Hungarian grammar

This article describes the Hungarian grammar, especially those features which are particularly characteristic of the Hungarian compared to German and other languages.

The Hungarian language is an agglutinative morphology. In contrast to the inflectional languages ​​in which word formation comes through flexion about, the word formation takes place in the Hungarian words by agglutination. In addition, conditions relating to the holding, the direction of temporality, etc., which are formed by the German possessive pronouns, prepositions or prepositional phrases, also formed in Hungarian by agglutination. The suffixes are appended in this well-defined order to the word stems.

• 4.1 Special case: the group of ik- verbs
• 4.2 The verb lenni ( "his" ) in the present tense
• 4.3 Derived verbs

Vowel harmony

An essential characteristic of the Hungarian is the vowel harmony. The suffixes and other extensions that are added to the root word, adapt to the high ( bright, palatal ) or low ( dark, velar ) sound of the root word to.

Velar vowels in Hungarian are: a, á, o, ó, u, ú So: On the vowels a, á, o, ó, u, ú in the word stem ( asztal, madár ) follows o or a ( asztalok, madarak ). In the suffixation of nouns which is o the frequent vowel in the suffixation of adjectives which is more commonly used as a vowel.

Palatal vowels in Hungarian are: e, é, i, í, ö, o, ü, ű Here also is between the unrounded vowels (e, é, i, í ) and the rounded vowels ( ö, o, ü, ű ) distinguished when a suffix has three forms. So: On the vowels e, é, ö, o, ü, ű ( gyerek, bükk ) in the root word follows or e ö ( gyerekek, bükkök ).

When i / í, there are, however, two ways. On i, í the root word is usually followed by e, o, or a rare Here there are no rules, the vowel must be learned by heart. An example with velar vowel is a hídon keresztül = " over the bridge " ( híd = " bridge "). Language History, however, this phenomenon can be explained. In words with i / í, who o or a as a connecting vowel, stood on the site of the i a diphthong or a "darker " I sound like the Russian ы, the Polish y or the Turkish ı to the vocal harmony o or a. include

There are also in the vocal harmony exceptional cases. A familiar example is the endings of the word férfi (man ). Although férfi contains only palatal vowels, but gets velar endings: férfival, férfiak. This has a language- historical explanation: the word was originally férfiú, was so " mixed ".

For a long time in the language of existing words are either purely palatal or velar purely in most cases. Newer, gemischtvokalische words ( often loanwords, such as phone ) usually have velar endings, there are sometimes fluctuations.

The noun

No grammatical gender

The Hungarian knows no grammatical gender. Not even the natural gender such as " he " and "she" is distinguished (both = ő - in the plural, OK). Only by appending the word nő ( = woman), if the speaker an emphasis seems necessary, the natural gender be identified ( tanár = "teacher", tanárnő = " teacher "). The Hungarian is different but similar to the Sumerian, a " class of people " and a " non -person class." For non-persons (animals, plants, objects, concepts ) are used in the 3rd person singular az, what is functional and not formally identical to the seemingly similar items Education (see below), because it is in the plural azok.

Article

The definite article ( the / which / that) is called a ( before vowels: az ) and is immutable, just like the indefinite article ( a / an ) egy (see " the, a / an " in English ). The article is used much less in contrast to the Germans, only to highlight the corresponding object or state of affairs in general. This is especially true for the indefinite article, which has a much larger number of word character in Hungarian than in English.

Education and use of the plural

The plural form is quite simple in Hungarian. At the corresponding noun, the suffix -k is added. What is more difficult here already more likely to find often the pronunciation sake necessary correct vowel, resulting from the vowel harmony (see above ) gives:

Az asztal - asztalok ( the table - tables ) a madár - madarak ( the bird - Birds ) a gyerek - gyerekek (the child - children) a könyv - könyvek (the book - books) a bükk - bükkök ( beech - Book )

The majority is used in the Hungarian sparse. Unless the context, the majority (eg, with a numeral, which implies more than one piece ) illustrates the word is used in the singular. Only when the plurality of the connection is not shown, the plurality will be used. Example: öt fiú = " five boys ". Látom a fiúkat. = "I see the boys. "

For the Number disagreement with this is that the verb is conjugated in the plural only by subjects who are in the majority, so it is called A halak úsznak ( " The fish swim "), but Öt fiú Jön (* 'five boy comes " ) and not * jönnek.

Is the word possessive suffix (eg my house ), the plural is expressed by a i as infix. So ház = " house", Hazam = " my house ", házaim = "my house ".

Suffixes instead of prepositions

The Hungarian noun can be equipped with many different suffixes function. In many textbooks and grammars of the Hungarian case is often spoken of " case ", whose number is usually just under 30. These are with a Latin name, such as nominative, dative, accusative, Superessiv, Delativ, Sublativ, inessive, elative, illative, adessive, ablative, allative, Terminativ, comitative - instrumental, causal - Final, Factive - translative, essive modal, formal designated ( so according to Szent- Ivanyi Béla: " The Hungarian linguistic structure " Leipzig 1964, Hamburg 1995. ). Of these, however, only three - nominative, dative and accusative - equivalents in German.

Regardless of whether the remaining constructs are viewed as "real" case or whether it is suffixes, this can be translated only by prepositional phrases into German. The following tables contain both forms (see Morphology ), which in German by flexion, as well as those that are formed by the German prepositional phrases:

When the suffixes with a v on Suffixbeginn that merges with the final consonant of the noun stem and geminiert those.

Since there is no genitive in the strict sense, the possession is expressed by suffixes that are appended to the property and sometimes the owner. There are two constructions in Hungarian: a tanító autója ( " the teacher his car " - here gets only the possession of a suffix ) or a tanítónak az autója ( " the teacher his car " - a formulation that is also available in German dialects both the owner and the property get a suffix ). Both forms are used, although the first, simpler form stylistically often sounds better. The second variant emphasizes the possession ratio and is often more essential if the expression would be unclear otherwise.

The spatial relations, which refers to the Hungarian with the help of the following nine local cases, be expressed by prepositional phrases in other languages ​​, such as the Germans.

Occasionally, the following circumstance provisions will be considered case:

No possessive pronouns

There is no possessive pronoun. Instead, suffixes are used to indicate possession:

The definite article is usually used concomitantly in the basic form. The additional personal pronouns, as indicated in the parentheses, the ownership ratio raise particular: az én AUTO, nem a te autód. ( My car, not your car. )

Postpositions

There are no prepositions in Hungarian. Instead, post positions are used, so the word trailing relationship words ( as in English " because of the weather "). These usually are simply following the nominative, just call the ending for "on " ( -n; Superessiv ), eg a Hazon keresztül - " through the house " or az Auton kívül - " outside the car ".

Conjugation of verbs

The Hungarian verbs are conjugated in two ways:

The specific conjugation ( tárgyas ragozás ) is used when the object is in the set ( unique) certain character, but can be formed only when targeting ( transitive ) verbs. The personal pronoun of the third person shall be deemed given object. In all other cases and when intransitive verbs the indefinite conjugation ( Alanya ragozás ) will be used. Personal pronouns are used only in order to emphasize the person. Otherwise, only the conjugated verb is mostly used because the person can be seen clearly from the corresponding extension. The endings can transitive verbs also indicate the personal pronoun in the accusative and replace it. In designs that have a subject in the first person singular and an object in the second person, a special form is formed. The oft-cited example of this is szeretlek ( I Love You). The full form would be ( én ) szeretlek ( téged ), but this structure sounds strange and awkward. Szeretlek titeket: If the object is in this construction, however, in the second person plural, the personal pronoun is called.

Set of examples:

• "I see the bus. " = Látom a buszt. ( with a certain object, certain conjugation)
• " I see you. " = Látlak ( téged ). ( Sonderverbform: I - you relationship)
• "I see him / her " OT = Látom. ( Personal pronoun of the third person as a specific object )
• "I stand and wait. " = Allok és Varok. ( without an object, an indefinite conjugation)

= Example for the conjugation of látni "see":

• Certain conjugation: látom = " I see it", látod = " you see it ", látjuk = " we see "
• Indefinite Conjugation: Latok = " I see ( something )" ( in the meaning: blind I see, because I can see, I'm not ), látsz = " you see ( something ) ", látunk = " we see (some) "

Special case: the group of ik- verbs

The verbs in the 3rd person singular ending- ik have ( Pikes igék ) have more specifics on the conjugation. An even by native speakers often ignored rule is that the forms of the indefinite conjugation in the first person singular match the specific form: Eszem a kenyeret - Kenyeret eszem (and not * Eszek ). There are exceptions: the shape hazudom ( I lie ) instead hazudok would, for example, hyper- correct, and is not commonly used, although the shape is in the 3rd person singular hazudik. Since it is due to the conjugation necessary to be able to immediately determine whether the verb to ik Group is the form of the 3rd person singular is given as a lemma in dictionaries instead of the infinitive always.

The verb lenni ( "his" ) in the present tense

In the third person present tense verb forms are van ( Sg ) and Vannak ( Pl ) is used only in connection with locations, else they refer.

• Boldog vagyok. (I'm happy. )
• Tamás boldog. ( Tamás is happy. )
• Tamás orvos. ( Tamás is a doctor. )

But:

• Tamás itt van. ( Tamás is here.)
• Az emberek kint Vannak. ( People are out there. )

The negative is regularly formed nem with the word. In cases where a negation with van in the 3rd person singular or plural coincides, however, the negation words nincs (singular ) or nincsenek (plural ) are used. Again, the verb is omitted then replaced nincs Thus the words nem and van or nincsenek the words nem and Vannak.

• Nem vagyok boldog. (I'm not happy. )
• Tamás nem boldog. ( Tamás is not happy. )

But:

• Tamás nincs itt. ( Tamás is not here. )
• A barátok nincsenek itt. ( The friends are not here. )

Derived verbs

In Hungarian, there are some suffixes for the derivation of verbs.

These include, for example -gat/-get, - ( t) at / - ( t) et and -hat/-het.

The suffix -gat/-get expresses a durative or iterative.

• IR o- gat - " he / she / it writes long or repeated ."
• Tanit - gat - " he / she / it will inform [ gradually ] "
• Int -e -get - " he / she / it beckons [repeats ] "

• Fec -tion - " he / she / it sets, can be [ something / someone ] "
• Al -tat - " he / she / it lulls, lulls [ something / someone ] a "

The suffix -hat/-het refers to the ability and will to by German, must ',' may 'or' may ' translated.

• Fek - het - " he / she / it must / can / may lie "
• Al - has - " he / she / it may / can / likes to sleep "

It is very commonly used, and it is discharged from the root word of intransitive verbs such as both megy

• Me- het - " he / she / it must / can / may go,"

As well as transitive verbs like eg IR

• IR has - " he / she / it may / can / like to write ."

It can -hat/-het also be added to the other two suffixes:

• Tanul - gat - has - " he / she / it may / may [ again ] [ something ] to learn "
• Tanit -tat- has - " he / she / it can / may leave teach [ something / someone ] "

Accumulation of suffixes

The word formation by agglutination is characteristic of the Hungarian. The Suffixation not automatically causes, however, the formation of a new lemma. In Hungarian, a maximum of six Suffixtiefe is observed. Among other things, it is these structures that cause Hungarian sentences be shorter than texts in other languages ​​and still convey exactly the same information. To this end, the stem and the endings of each word must be analyzed. Examples:

Tehetetlenségével = with his inability (literally ) by his inability by:

Igazságtalanságunkkal = with (literally ), because of our injustice by:

Negation

If denied something, the unstressed Hungarian sentence begins with the negation: Nem Latok. ( I do not see. ) Or Nem látom. ( I do not see him / her / it. ) Nincs itt. ( He / she / it is not there. ) Nem vettem meg. (I have not bought it. )

Unlike the Germans, however, the double negation is often used for emphasis: Nem Latok semmit. ( I do not see anything. ) Nincs itt senki. (No one is there. ) Nem vettem semmit. ( I have not bought anything. )

If the negative indefinite pronoun be stressed to emphasize the negation even more, it moves into top position and NEM is to this (which merged from elsewhere is nem ' not ' means ); is analogous to nincs sincs (which elsewhere is merged from nincs " is not " the meaning): Semmit this Latok. ( roughly: I do not see anything. ) Senki sincs itt. ( roughly: It's because nobody does. ) Semmit this vettem. ( roughly: I have nothing for sale.)

Unlike in Finland but there is no Verneinungsverb.