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.