social)

BUT

baj – bajok – bajos (difficult)
zaj – zajok – zajos (noisy)
kard – kardok – kardos (someone with sword; bossy)

b. Deep-vowel suffixes making adjectives out of words require the plural -AK more often than not.

-s / csúszósak (slippery), búsak (tearful)
–as / lázasak (feverish)
-os / vázlatosak (sketchy)
-talan / hasztalanok (useless)
-atlan / szakadatlanok (unremitting)
-almas / szánalmasak (pitiful)
-ánk / falánkok, falánkak (esurient, gluttonous)
-ékony / kártékonyak (mischievous)
-i / barátiak (friendly)
-tt / vágottak (cut – The flowers are cut)

Group 4: A few other words belonging to other classifications

Drop-vowel adjectives: bátor – bátrak (brave)
Those men are brave. – Azok a férfiak bátrak.

Adjective with the last syllable shortened: nehéz – nehezek (heavy, difficult)
The luggages are heavy. – A csomagok nehezek.
The tasks are difficult. – A feladatok nehezek.

The adjective ifjú (remember borjú, varjú): ifjú – ifjak (young)
Those boys are still young. – Azok a fiúk még ifjak.

Note! The word ifjú can be heard from elder people. Nowadays the word fiatal is used for young whose plural is fiatalok. However, when talking about the youth, the noun ifjúság is often heard. You can choose:

Az ifjúság engedetlen. – The youth is disobedient.
A fiatalok engedetlenek. – The young are disobedient.

High-vowel adjective: bő – bővek (abundant/loose).
A ruhák túl bővek. – The clothes are too loose.

And a little more suffering

ACCUSATIVE AND DATIVE CASE FOR ADJECTIVES

It’ simple. Follow the rules for how to make nouns plural. Some examples:

lazát, enyhét, kedveset, fiatalt, okosat, szépet, ügyeset

Note! The adjectives ending in long ú, ű simply take -t: hosszút, könnyűt

The dative case (-nak, -nek) is attached to the adjective: szépnek, okosnak, lazának, könnyűnek

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

These are English methods for comparison:

positive: Peter is as tall as Adam. / Peter is not as tall as Adam.
comparative: Peter is taller than Adam./ Peter is less taller than Adam.
superlative: Peter is the tallest of all./ Peter is the least tall of all.

And it looks like this in Hungarian:

POSITIVE: no suffix is used but the following adverb pairs: olyan…mint; nem olyan…mint; ugyanolyan…mint; nem ugyanolyan…mint

Péter olyan okos, mint Dávid. – Peter is as smart as David.
Dávid nem olyan okos, mint Ádám. – David is not so smart as Adam.
Péter ugyanolyan magas, mint Ádám. – Peter is the same tall as Adam.
Dávid nem ugyanolyan magas, mint Ádám. – David is not the same tall as Adam.

Or you can say nem annyira instead of olyan. Everyday language uses both of them. NOTE! You compare things/people like this: (nem) annyira…mint

Péter annyira okos, mint Ádám. – Peter is as smart as Adam.
Dávid nem annyira okos, mint Ádám. – David is not as smart as Adam.

COMPARATIVE: is expressed with the suffix -bb, sometimes with a link vowel if needed: -obb, -abb, -ebb. The second part of this comparison can be mint (like above) or the suffixes -nál/-nél. The word mint is the only preposition in Hungarian. If something or someone is compared in a negative way, the adverb kevésbé can be used, meaning less.

Péter okosabb Dávidnál. / Péter okosabb, mint Dávid. – Peter is smarter than David.
Dávid nem okosabb Ádámnál. / Dávid nem okosabb, mint Ádám. – David is not smarter than Adam.
Péter kevésbé okosabb Ádámnál. / Péter kevésbé okosabb, mint Ádám. – Peter is less smart than Adam.

SUPERLATIVE: expressed with a leg-…-bb, sometimes with a link vowel (-obb, -abb, -ebb). Note the only prefix in Hungarian is leg-!

Péter a legnagyobb. – Peter is the tallest.
Dávid a legkisebb. – David is the smallest.
Sanyi a legokosabb mind közül. / Sanyi a legokosabb köztük. – Alex is the smartest of all.
Anna viszont meglepően a legszexisebb! – Ann, in turn, is surprisingly the sexiest!
A gulyás a legjobb étel a világon. – Goulash is the best meal in the world.

SUMMARY

Positive:
(nem) olyan…mint = (not) as…as
(nem) ugyanolyan…mint = (not) the same…as

Comparative:
(nem) -bb…mint OR (nem) -bb…-nál/-nél = (not) …-er…than
kevésbé…-bb…mint OR kevésbé…-bb…-nál/-nél = less…than

Sometimes -bb needs a link vowel: -obb, -abb, -ebb!

Superlative:
(nem) a leg-…-bb (mind közül/a világon) = (not) the …-est/the most… (of all/in the world)

These are all possibilities. Either you compare like this or like that.

As English (good-best, bad-worst…), Hungarian also has irregular adjectives when in comparison. These are:

szép (beautiful), jó (good), nehéz (heavy, difficult), kevés (little, few), lassú (slow), hosszú (long), ifjú (young), könnyű (easy), bátor (brave), fiatal (young), hamar (soon), fent (up), lent (down), középen (in the middle), kint (outside), bent (inside)

THE LAST VOWEL SHORTENED:

szép – szebb – a legszebb
nehéz – nehezebb – a legnehezebb
kevés – kevesebb – a legkevesebb
jó – jobb – a legjobb

SOME WORDS ENDING IN LONG Ú, Ű:

hosszú – hosszabb – a leghosszabb
lassú – lassabb – a leglassabb
ifjú – ifjabb – a legifjabb
könnyű – könnyebb – a legkönnyebb

DROP-VOWEL ADJECTIVE: bátor – bátrabb – legbátrabb

THE ADJECTIVE FIATAL: fiatal – fiatalabb – a legfiatalabb

THE ADVERB OF TIME HAMAR: hamar – hamarabb – a leghamarabb

SOME ADVERBS OF PLACE ENDING IN -SÓ, -SŐ WHEN IN COMPARISON:
fent – felső – a legfelső
lent – alsó – a legalsó
középen – középső – NO DEGREE
kint – külső – a legkülső
bent – belső – a legbelső

NOTE! Supreme court is said like this: A LEGFELSŐBB BÍRÓSÁG.

Furthermore, the adjective KICSI must not be compared. Instead, KIS is used when in comparison: kicsi/kis – kisebb – a legkisebb

And the contrary of the best is the worst which is not irregular in Hungarian: rossz (bad) – rosszabb (worse) – a legrosszabb (the worst)

ADJECTIVAL EXPRESSIONS

Adjectival expressions consist of an adjective and a complement to it. They follow or precede the noun in English, but always precede the noun in Hungarian!

Here are some examples:

emberekkel teli busz – bus full of people
takaróval fedett ágy – bed covered with blanket
vörös hajú nő – red–haired woman

For you the best example is the last one ‘red-haired woman’. In Hungarian you have to say such expressions with that word order even if English dictates something different.

That’s all about it. It needs some practice, but it’s not the hardest thing in the Hungarian grammar.