# Hungarian noun phrase

This page is about noun phrases in Hungarian grammar.

## Syntax

The order of elements in the noun phrase is always determiner, adjective, noun.

## Grammatical marking
### Grammatical gender

Hungarian does not have grammatical gender.
* She, he, it: these words themselves, translated to "ő", their forms, and the related verb conjugations, pronouns, proverbs, and other forms show no difference in Hungarian.

### Grammatical distinction between animate and inanimate things

The kinds of grammatical distinctions present between animate and inanimate things are corresponding to English's
* Words "this", and "that" (translated to "ez", and "az") are not the same as she, he, it (often translated to "ő") just like in English
* When it comes to the "it" word against "she", and "he", the words translated to "this", and "that" namely "ez", and "az" are supposed to be used in Hungarian language
However there are arguably wrong practices in Hungarian language:
* The words "this", and "that" ("ez", and "az") are often used to refer to people instead of "she", and "he" ("ő") words
* Interestingly the "ő" word is often used to refer to inanimate things
* People are often told about with definitive article "a", or "az" right before their names
** For example, such a sentence in English would be similar to "I report you that the John is absent"

### Plurality

Generally speaking, Hungarian words can either be singular or plural. Unlike in the English language, there are no countable or uncountable plural cases. However, the Hungarian language shows differences between pluralities as far as whether the plural is possessed or not. Since the possessor may also be plural, the plural case is marked with either or both of two possible marks:
* k Hungarian pronunciation:
* i Hungarian pronunciation:
Neither i, nor k marks are the complete mark itself, but the main part of the mark.
* Every other vowel, or consonant around these are procedural
* The presence of such additional consonant, or vowel are pronounced in its entirety, and either has, or has nothing to do to the meaning

#### The k mark

k mark is for nouns, verbs, and adjectives
* Adjectives are in case that they are used predicatively (see adjective marking)
* There are many verb exceptions (some example are -ik verbs, and certain indefinite conjugations)
So very basically k mark is used to mark
* the number of things (for nouns, and adjectives)
* the number of actors (for verbs)
k mark is also used specifically for proper nouns specifically with vowel "é" Hungarian pronunciation: right before it, and that means a group of people related to that proper name. It is possible...
* ...to refer to a family using the family name itself, or a family member's name
* ...to refer to a team using a member's name from the team
* ...to refer to a faction using one of its member's name
* etc...
** For example "Boldizsáréknál ma lecsó volt vacsorára" means "Boldizsár's family (, or team) had ratatouille for dinner today (, or they had it in his house, or at his place)"

#### The i mark

Contrary to English, Hungarian language tells the kind of plural case apart when multiple objects are possessed by something using i instead of k mark
For example in Hungarian language...
* ...in case of "dogs" the k mark is used
* ...in case "his dogs" the i mark is used
So very basically in case of noun, and adjactive suffixes i mark is used to mark its count, but only when these are possessed by something
* Note that verbs can not be possessed so the i mark is not for verbs
** For verbs there is going to be ni suffix (no longer a mark) which is going to cast the verb into a special type of verb that can be used in place of a noun, although its plurality must be singular implicitly, but maybe infinitive verbs can be considered as the "possessed" verbs in Hungarian language

#### Plural mark generally

For both marks a different vowel may be present right before it
* Even in case of the i mark: it makes the i often pronounced as "yee" or "Hungarian pronunciation:" despite letter j Hungarian pronunciation: is not written
In case the addition of a new vowel would result in way too many vowels in the same place, the words last vowel (last by that time) is changed instead of a new vowel added
* In case the root word only consists of two vowels, no vowel is taken away, or changed, except "é" Hungarian pronunciation: is added between i, and the last vowel.
** Hungarian people often refers to Europe as "Eu" Hungarian pronunciation:, or the female Greek name "Io" Hungarian pronunciation: are susceptible to such pronunciation
* Which vowel to put before either of the two marks is based on vowel harmony, that is demonstrated with underlines in the next examples
The addition, or change of a vowel is necessary when i mark is used, but conventional to the usage of the k mark
In case of i: the i part of the word is emphasized with an additional vowel right before the i because it changes its meaning. i alone at the end of a noun, or even at the end of an adjective would mean "from there", "at there" rather than the thing was possessed, and plural
* For example root word "sarok" (meaning "corner") with i:
** "sarki" means "polar", or "from the pole", or "at the corner" (also saroki - "polar" not so much, but the others)
** "sarkai" means "her, his, its corners" (also sarokjai - it is less common)
** note that "sarkai" logically also means "from her, his, its corners", but it is uncommon to be meant that way because that meaning is rather expressed explicitly
** Also note that from the word sarki the vowel is even missing before the i mark, although sarka means "her, his, its corner" singular
*** Consonant clutters that are easy to pronounce (e.g: "rk" Hungarian pronunciation:) are often more advantageous to pronounce compared to them with a vowel between generally speaking in Hungarian language, although saroki, and sarokjai are intelligible, and even used often
In case of k: the additional vowel conventionally makes the word easier to be pronounced, and it does not create ambiguity
* For example Hungarian: kalapács, lit. 'hammer' + k = Hungarian: kalapácsok, lit. 'hammers'
* Unlike i, k may even change the last vowel when it would not result in ambiguity, for example: "tree" is "fa", and "trees" are "fák" in Hungarian language
Before specifically the k mark often n Hungarian pronunciation: is put instead of a vowel, in which case meaning is changed
* For example Hungarian: kalapács, lit. 'hammer' + nk = Hungarian: kalapácsunk, lit. 'our hammer'
* Although in this case k is still plurality marker, but it marks the possessor's plurality
* It is worth mentioning that in this case written n right before k is pronounced Hungarian pronunciation:
Before k mark t Hungarian pronunciation: may be present with a vowel between t, and k without the root word ending with t by default
* For example Hungarian: kalapács, lit. 'hammer' + t(right after the root, and then) + k = Hungarian: kalapácsotok, lit. 'your hammer'
* In this case k is still plurality marker, but it marks the possessor's plurality again
* Also when...
** ...t appears after k
** ...or t appears without k
** ...or two ts appear before, and after k
* ...the t after means accusative case (see also Accusative_case)
* For example:
** Hungarian: Mit lopott el?, lit. 'What did he steal?'
** A kalapács + t + k + t = A kalapácsotokat - Your hammer
More examples:
* For example root word "kutya" (meaning "dog") with i:
** "kutyai" means "from the dog", or "at the dog"
** "kutyái" means "its dogs" (or notably yet uncommonly "from its dogs")
** "kutyák" just means "dogs"
* There are cases when ambiguity is not avoided for example to the word "szelő" (meaning "cutter") with i:
** "szelői" means both "from cutter", and "its cutters"
** Although it does not mean "from its cutters" because that would be "szelőii, or szelői-i"
** "szelők" just means "cutters"
Summary for everything above:
* in English: dog -> dogs -> her dogs, his dogs, its dogs
* in Hungarian: kutya -> kutyák -> kutyái, kutyái, kutyái

#### Both plural marks

So things that are possessed, and there are multiple of contain the i mark, but when the possessor is plural too both i, and k marks are used.
* A single dog is owned by multiple people (using only k):
** Hungarian: kutyánk, lit. 'our dog'
** Hungarian: kutyátok, lit. 'your dog'
** Hungarian: kutyájuk, lit. 'their dog'
* Multiple dogs are owned by multiple people (using both i, and k):
** Hungarian: kutyáink, lit. 'our dogs'
** Hungarian: kutyáitok, lit. 'your dogs'
** Hungarian: kutyáik, lit. 'their dogs'
Note that before the other kind of i mark was mentioned (with meaning "from", or "at the"). That mark comes after k in case any, or both plurality markers are used. It is possible to talk about abstract placement of things generally using the other kind of i marker
* For example: "Kikérdezték a cégcsoport felszálló repülőiki utasaikat repülés közben" - "Passengers of each plane in duty of the group of companies were interviewed mid-flight"
Hungarian language makes difference between "you" singular, and "you" plural for all of the related words' cases, cases of "you", and even for the word "you" itself (which are "te" in singular, and "ti" in plural forms)
For singular case of "you" the above example is as follows:
* A single dog is owned by a single person (using no k, no i):
** Hungarian: kutyád, lit. 'your dog'
* Multiple dogs are owned by a single person (using only i):
** Hungarian: kutyáid, lit. 'your dogs'
* Notice that there is no k mark at all because "you" in this case is singular
For the sake of completeness here are the remaining "dog cases":
* A single dog is owned by a single person (using no k, no i):
** Hungarian: kutyám, lit. 'my dog'
** Hungarian: kutyája, lit. 'her, his, its dog'
* Multiple dogs are owned by a single person (using only i):
** Hungarian: kutyáim, lit. 'my dogs'
** Hungarian: kutyái, lit. 'her, his, its dogs'

#### Usage of plural marks

Hungarian uses the plural form sparsely for nouns, i.e. only if quantity is not otherwise marked. Therefore, the plural is not used with numerals or quantity expressions.
* For example "fiúk" means "boys"
** "öt fiú" (without "k") means "five boys", but told as "five boy"
** also "sok fiú" (without "k") means "many boys", but told as "many boy", or "much boy" because in Hungarian there is no difference between countable, and uncountable plural cases
Unlike in English in phrases that refer to existence/availability of entities, rather than their quantity, the singular is used in Hungarian:
* "Van szék a szobában" means "there are chairs in the room", but told as "there is chair in the room"
* "Nincs szék a szobában" means "there are no chairs in the room" told as "there is no chair in the room"
** The singular may be considered as partitive here.
* Also, product names, things' type's, and kind's are usually written singular, e.g. "lámpa" meaning "lamps" (as a kind of product), or exactly "kind of lamp", but written, and meant as "lamp"
Hungarian also often uses a singular noun when the possessor is plural but the thing possessed would be plural too, e.g. "fejünk" means "our heads", but told as "our head".
* Since it is impossible for multiple people to possess the same head, it is immediately clear that it can not mean "our single head", and in case of other contexts with other words in which case the meaning is not clear: it is possible to say explicitly "fejeink" that is exactly translated to "our heads".
* Even in the "our heads"'s case it is ambiguous in both English, and Hungarian languages whether it refers to a group of people with each person possessing multiple heads, or a single head.

#### The word "both"

Contrary to English, in Hungarian language there is no word for "both". Instead the word Hungarian: mind, lit. '"all", or "all of..."' is used before the number of things that are plural (but not plural grammatically as it was mentioned right above)
* For example: Hungarian: mindkettő, lit. 'both', or Hungarian: mindkét, lit. 'both', or Hungarian: mind a kettő, lit. 'both'
This allows Hungarian language to say any number of "pairs", not only "pairs" of two
* For example: Hungarian: mindhárom would mean "troth" maybe, but it can surely be translated to "all three"
Although it is worth mentioning that the word for Hungarian: pár, lit. 'pairs' is without "k", and it means a pair of two specifically

#### Pairs of items

Hungarian language never refers to boots as "boots", but always just "boot". The "boots" translation in hungarian used to refer to multiple "boot" types, or to multiple "boot" pairs
* "bakancs", and "bakancsok" are translated to "boots", and "multiple boots"
There are exceptions for example "ikrek" meaning "twins", and other things that can be used, or interacted with separately, or things that are less related to one another, yet pairs.
Things that are not functional without its counter parts are never in plural case.

#### Pairs of body parts

Hungarian uses paired body parts in the singular, even if the pair is meant together, and even if several people's pairs of body parts are meant. One piece of a pair is described as: "egyik lába" meaning "one of his legs". As you can see Hungarian language grammatically does not expect both legs to be the same left, or the same right leg, therefore there is no comprehensive plural form to two different "human legs" (one is right, and one is left) according to its grammar's logic. The complete visualization is the following:
| Hungarian: láb, lit. 'leg' | Singular possessor | Plural possessor |
| Singular possession | Hungarian: lába, lit. 'his, her, its leg' | Hungarian: lábuk, lit. 'their leg' |
| Plural possession | Hungarian: lábai, lit. 'his, her, its legs' | Hungarian: lábaik, lit. 'their legs' |
Note the number of the noun in the following examples:
| "Tánc közben összegabalyodott a lába" using "his/her/its leg" | Literally means "his/her/its legs got tangled up during the dance" (with his/her/its own ones) |
| "Tánc közben összegabalyodott a lábuk" using "their leg" | Literally means "their legs got tangled up during the dance" Each person's own legs got tangled up – or – Each person's legs got tangled up with another's, affecting at most one leg per person – or – Both of each person's legs got tangled up, either with each other or with other people's legs. In other words, there likely remained no leg that had not got tangled up. |
Note: if one wants to emphasize the third case (where both legs of each person involved), the actual plural number ("Tánc közben összegabalyodtak a lábaik" (using "their legs") might also be used, but the above (singular) option can fully suffice in this case, as well.

#### Apparent plural endings and homonymy

The letter k also occurs at the end of certain words, which thus may appear plural. Examples include "Hungarian: emlék, lit. 'a piece of memory'", "Hungarian: farok, lit. 'tail'", "Hungarian: köldök, lit. 'navel'", "Hungarian: könyök, lit. 'elbow'", "Hungarian: sarok, lit. 'corner, or heel'", "Hungarian: pocok, lit. 'vole'", "Hungarian: püspök, lit. 'bishop'", "Hungarian: érsek, lit. 'archbishop'", "Hungarian: szemöldök, lit. 'eyebrows (but singular)'", "Hungarian: zsák, lit. 'sack'", etc. – the name of the mole used to be "vakondok", but this form took on a plural meaning and the word is mostly used today as "vakond".
Homonymy may occur between a word in the singular and another in the plural. Examples:
* "Hungarian: farok, lit. 'tail in singular meaning, or bottoms, buttocks in plural meaning'"
** Through "far" + "k" with filler vowel according to vowel harmony
* "Hungarian: pacák, lit. 'bloke, chap in singular meaning, or blots, blotches in plural meaning'"
** Through "paca" + "k" with filler vowel according to vowel harmony, and a/e/o/ö lengthening before suffixes
* "Hungarian: telek, lit. 'lot (real estate) in singular meaning, or winters in plural meaning'"
** Through "tél" + "k" with filler vowel according to vowel harmony, and vowel-shortening

## Person

Due to Hungarian language completely lacking grammatical gender, there is almost nothing to talk about here.
* Neither the definite, nor the indefinite articles have got any other conjugations which's logic may otherwise possibly be applied to any adjectives, or nouns or so right after them, or in place of them.

### Forms for "you"

Beside te (plural ti), which are used informally, there are polite forms for the second person pronouns: ön (plural önök) and maga (plural maguk). Ön is official and distancing, maga is personal and even intimate and some people think it has rude connotations. (There are some older forms for you, like kend, which is still used in rural areas.) See in more detail: T-V distinction for Hungarian.
The polite 2nd person forms ön and maga take the grammatical forms of the 3rd person, e.g. for verbs and possessive suffixes. For example, te kérsz (second person, informal), but ön kér or maga kér (second person, formal), just like ő kér (third person).

### Impersonal usage

Hungarian does not have a distinct impersonal or generic pronoun (cf. English "one"), but there are two ways of expressing this:
* The 3rd person plural (Hungarian: ők, lit. 'they'), for example Hungarian: Azt mondják, hogy a lány bolond, lit. 'They say the girl is crazy.'
* The phrase Hungarian: az ember, lit. 'people generally', for example "Hungarian: Az ember nem is gondolna rá, lit. 'You would never think of it.'" is told as "People generally would never think of it", or literally "The human would never think of it"
Most of the time expression is not required. When it is expressed the expression is explicit. Generally when such sentences are translated to Hungarian a comparable word for the English "one"-ing structure is missing completely due to such thing's meaning is present in the context already. For example:
* - Hungarian: Melyik dobozban van a kendőm?, lit. 'In which box is my towel?'
* - Hungarian: A pirosban van., lit. 'It is in the red one.'
Also in Hungarian language it is very not common to hear an explicit expression translatable to the "one" word, yet in English it is very common to use the "one" word even if it is in the context already. In other words English language can not leave the "one" word contrary to Hungarian.
Also the English "it" word itself is missing from many expressions that can only be translated to English with the "it" word. Therefore the "it" (beside she, and he) word in the point of view of the Hungarian language is also a generic word for a person (because it is often missing the same)
* One of the most remarkable examples is Hungarian: Esik, lit. 'it rains'

## Determiners
### Articles

Hungarian has definite and indefinite articles. The definite article, a, changes to az before a vowel. The indefinite article is egy [pronounced with a long final consonant], an unstressed version of the word for the number "one". Articles are invariable (i.e. not marked for number, case, etc.)

#### Differences in using the definite article

The definite article "a(z)" is applied more commonly than in English, for example in general statements, even before uncountable nouns, e.g. A szerelem csodálatos ("Love is wonderful"), and with plural nouns, e.g. A kiskutyák aranyosak ("Puppies are cute"). The latter sentence can thus have two meanings, either referring to specific dogs or puppies in general. However, in a semi-specific sense (when "some" could be inserted in English) the article is omitted in Hungarian, e.g. Ceruzákat tett az asztalra ("S/he put [some] pencils on the desk").
"A(z)" is used before holidays, when referring to a forthcoming or recent event (A karácsonyt a rokonokkal töltjük "We'll spend Christmas with the relatives") and also when referring to companies (A Coca Colánál dolgozik "S/he works for Coca Cola").
"A(z)" is used before names of months and days of the week in a general sense (Kedvenc hónapom a május, kedvenc napom a szombat "My favorite month is May and my favorite day is Saturday.") However, it's omitted in statements about the current month or day, with the verb van/volt/lesz (Aznap szombat volt "It was Saturday that day", Holnap már május van "It's May tomorrow").
This article is also used after ez/az as a determiner ("this, that"), e.g. ez a szék ("this chair"), as well as (usually) before the possession (az asztalom or az én asztalom "my desk").
Sometimes the definite article (specifically the one with zed "az") is used as topic marker even when the next word's first letter is not a vowel. In that case the meaning of such topic marker is "the only one of...", or "the very...". Although this practice is quiet common as of 2025 it is likely not something that can be referred to as a "grammar rule".

#### Differences in using the zero article

No article is normally used (especially in literary language):
* before indefinite noun phrases as predicates, e.g. A nővérem tanár ("My elder sister is [a] teacher"),
* before "theatre" and "cinema" (színházba/moziba megy "go to the theatre/cinema") unless a specific, particular venue is meant,
* in "have" statements before the indefinite possession, especially if the number is unimportant or unknown, e.g. Van gyerekük? ("Do you have children?", literally, "Do you have [a] child?") or Van nálam toll ("I have a pen / pens with me") and
* before the subject in "there is" constructions, especially in a sentence-initial position, e.g. Szellem van a konyhában ("There is [a] ghost in the kitchen").

#### Before country names

The definite article is used before country names in the following cases:
* when it comprises an adjective formed with -i: a Dél-afrikai Köztársaság [Republic of South Africa], a Dominikai Közösség, a Dominikai Köztársaság, a Kongói Köztársaság, a Kongói Demokratikus Köztársaság, a Közép-afrikai Köztársaság [Central Africal Republic], a Zöld-foki Köztársaság [Cape Verde], including the longer names of countries which comprise an adjective with "-i", e.g. a Kínai Népköztársaság "the People's Republic of China"
* which are formally in the plural: az (Amerikai) Egyesült Államok [USA], az Egyesült Arab Emírségek [UAE], and the short form a Bahamák (~ a Bahama-szigetek)
** including the plural form szigetek ("islands") at the end of the name: a Bahama-szigetek, a Comore-szigetek, a Fidzsi-szigetek, a Fülöp-szigetek [the Philippines], a Saint Vincent és a Grenadine-szigetek, a Salamon-szigetek, a Maldív-szigetek, a Marshall-szigetek, a Seychelle-szigetek,
* and before the names az Egyesült Királyság [UK] and a Vatikán.
(Note: the Gambia and the Netherlands are no exceptions; they have no article in Hungarian.)

#### Other proper nouns

Cities never have articles in Hungarian (not even The Hague, simply Hága).
In contrast with English, "the" is used before the following types:
* streets, squares, and parks (a Váci utca "Váci Street", a Central Park)
* public buildings (a canterburyi katedrális), including railway stations and airports (a Waterloo pályaudvar "Waterloo Station")
* bridges (a Szabadság híd "Freedom Bridge")
* hills and mountains (a Gellért-hegy "Gellért Hill", a Mount Everest)
* woods, forests, gardens, and valleys (a Szilícium-völgy "Silicon Valley")
* lakes, bays, and gulfs (a Balaton "Lake Balaton", az Ontario-tó "Lake Ontario", a Hudson-öböl "Hudson Bay")
* islands and peninsulas (a Margit-sziget "Margaret Island")
* and planets (a Mars, a Szaturnusz, a Jupiter).
As a result, a Niger refers to the river while Niger refers to the country. People can colloquially say a Móriczon találkozunk (literally "we'll meet on the Móricz"), where the definite article indicates the square as opposed to the person (Zsigmond Móricz). Also, Japán on its own refers to the country while a japán can refer to a Japanese person or thing.

### Demonstrative determiners

The demonstrative determiners (often inaccurately called demonstrative adjectives in English) are ez a/ez az ("this") and az a/az az ("that").

## Numerals

Hungarian numbers follow an extremely regular, decimal format. There are distinct words for 1 to 9, 10, 20, 30, 100, 1000 and 1000000. The tens from 40 to 90 are formed by adding -van/-ven to the digit. When the numbers 10 and 20 are followed by a digit, they are suffixed with -on/-en/-ön/-n (on the oblique stem). Compound numbers are formed simply by joining the elements together. Examples:
* öt ("five")
* tíz ("ten")
* tizenöt ("fifteen")
* ötvenöt ("fifty-five")
* százötvenöt ("one hundred and fifty-five")
As in English, a number can function as a determiner or as a stand-alone noun. As a noun it can take all the usual suffixes.
Suffixes used only on numerals and hány ("how many?"):
* -odik/(-adik)/-edik/-ödik for ordinal numbers, e.g. ötödik ("the fifth")
* -od/(-ad)/-ed/-öd for fractional numbers, e.g. ötöd ("a fifth")
* -os/(-as)/-es/-ös for adjectival numbers (numeric adjectives), e.g. ötös
The numeric adjectives do not have an exact equivalent in English. They are used when English uses a construction such as "bus number 11": a tizenegyes busz, "room 303": a háromszázhármas szoba.

## Quantity expressions

Suffixes used specifically with numerals, hány ("how many?") and other quantity expressions:
* -szor/-szer/-ször for how many times, e.g. ötször ("five times"), sokszor ("many times")
* -féle and -fajta for "kind(s) of", e.g. ötfajta ("five kinds of")
* -an/-en/-n for numeric adverbs
The use of the adverbs suffixed with -an/-en/-n is best illustrated by examples: Sokan voltunk. ("There were a lot of us.") Öten vannak. ("There are 5 of them.") Ketten mentünk. ("Two of us went.")

## Possession
### Possessive suffixes

In Hungarian, pronominal possession is expressed by suffixes applied to the noun. The following suffixes are used for singular nouns:
| | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person | -om/-am/-em/-öm/-m a(z én) házam my house | -unk/-ünk/-nk a (mi) házunk our house |
| 2nd person (informal) | -od/(-ad)/-ed/-öd/-d a (te) házad your (singular) house | -otok/(-atok)/-etek/-ötök/-tok/-tek/-tök a (ti) házatok your (plural) house |
| 3rd person and 2nd person (formal or official) | -a/-e/-ja/-je a(z ő) háza his/her/its house a(z ön) háza your (formal) house | -uk/-ük/-juk/-jük a(z ő) házuk their house a házuk / az önök háza (!) your (fml, pl) house. |
The following suffixes are used for plural nouns:
| | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person | -aim/-eim/-im az (én) házaim my houses | -aink/-eink/-ink a (mi) házaink our houses |
| 2nd person (informal) | -aid/-eid/-id a (te) házaid your (singular) houses | -aitok/-eitek/-itok/-itek a (ti) házaitok your (plural) houses |
| 3rd person and 2nd person (formal or official) | -ai/-ei/-i a(z ő) házai his/her/its houses a(z ön) házai your (formal) houses | -aik/-eik/-ik a(z ő) házaik their houses a házaik / az önök házai (!) your (fml, pl) houses |
The háza, házai type (i.e., like the one with a singular possessor) is used in the 3rd person plural except when no pronoun or only the ő is present before it, e.g. a szülők háza "the parents' house". In other words, the plural -k of the 3rd person suffix is left from the noun if there is a lexical possessor preceding it.
The definite article is usually used. It can be omitted in a poetic or literary style. It may also be omitted at the beginning of the sentence in colloquial speech.
The possessor can be emphasized by adding the subject pronoun, e.g. az én házam ("my house"). In this case the definite article must be used. For the 3rd person plural, the 3rd person singular pronoun is used, e.g. az ő házuk (not az ők házuk).

#### Words with -j

Certain consonant-final stems always use the suffixes with -j for a singular noun with a 3rd person singular possessor, e.g. kalap ("hat"): kalapja ("his/her hat"). This group also uses the -j for a singular noun with a 3rd person plural possessor, e.g. kalapjuk ("their hat"). The -j is also inserted for a plural noun (with a possessor of whichever person and number), e.g. kalapjaim ("my hats"), kalapjaid ("your (sg. fam.) hats"), kalapjai ("his hats"), etc.
The two most common types are the following:
| Type | his/her xxx | their xxx | my your his/her our your their | xxx's | Other examples |
| Without -j (see above) | háza | házuk | házai etc | házai etc | (all words with c cs dzs sz z s zs j ny ty gy h) |
| Without -j (see above) | × | × | × | × | | (all words with c cs dzs sz z s zs j ny ty gy h) |
| Mostly with -j | × | (kalapuk) | × | × | hang, papír, program |
| Mostly with -j | kalapja | kalapjuk | kalapjai etc. | kalapjai etc. | | hang, papír, program |
There is much variance, but in general, the -j variant is usually safer than the variant without -j, except with the specific endings listed above. (Usually the variant without -j is more traditional and the one with -j is more recent.)
Where a form applies the j, the other forms will apply it too. An exception is the uncommon type of barát ("friend") where the -j type is incorrect with a plural noun: barátja ("his/her friend"), barátjuk ("their friend") but barátaik ("their friends"), without j. The other most common examples of this type are előd, 'predecessor', and utód, 'successor'. However, there are areas where the -j type is correct for these words too.

#### Word endings and suffix types

Several endings (c, cs, dzs, sz, z, s, zs, j, ny, ty, gy, h, i.e., affricates, spirants, palatal/ized sounds and h) only allow the variant without -j in both singular and plural, as shown in the charts above. On the other hand, the words that always take the -j variant form a rather small group: only those ending in f or ch.
For the other endings, there are no clear-cut rules (so these forms are to be learnt one by one), but there are some regularities. Words with a long vowel or another consonant preceding the ending consonant often take the -j variant, as well as international words (e.g. programja, oxigénje, fesztiválja "his/her program, oxygen, festival"). Vowel-dropping and vowel-shortening stems always use the variant without -j, just like most words using -a as linking vowel (e.g. házat, házak "house": háza "his/her house").
   * The endings v, l, r, m, g, k usually take the variant without -j (e.g. gyereke, asztala "his/her child, table"), but a minority among them take it (e.g. hangja, diákja "his/her voice, student" but again könyve, száma "his/her book, number").
   * For words ending in n, p, t, the regularities are basically similar, but there is wide variance. Words ending in -at/-et (a suffix), however, usually take the variant without -j.
   * The majority of words ending in b, d use the -j suffix (e.g. darabja, családja "his/her/its piece, family" but lába, térde "his/her leg, knee").

#### Apparent possessive suffixes and homonymy

Certain words (with or without suffixes) have endings which are identical with a possessive suffix. Examples:
| Homonymous word | Interpretation without the possessive suffix | Interpretation without the possessive suffix | Interpretation with the possessive suffix | Interpretation with the possessive suffix | Interpretation with the possessive suffix | Interpretation with the possessive suffix |
| Homonymous word | Parsing | Meaning | Parsing | Meaning | Person | Number |
| szám | (base form) | "number"/"song" | száj + ‑m | "my mouth" | 1st | singular |
| hullám | (base form) | "wave" (n) | hulla + ‑m | "my corpse" | 1st | singular |
| állam | (base form) | "state" (as in politics) | áll + ‑am | "my chin" | 1st | singular |
| áram | (base form) | "current" (as in water/electricity) | ár + ‑am | "my price" | 1st | singular |
| perem | (base form) | "(b)rim" | per + ‑em | "my lawsuit" | 1st | singular |
| karom | (base form) | "claw" | kar + ‑om | "my arm" | 1st | singular |
| erőd | (base form) | "fortress" | erő + ‑d | "your strength" | 2nd | singular |
| kacsa | (base form) | "duck" | kacs + ‑a | "its tendril" | 3rd | singular |
| váza | (base form) | "vase" | váz + ‑a | "its framework" | 3rd | singular |
| fánk | (base form) | "doughnut" | fa + ‑nk | "our tree" | 1st | plural |
| apátok | apát + ‑ok plural | "abbots" | apa + ‑tok | "your [pl.] father" | 2nd | plural |
| falatok | falat + ‑ok plural | "pieces/bites of food" | fal + ‑atok | "your [pl.] wall" | 2nd | plural |
| szemetek | szemét + ‑ek plural | "pieces of trash" | szem + ‑etek | "your [pl.] eye[s]" | 2nd | plural |
| sütőtök | (base form) | "squash" (lit. "baking pumpkin") | sütő + ‑tök | "your [pl.] oven" | 2nd | plural |
| áruk | áru + ‑k plural | "wares, products" | ár + ‑uk | "their price" | 3rd | plural |
Notes:
* For the szemét → szemet(ek) change, see Oblique noun stem.
* For the apa → apá(tok), hulla → hullá(m) change, see Oblique noun stem.
* For the plural marked with "[s]" in "your [pl.] eye[s]", see Pairs of body parts.
* For the different link vowels after words taken as absolute or relative stems (like fánk and sütőtök here), see The accusative suffix after other suffixes.
A homonymy is also possible between the same possessive ending of two unrelated words, if one ends in a consonant and the other in a vowel: falunk may be parsed as falu + ‑nk ("our village") or fal + ‑unk ("our wall").
A similar kind of homonymy may arise with vowel-dropping words (see the dolog/dolg- type under Oblique noun stem). Examples:
| Lexeme with vowel-dropping stem | Lexeme with vowel-dropping stem | Lexeme with regular stem | Lexeme with regular stem |
| Nominative | Nominative with possessive suffix | Nominative | Nominative with possessive suffix |
| alom (litter [of animals]) | alma (his/her/its litter) | alma (apple) | almája (his/her/its apple) |
| érem (medal) | érme (his/her medal) | érme (coin) | érméje (his/her coin) |
| halom (pile, stack) | halma (its pile/stack) | halma (halma) | halmája (his/her halma) |
| karizom (arm muscle) | karizma (his/her arm muscle) | karizma (charisma) | karizmája (his/her/its charisma) |
| karom (claw[s]) | karma (its claw[s]) | karma (karma) | karmája (his/her/its karma) |
Note that the first person singular possessive form of hal (fish) is not the above halom but exceptionally halam, cf. a link vowel.
Examples:
    A kiskutya bepiszkította az almát. (The puppy soiled its litter OR the apple.)
    Bedobta az érmét a folyóba. (He/she threw his/her medal OR the coin into the river.)
    A macskának fontos a karma. (Its claws OR the karma is/are important for a cat.)
Finally, another kind of homonymy may arise between a noun with a possessive suffix and a verb: hasad "your stomach (belly)" or "it tears/rips", árad "your price" or "it floods", fogad "your tooth" or "he/she/it receives/accepts"/"he/she/it bets".

### Possessive construction with 2 nouns

There are 2 possible forms for a possessive construction with 2 nouns. In both of them the noun which is possessed takes the 3rd person possessive suffix.
* The possessor is an unsuffixed noun, e.g. István lakása ("István's flat/apartment")
* The possessor is a noun suffixed with -nak/-nek and the possessed noun is preceded by a/az, e.g. Istvánnak a lakása ("István's flat/apartment")
The first form is used as default and the second is used to emphasize the possessor or for clarity. It also enables the possessor to be moved within the sentence, e.g. Ennek a lakásnak sehogy se találom a kulcsát ("I can't possibly find the key of this flat/apartment"). Note the sehogy se találom ("I can't possibly find") wedged in between the parts of the possessive structure.
If the 3rd person plural possessor is a lexical word, not a pronoun (thus the plurality is marked on it), the possession will be marked like the 3rd person singular: a szülők lakása (not a szülők lakásuk) ("the parents' flat/apartment"). In other words, the plurality of the 3rd person plural possession is only marked once: either on the possessor (in the case of lexical words) or on the possession (in the case of pronouns), cf. az ő lakásuk (above).

### Possessive pronouns

The following pronouns are used to replace singular nouns:
| | | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person | 1st person | az enyém | a mienk/a miénk |
| 2nd person | (informal) (formal) (official) | a tied/a tiéd a magáé az öné | a tietek/a tiétek a maguké az önöké |
| 3rd person | 3rd person | az övé | az övék |
    Note: Where two variants are given, the one with a long vowel is more literary.
The following pronouns are used to replace plural nouns:
| | | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person | 1st person | az enyéim | a mieink |
| 2nd person | (informal) (formal) (official) | a tieid a magáéi az önéi | a tieitek a magukéi az önökéi |
| 3rd person | 3rd person | az övéi | az övéik |

### -é/-éi to replace possessed noun

The suffixes -é/-éi are used to express possession when the noun is not stated:
* Istváné: "Istvan's", for singular noun: "the thing belonging to Istvan",
* Istvánéi: "Istvan's", for plural noun: "the things belonging to Istvan".
Hence comes the unusual vowel sequence: fiaiéi, which means "those belonging to his/her sons". Fia- (his/her son) -i- (several sons) -é- (belonging to) -i (several possessions).
The suffixes are also used to form the question word kié ("whose?").

## Positional suffixes

Hungarian follows a strict logic for suffixes relating to position. The position can be "in", "on" or "by". The direction can be static (no movement), movement towards or movement away. Combining these gives 9 different options.
| | Interior | Surface | Adjacency |
| Static position | -ban/-ben in lakásban in the flat/apartment | -on/-en/-ön/-n on lakáson on the flat/apartment | -nál/-nél by, at lakásnál by/at the flat/apartment |
| Movement towards | -ba/-be into lakásba into the flat/apartment | -ra/-re onto lakásra onto the flat/apartment | -hoz/-hez/-höz to lakáshoz to the flat/apartment |
| Movement away | -ból/-ből out of lakásból out of the flat/apartment | -ról/-ről off lakásról off the flat/apartment | -tól/-től from lakástól from the flat/apartment |
Note 1: -nál/-nél is also used with the meaning "at the home of" (cf. French chez, German bei).
Note 2: -ban/-ben is sometimes pronounced without the final n, this however, carries a connotation of rural or unsophisticated speech.

### Town/city names

For town/city names, the rules for selecting the right group are as follows:
* Towns outside the historical Kingdom of Hungary (i.e., towns that don't have a native Hungarian name) use the -ban/-ben group
* Most towns within Hungary use the -on/-en/-ön/-n group
* Approx. fifty towns within Hungary use the -ban/-ben group
** This group includes all town names ending in -n, -ny and -város ("city/town"), most with -m, -i and some with -r. For example, Sopronban, Debrecenben; Gárdonyban; Dunaújvárosban; Esztergomban, Komáromban, Veszprémben; Zamárdiban; Egerben, Győrben
A few towns within Hungary traditionally use a different ending, -ott/-ett/-ött/-t, for position, see locative case for examples. This locative, however, always can be replaced by one of the above suffixes. Those towns that can also use the -on/-en/-ön/-n group (e.g. Pécsett or Pécsen) use -ra/-re and -ról/-ről for movement. Győr, however, where the alternative form is with -ban/-ben, uses -ba/-be and -ból/-ből for movement.

### Differentiating place names with suffix groups

The difference of the two suffix group may carry a difference in meaning:
| "Interior" cases: inessive, illative, elative (in, into, out of) | "Surface" cases: superessive, sublative, delative (on, onto, off) |
| towns/cities in other countries than Hungary certain towns/cities in Hungary counties, provinces countries | most towns/cities in Hungary islands |
The below cases may exemplify the above tendencies but in actual usage they are not always followed as strictly as described:
* Tajvanon means "on (the island of) Taiwan" but Tajvanban is "in (the country of) Taiwan" (here the usage is parallel to English) – Note: Tajvanon may also refer to the country
* Tolnán means "in (the town of) Tolna" but Tolnában is "in the county of Tolna" – Note: Tolnában may also refer to the town
* Velencén means "in the Hungarian town of Velence" but Velencében is "in the Italian city of Venice (in Hungarian: Velence)" – Note: Velencében may also refer to the Hungarian town

#### Insider and outsider usage

There may also be difference between "insider" and "outsider" usage: one may prefer the suffixes expressing the "interior" relation and the others those expressing the "surface" relation (the difference extends to the suffixes of static position and those of the two kinds of movement).
In some cases, the local usage is encouraged based on traditional usage in literature and linguistic history, e.g. Csíkszeredában (instead of Csíkszeredán) as well as Nagyszombatban (instead of Nagyszombaton, which coincides with the form "on Holy Saturday"). In other cases, the "outsider" usage is considered more received or even normative, for example:
| General/ outsider usage | Sátoraljaújhelyen (surface) | Balmazújvárosból (interior) |
| Insider usage | Sátoraljaújhelyben (interior) | Balmazújvárosról (surface) |

## Cases and other noun suffixes
### A note on terminology

The concept of grammatical cases was first used in the description of Ancient Greek and Latin grammar, which are fusional languages. Over the centuries the terminology was also used to describe other languages, with very different grammatical structures from Indo-European languages. Some linguists believe that the concept does not fit agglutinative languages very well. Rather than using the "case" paradigm and terminology for describing Hungarian grammar, they prefer to use the terms "(case) suffixes" and "endings". Despite these opinions, nowadays the term "case" is used by most Hungarian linguists.
The criterion for an ending to be a case (according to today's generative linguistic grammars of Hungarian) is that a word with that ending can be a compulsory argument of a verb. This difference is usually unimportant for average learners of the language.
However, it is useful to know that only actual cases can follow other suffixes of the word (such as the plural or the possessive suffix) and the other noun endings can only be added to absolute stems. For example, lakás-om-mal exists ("with my flat/apartment"), but *lakás-om-ostul doesn't.

### Case endings

lakás - apartment :
| Suffix | Meaning | Example | Meaning of the example | Case name |
| ∅ | subject | lakás | apartment (as a subject) | Nominative case |
| -ot/(-at)/-et/-öt/-t | direct object | lakást | apartment (as an object) | Accusative case |
| -nak/-nek | indirect object | lakásnak | to the apartment | Dative case |
| -val/-vel (Assim.) | with | lakással | with the apartment | Instrumental-comitative case |
| -ért | for, for the purpose of | lakásért | for the apartment | Causal-final case |
| -vá/-vé (Assim.) | into | lakássá | [turn] into an apartment | Translative case |
| -ig | as far as, up to | lakásig | as far as the apartment | Terminative case |
| -ként | as, in the capacity of | lakásként | in the capacity of an apartment, as an apartment | Essive-formal case |
| -ul/-ül | by way of | lakásul | by way of an apartment | Essive-modal case |
| -ban/-ben | in | lakásban | in the apartment | Inessive case |
| -on/-en/-ön/-n | on | lakáson | on the apartment | Superessive case |
| -nál/-nél | by, at | lakásnál | by/at the apartment | Adessive case |
| -ba/-be | into | lakásba | into the apartment | Illative case |
| -ra/-re | onto | lakásra | onto the apartment | Sublative case |
| -hoz/-hez/-höz | to | lakáshoz | to the apartment | Allative case |
| -ból/-ből | out of | lakásból | out of the apartment | Elative case |
| -ról/-ről | off, about, concerning | lakásról | off the apartment about/concerning the apartment | Delative case |
| -tól/-től | from, away from | lakástól | (away) from the apartment | Ablative case |
Assimilation works with -val/-vel and -vá/-vé: the initial sound of these suffixes will change to the preceding sound, if it is a consonant other than v, e.g. lakás + -val appears as lakással. (In words ending in a vowel or v, there is no change, e.g. sáv·val "with the lane", hajó·val "with the ship".)

### Accusative suffix

After -l, -r, -j, -ly, -n, -ny, -s, -sz, -z and -zs, the accusative suffix is usually added directly to the noun rather than using a link vowel, e.g. lakást. For the other consonants, a link vowel is used.
| -l, -r, -j, -ly, -n, -ny, -s, -sz, -z, -zs | asztalt, embert, bajt, súlyt, telefont, lányt, lakást, buszt, pénzt, rizst etc. |
| Other consonants (-b, -c, -cs, -d, -dz, -dzs, -f, -g, -gy, -h, -k, -m, -p, -t, -ty, -v) | darabot, lábat, ebet, köböt padot, holdat, ebédet, ködöt etc. |

#### The accusative suffix after other suffixes

As shown in the above chart, -ot/(-at)/-et/-öt/-t is the accusative suffix for nouns with no other suffix. However, if the accusative suffix is added to a relative stem, that is, to a noun which already has another suffix (i.e. a plural or possessive suffix), -at/-et is used. Examples:
| | Absolute stem with accusative | Relative stem with accusative |
| Back | ablakot ("window") | ablakomat ("my window") ablakokat ("windows") ablakaimat ("my windows") |
| Front (rounded) | gyümölcsöt ("fruit") | gyümölcsömet ("my fruit") gyümölcsöket ("fruits") gyümölcseimet ("my fruits") |
Sometimes the quality of the link vowel of the accusative can differentiate between otherwise homonymous words:
| Homonymous word in the nominative | The word as an absolute stem with accusative | The word as a relative stem with accusative |
| fánk | fánkot ("doughnut"): fánk ("doughnut") + -ot (acc.) | fánkat ("our tree"): fa ("tree") + -nk ("our") + -at (acc.) |
| sütőtök | sütőtököt ("pumpkin"): sütőtök ("pumpkin") + -öt (acc.) | sütőtöket ("your/pl. oven"): sütő ("oven") + -tök (your/pl.) + -et (acc.) |

#### Accusative without marking

The accusative can be expressed without the -t morpheme after the first and second person possessive suffixes (especially in the singular). For example:
* Látom a kalapod∅. or Látom a kalapodat. "I [can] see your hat."
* Látod a kalapom∅. or Látod a kalapomat. "You [can] see my hat."
The accusative personal pronouns engem ("me") and téged ("you") are also used without the -t suffix (engemet and tégedet are rather infrequent).
The third case where the accusative remains unmarked is the infinitive, e.g. Szeretek kirándulni ("I like hiking", lit. "I like to hike"). (When the same meaning is expressed with a derived noun, the accusative -t appears: Szeretem a kirándulást.)

#### Apparent accusative endings and homonymy

The letter t also occurs at the end of certain words which thus may appear accusative. Examples include eset ("case"), falat ("a bit of food"), hét ("week"), kabát ("coat"), kert ("garden"), kötet ("volume" [of books]), lakat ("padlock"), lapát ("shovel"), part ("shore", "bank", "coast"), párt ("party"), sajt ("cheese") etc.
Telling them apart:
| Ending | Function | Examples | Notes |
| -et | part of the stem | füzet "exercise book" (nom.) | If it occurs after a word with ö or ü in it, it is more likely to be part of the stem because such words usually take ö as linking vowel before the -t, e.g. köd+öt, öt+öt. (Exceptions include föld+et, könyv+et, tüz+et and fül+et.) So kötet is more likely to be a word on its own than a suffixed form of the hypothetical noun stem *köt (because its accusative would be probably *köt+öt). |
| -et | accusative suffix | hegy+et "mountain" (acc.) | If it occurs after a word with ö or ü in it, it is more likely to be part of the stem because such words usually take ö as linking vowel before the -t, e.g. köd+öt, öt+öt. (Exceptions include föld+et, könyv+et, tüz+et and fül+et.) So kötet is more likely to be a word on its own than a suffixed form of the hypothetical noun stem *köt (because its accusative would be probably *köt+öt). |
| Homonyms: szelet "slice" (nom.) vs. szél+et (shortening the base) "wind" (acc.) |||
| -at | part of the stem | lakat "padlock", bocsánat "pardon" | |
| -at | traditional accusative suffix | ágy+at "bed" (acc.), haj+at "hair" (acc.), háj+at "fat" (acc.), vaj+at "butter" (acc.) | in the case of a handful of words |
| Homonyms: állat "animal" (nom.) vs. áll+at "chin" (acc.), falat "a bit of food" (nom.) vs. fal+at "wall" (acc.), fogat "team of horses" (nom.) vs. fog+at "tooth" (acc.) |||
| Consonant + t | part of the stem | sajt "cheese" (nom.) |
| Consonant + t | accusative suffix | baj+t "trouble" (acc.), faj+t "species" (acc.), zaj+t "noise" (acc.) |
| Homonyms: párt "[political] party" (nom.) vs. pár+t "couple" or "pair" (acc.) |||
| -át, -ét | lengthened form of words ending in a or e | anya "mother" → anyá+t (acc.), mese "fairy tale" → mesé+t (acc.) |
| -át, -ét | lengthening the a/e of the preceding possessive suffix | láb+a "his/her leg" → lábá+t (acc.), kez+e "his/her hand" → kezé+t (acc.) |
| -át, -ét | part of the stem | lapát "shovel", pecsét "stamp" |
| Homonyms: Without a possessive suffix: apát may be "abbot" (nom.) or "father" (acc.). With a possessive suffix: sörét may be "pellet" (nom.) or "his/her beer" (acc.); szemét may be "waste/garbage" (nom.) or "his/her eye[s]" (acc.); menyét may be "weasel" (nom.) or "his/her daughter-in-law" (acc.). |||
| -ót | accusative of a word ending in ó | takaró+t "blanket", metró+t "underground/subway" |
| -ót | accusative of a word ending in o | allegro → allegró+t, Oslo → Osló+t | mostly foreign words in Hungarian |
| -ót | part of the stem | kompót "preserved fruit" spenót "spinach" | in the case of a handful of words |
| -ot | the accusative of a word ending in a consonant | rab+ot "prisoner", pad+ot "bench" | the most common case |
| -ot | the wrongly spelt accusative form of words ending in o | *allegrot, *Oslot (they should be written like above, with long final ó before t) | mostly foreign words in Hungarian |
| -ot | part of the stem | bot "stick", állapot "state" or "condition", gyapot "cotton" | these three words and their compounds |
Homonymy may also arise between accusative nouns and verbs, e.g. választ may mean "answer" (n, acc.) or "s/he chooses/elects" and nevet may mean "name" (n, acc., from név) or "s/he laughs".
The accusative of terem ("room"/"hall") is termet (see vowel-dropping) instead of the regular teremet (which could come from tér with vowel-shortening, meaning "my square", acc.). On the other hand, teremt means "s/he creates". Termet is another homonymy as it may be another word in the nominative ("stature"). – This latter bunch of examples shows eloquently that knowing stem types and recognizing them are essential for interpreting a Hungarian word correctly.

### Other noun endings

| Suffix | Meaning | Example | Meaning of the example | "Case" name |
| ∅ or -nak/-nek | of (morphologically identical with the nominative or the dative case) | lakás or lakásnak | of the flat/apartment | Genitive case |
| -képp(en) | as, by way of | lakásképp, lakásképpen | by way of a flat/apartment, as a flat/apartment | Formal case |
| -onként/(-anként)/-enként/-önként/-nként | per, by | lakásonként | per flat/apartment, by flat/apartment | Distributive case |
| -ostul/(-astul)/-estül/-östül/-stul/-stül, -ostól/(-astól)/-estől/-östől/-stól/-stől | together with (restricted in use) | lakásostul, lakásostól | together with the flat/apartment | Sociative case |
| -ott/(-att)/-ett/-ött/-t | in (only for some Hungarian town/city names) | (Győr)ött/(Pécs)ett | in Győr/in Pécs | Locative case |
| -onta/(-anta)/-ente/-önte | every xxx (only for time-related words) | (nap)onta | daily | Distributive-temporal case |
| -kor | at (only for time-related words) | (hat)kor | at six | Temporal case |
Notes:
* For more examples of the endings, refer to the article List of grammatical cases.
* The special status of the genitive case can be illustrated with the following example: "the key of the flat/apartment" is a lakás kulcsa or a lakásnak a kulcsa (nominative or dative case). The case marking is on the possessed object rather than the possessor.

### Incorrect classifications

The following endings are sometimes counted as cases, but are in fact derivational suffixes, see Adjectives and adverbs
| Suffix | Example | Meaning of the example | "Case" name |
| -an/-en/-n | (rövid)en | briefly | "Modal-essive case" #1 |
| -lag/-leg | lakásilag | as far as a flat/apartment is concerned | "Modal-essive case" #2 |
| -szor/-szer/-ször | (három)szor | three times | "Multiplicative case" |

## Slight noun irregularities
### a/e/o/ö lengthening before suffixes

Words ending in a, e, o or ö become lengthened before most suffixes:
| Nominative | Suffixed forms | Suffixed forms | Suffixed forms | Suffixed forms | Suffixed forms | Suffixed forms | Suffixed forms | Suffixed forms | Suffixed forms |
| alma "apple" | almát | almák* | almám* | almának | almával | almáért | almává | almáig | almául |
| alma "apple" | almában | almán | almánál | almába | almára | almához | almából | almáról | almától |
| körte "pear" | körtét | körték* | körtém* | körtének | körtével | körtéért | körtévé | körtéig | körtéül |
| körte "pear" | körtében | körtén | körténél | körtébe | körtére | körtéhez | körtéből | körtéről | körtétől |
| Oslo | Oslót | Oslók* | Oslóm* | Oslónak | Oslóval | Oslóért | Oslóvá | Oslóig | Oslóul |
| Oslo | Oslóban | Oslón | Oslónál | Oslóba | Oslóra | Oslóhoz | Oslóból | Oslóról | Oslótól |
| Malmö | Malmőt | Malmők* | Malmőm* | Malmőnek | Malmővel | Malmőért | Malmővé | Malmőig | Malmőül |
| Malmö | Malmőben | Malmőn | Malmőnél | Malmőbe | Malmőre | Malmőhöz | Malmőből | Malmőről | Malmőtől |
The asterisk means that almák/körték (the plural) and almám/körtém (the possessive forms) can be suffixed further, e.g. almákat, almáknak etc., almámat, almádat, almáját etc., almáimat, almáidat, almáit etc., almámnak, almádnak, almájának etc.
Those cases with small letters can be formed, but they are not meaningful, unless figuratively (e. g. Oslók lit. means "Oslos", but naturally Oslo doesn't have plural, although the case technically can be formed; Oslóul means "as an Oslo", which is also dubious).
The suffix -ként is an exception as it doesn't lengthen the a/e, e.g. almaként, körteként. Compounds don't lengthen the vowel, either, e.g. almalé, körtelé ("apple/pear juice").
Otherwise, this rule extends to all nouns and adjectives, e.g. Coca-Cola → Coca-Colát, Coca-Colának etc.
Short o and ö endings only occur with foreign words (like Oslo and Malmö above) since Hungarian or Hungarianized words lengthen these vowels at the end of the word, e.g. euró, metró, videó, sztereó, fotó, diszkó etc.

### a link vowel

Certain back-vowel nouns, e.g. ház ("house"), always use the vowel a as a link vowel where the link vowel is usually -o/-e/-ö, except with the superessive case -on/-en/-ön/-n.
The link vowel -o/(-a)/-e/-ö occurs with the following suffixes:
* -ok/(-ak)/-ek/-ök/-k for noun plurals, e.g. házak ("houses")
* -om/(-am)/-em/-öm/-m for 1st singular possessive, e.g. házam ("my house")
* -od/(-ad)/-ed/-öd/-d for 2nd singular possessive, e.g. házad ("your (singular) house")
* -otok/(-atok)/-etek/-ötök/-tok/-tek/-tök for 2nd plural possessive, e.g. házatok ("your (plural) house")
* -ot/(-at)/-et/-öt/-t for accusative case, e.g. házat ("house")
* -onként/(-anként)/-enként/-önként/-nként, e.g. házanként ("per house")
* -ostul/(-astul)/-estül/-östül/-stul/-stül, e.g. házastul ("together with the house")
* -odik/(-adik)/-edik/-ödik for ordinal numbers, e.g. nyolcadik ("the eighth")
* -od/(-ad)/-ed/-öd for fractional numbers, e.g. nyolcad ("an eighth")
* -os/(-as)/-es/-ös for adjectival numbers, e.g. nyolcas ("number eight")
* -onta/(-ante)/-ente/-önte for distributive occasions, e.g. nyaranta ("every summer", from nyár "summer")
Theoretical:
* -ott/(-att)/-ett/-ött/-t for position
This irregularity sometimes help differentiate between otherwise homonymous verbs and nouns:
| Homonymous word | Meaning as an a stem noun | áll | chin | fog | tooth | fal | wall | hal | fish | tár | storage/magazine | vár | castle | zár | lock |
| Homonymous word | Meaning as a normal verb | áll | he stands | fog | he catches | fal | he devours | hal | he dies | tár | he opens sth. up | vár | he waits | zár | he closes |
| Plural form of the a stem noun | Plural form of the a stem noun | állak | chins | fogak | teeth | falak | walls | halak | fish [pl.] | tárak | storages/magazines | várak | castles | zárak | locks |
| 1st person singular of the verb | 1st person singular of the verb | állok | I stand | fogok | I catch | falok | I devour | halok | I die | tárok | I open sth. up | várok | I wait | zárok | I close |
The case of nyúl is similar ("rabbit" or "he reaches out") except that it becomes short in the plural as a noun (nyulak, cf. the hét type) and remains long as a verb (nyúlok). Beside árak (the plural of the a stem word ár, "price") árok also exists ("ditch"). Finally, beside vágyak ("desires"), vágyok may also occur as a verb ("I desire") although it is expressed as vágyom in standard Hungarian (cf. -ik verbs).

### Oblique noun stem

Some nouns have an alternative stem which is used with certain suffixes. This is most commonly derived from the main stem by shortening or elision of the final vowel. A few nouns insert the letter "v" to derive the oblique stem.
It is used with the following suffixes:
| Nominative base/stem (given for comparison) | Nominative base/stem (given for comparison) | hét ("week") | dolog ("thing") | tó ("lake") |
| Plural | Plural | hetek | dolgok | tavak |
| Possessive | 1st person singular | hetem | dolgom | tavam |
| Possessive | 2nd person singular | heted | dolgod | tavad |
| Possessive | 3rd person singular | hete | dolga | tava |
| Possessive | 1st person plural | hetünk | dolgunk | tavunk |
| Possessive | 2nd person plural | hetetek | dolgotok | tavatok |
| Possessive | 3rd person plural | hetük | dolguk | tavuk |
| Accusative | Accusative | hetet | dolgot | tavat |
| Distributive | Distributive | hetenként | dolgonként | tavanként |
| Sociative | Sociative | hetestül | dolgostul | tavastul |
| Distributive-temporal | Distributive-temporal | hetente | × | × |
| Superessive | Superessive | (héten) | dolgon | tavon |
| Derived adjective | Derived adjective | hetes | dolgos | tavas |
Note: as with other nouns, the plural and the possessive forms (the first seven rows) are independent of cases so they can take the suffixes of other cases than the nominative: hetek|ből, dolgom|hoz, dolgaimhoz etc. The forms in the latter five rows (which have suffixes of certain cases) cannot have more suffixes attached.

### Stem with -on/-en/-ön/-n

For -on/-en/-ön/-n, the vowel-shortening base uses the nominative stem, e.g. héten, but the other types (vowel-dropping and -v- bases) use the oblique stem, e.g. dolgon, tavon, as it is shown in the examples above.
Also, the back-vowel nouns which use an a link vowel have o as the link vowel instead, e.g. házon ("on the house").
As noted above, when it is added to tíz ("ten") and to húsz ("twenty") to form compound numbers, e.g. tizenegy ("eleven"), huszonegy ("twenty-one"), these vowel-shortening bases use the oblique stem.

### Differentiating -an/-en from -on/-en/-ön/-n

The suffix -an/-en, used with numbers and adjectives, is not to be confused with the above suffix -on/-en/-ön/-n. Their vowel can only be a or e, even on words which would normally use o or ö: cf. ötön (on the number five) and öten (numbering five), haton and hatan (for the latter form, see Quantity expressions).

## Order of noun suffixes

Where more than one type of noun suffix occurs, the plural suffix is first (normally -k but -i with possessives). The possessive suffix follows this and the case suffix is last.

## Pronominal forms
### Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns are ez ("this") and az ("that"). They can take the full range of case endings. For most suffixes, preservative consonant assimilation occurs.

### Subject and object pronouns

Pronouns exist in subject (nominative) and object (accusative) forms.
Because the verb suffix is marked for both subject and object, the pronouns are not usually used, i.e. it is a pro-drop language. The pronouns are used for contrast or emphasis or when there is no verb.
| | | Singular | Singular | Plural | Plural |
| | | Subject | Object | Subject | Object |
| 1st person | 1st person | én | engem | mi | minket or bennünket |
| 2nd person | (informal) (formal) (official) | te maga ön | téged magát önt | ti maguk önök | titeket or benneteket magukat önöket |
| 3rd person | 3rd person | ő | őt | ők | őket |
Hence, the English pronoun "you" can have no fewer than thirteen translations in Hungarian.

### Cases with personal suffixes

For the other forms which are listed above as cases, the equivalent of a pronoun is formed using a stem derived from the suffix, followed by the personal suffix. For example, benned ("in you") or for emphasis tebenned ("in you") has the stem benn- which is derived from the front variant of the position suffix -ban/-ben ("in").
Note: When the stem ends in a long vowel, the 3rd person singular has a ∅ suffix.
maga and ön do not use these forms. They are conjugated like nouns with the case suffixes, e.g. magában, önben.
Suffixes that use a back vowel stem:
| Suffix | Stem | -am/-m | -ad/-d | -a/-ja | -unk/-nk | -atok/-tok | -uk/-juk | Meaning |
| -NÁL/-nél | nál- | nálam | nálad | nála | nálunk | nálatok | náluk | by/at me etc. |
| -RÓL/-ről | ról- | rólam | rólad | róla | rólunk | rólatok | róluk | off me etc. about me etc. |
| -RA/-re | rá- (!) | rám | rád | rá | ránk | rátok | rájuk | onto me etc. |
| -HOZ/-hez/-höz | hozzá- (!) | hozzám | hozzád | hozzá | hozzánk | hozzátok | hozzájuk | to me etc. |
| -on/-en/-ön/-n | rajt- (!) | rajtam | rajtad | rajta | rajtunk | rajtatok | rajtuk | on me etc. |
Suffixes that use a front vowel stem:
| Suffix | Stem | -em/-m | -ed/-d | -e/-je | -ünk/-nk | -etek/-tek | -ük/-jük | Meaning |
| -val/-VEL | vel- | velem | veled | vele | velünk | veletek | velük | with me etc. |
| -tól/-TŐL | től- | tőlem | tőled | tőle | tőlünk | tőletek | tőlük | (away) from me etc. |
| -ÉRT | ért- | értem | érted | érte | értünk | értetek | értük | for me etc. |
| -nak/-NEK | nek- | nekem | neked | neki | nekünk | nektek | nekik | to me etc. |
| -ban/-BEN | benn- (!) | bennem | benned | benne | bennünk | bennetek | bennük | in me etc. |
| -ból/-BŐL | belől- (!) | belőlem | belőled | belőle | belőlünk | belőletek | belőlük | out of me etc. |
| -ba/-BE | belé- (!) | belém | beléd | belé | belénk | belétek | beléjük | into me etc. |
No personal forms exist for the other suffixes: -vá/-vé, -ig, -ként, -ul/-ül, -képp(en), -stul/-stül, -onként/(-anként)/-enként/-önként/-nként, -ott/(-att)/-ett/-ött/-t, -onta/(-anta)/-ente/-önte, -kor. Their personal variants can be only paraphrases (e.g. addig ment, ahol ő állt "he went as far as him" > "… as far as where he stood").

### Postpositions with personal suffixes

Most postpositions (see there) are combined with personal suffixes in a similar way, e.g. alattad ("under you").
Note: The personal forms of stand-alone postpositions are paraphrases, e.g. rajtam túl "beyond me", hozzám képest "as compared to me".
Personal suffixes at the end of postpositions:
| -am/-em -m | -ad/-ed -d | -a/-e -ja/-je | -unk/-ünk -nk | -atok/-etek -tok/-tek | -uk/-ük -juk/-jük |
See also the section Overview of personal endings: typical sound elements.
Note:
* In the same way as for the cases with personal suffixes, when the postposition (stem) ends in a long vowel, the 3rd person singular has a ∅ suffix (see the bolded forms in the last row).
* Postpositions in bare (unsuffixed) forms are capitalized.

#### Postpositions with three-way distinction

| | …under/below me etc | …over/above me etc | …next to/beside me etc | …in front of me etc | …behind me etc | …between me (& others) etc | …around me etc | …(from/to) my direction etc |
| From… | ALÓL alólam alólad alóla alólunk alólatok alóluk | FÖLÜL fölülem fölüled fölüle fölülünk fölületek fölülük | MELLŐL mellőlem mellőled mellőle mellőlünk mellőletek mellőlük | ELŐL előlem előled előle előlünk előletek előlük | MÖGÜL mögülem mögüled mögüle mögülünk mögületek mögülük | KÖZÜL közülem közüled közüle közülünk közületek közülük | × | FELŐL felőlem felőled felőle felőlünk felőletek felőlük |
| (At/in…) | ALATT alattam alattad alatta alattunk alattatok alattuk | FÖLÖTT fölöttem fölötted fölötte fölöttünk fölöttetek fölöttük | MELLETT mellettem melletted mellette mellettünk mellettetek mellettük | ELŐTT előttem előtted előtte előttünk előttetek előttük | MÖGÖTT mögöttem mögötted mögötte mögöttünk mögöttetek mögöttük | KÖZÖTT or KÖZT közöttem or köztem közötted or közted közötte or közte közöttünk or köztünk közöttetek or köztetek közöttük or köztük | KÖRÜL (!) körülöttem körülötted körülötte körülöttünk körülöttetek körülöttük | × |
| To… | ALÁ alám alád alá alánk alátok alájuk | FÖLÉ fölém föléd fölé fölénk fölétek föléjük | MELLÉ mellém melléd mellé mellénk mellétek melléjük | ELÉ elém eléd elé elénk elétek eléjük | MÖGÉ mögém mögéd mögé mögénk mögétek mögéjük | KÖZÉ közém közéd közé közénk közétek közéjük | KÖRÉ körém köréd köré körénk körétek köréjük | FELÉ felém feléd felé felénk felétek feléjük |

#### Postpositions without three-way distinction

| after me etc | instead of me etc | without me etc | through/by me etc (figurative) | against me etc | because of me etc | for my purpose etc | "according to me", in my opinion etc | towards me etc (figurative) |
| UTÁN utánam utánad utána utánunk utánatok utánuk | HELYETT helyettem helyetted helyette helyettünk helyettetek helyettük | NÉLKÜL nélkülem nélküled nélküle nélkülünk nélkületek nélkülük | ÁLTAL általam általad általa általunk általatok általuk | ELLEN ellenem ellened ellene ellenünk ellenetek ellenük | MIATT miattam miattad miatta miattunk miattatok miattuk | VÉGETT (never used as a pronoun) | SZERINT szerintem szerinted szerinte szerintünk szerintetek szerintük | IRÁNT irántam irántad iránta irántunk irántatok irántuk |

### Derived postpositions with possessive suffixes

These below are declined like words with possessive suffixes plus cases:
| for/to me etc | for/to me etc | by my help etc | by my help etc | in my case etc | on my part etc |
| részemre részedre RÉSZÉRE részünkre részetekre részükre | számomra számodra SZÁMÁRA számunkra számotokra számukra | révemen réveden RÉVÉN révünkön réveteken révükön | segítségemmel segítségeddel SEGÍTSÉGÉVEL segítségünkkel segítségetekkel segítségükkel | esetemben esetedben ESETÉBEN esetünkben esetetekben esetükben | részemről részedről RÉSZÉRŐL részünkről részetekről részükről |
Részére and számára are often interchangeable. To express sending or giving something (to someone), usually részére is preferred. On the other hand, to express the affected party of some perception or judgement (good, bad, new, shocking, unacceptable etc. for someone), only számára can be used, as well as when expressing goal, objective, intention, or other figurative purposes.

### Placeholders in Hungarian

    See Placeholder names in Hungarian

## Duplication with demonstrative determiners

When the noun has a plural suffix, a "case" suffix or a postposition, this is duplicated on the demonstrative. As with the demonstrative pronouns, for most suffixes, preservative consonant assimilation also occurs. Examples:
| Basic form with definite article | With demonstrative determiner |
| a lakások ("the flats/apartments", subject) | ezek a lakások ("these flats/apartments", subject) |
| a lakást ("the flat/apartment", object) | ezt a lakást ("this flat/apartment", object) |
| a lakásban ("in the flat/apartment") | ebben a lakásban ("in this flat/apartment") |
| a lakással ("with the flat/apartment") | ezzel a lakással ("with this flat/apartment") |
| a lakás alatt ("under the flat/apartment") | ez alatt a lakás alatt ("under this flat/apartment") |
As peripheral phenomena, there also exist non-duplicating forms, like e, ezen, eme, azon and ama (the latter two referring to distant objects), but they are poetic or obsolete (cf. "yonder"). For example: e házban = eme házban = ebben a házban ("in this house"). Ezen and azon are used before vowel-initial words, e.g. ezen emberek = ezek az emberek ("these people"). The duplicating forms (as in the chart above) are far more widespread than these.