Monday, January 25, 2010
Hungarian: Plurals and Vowel Harmony
To Be
There is a verb for to be but it is not used when describing people.
Who is that?
Ki az?
Who that?
She's a teacher too.
Ő is tanár.
She also teacher.
Pronouns
There is one word for both he and she and it is ő. The word for they is ők.
He is American.
Ő amerikai.
Who are they?
Kik ők?
Notice for plurals, everything pluralizes, including question words (see below).
But if the subject is already clear you can even leave out this.
This is the mother.
Is she a muscician?
Ez az anya.
Zenész?
This mother.
Musician?
Adjective Place Names
To say someone is from a certain place zou add an i to the end to form an adjective
Budapesten
budapesti
London dweller
Londoni
However if the word does not end in an i, like angol or finn or magyar it is considered a noun and pluraliyes differently (see below).
Vowel Harmony
Back Vowels: a á o ó u ú
Front Unrounded Vowels: e é i í
Front Rounded Vowels: ö ő ü ű
Words contain only front or back vowels. The front unrounded vowels are considered neuttral vowels. If a word has back and neutral vowels it is a back word and if it contains neutral and/or front rounded vowels it is a front word.
Because of this vowel harmony when adding word endings there are two possible endings depending on if it is a front or back word.
Noun Plurals
For plurals you have an ending on the noun, so there are 3 possible endings, one for each category - while usuallz there are only 2 endings sometimes there are 3.
Back: ok
front unrounded: ek
front rounded: ök
An important note is that choosing between ek and ök is based on the last vowel in the front word, not on the overall definition.
The first set of plurals are those ending in a vowel. If the last vowel is an a then it becomes ák and if it is e then it becomees ék. Otherwise just add a k.
student - students
egyetemista - egyetemisták
cup - cups
csésze - csészék
boat - boats
hajó - hajók
Otherwise you use the previously described word endings.
notebook - notebooks
füzet - füzetek
lawyers - lawyers
jogász - jogászok
acquaintence - acquaintences
ismerős - ismerősök
Adjective Plurals
If it ends in -a or -e then you lengthen it to á and é and add k
black
fekete
feketék
dear
drága
drágák
If it ends in i, ú, or ű then an ak or ek is added.
bostonian
bostoni
bostoniak
simple
egyszerű
egyszerűek
long
hosszú
hosszúak
Adjectives ending in ó or ő are unpredictable.
good
jó
jók
comprehensible
érthető
érthetőek or érthetők
Adjectives ending in consonants add ak or ek.
Position of Is
Is means too, also and it usually comes right after what is being referred to.
There is a verb for to be but it is not used when describing people.
Who is that?
Ki az?
Who that?
She's a teacher too.
Ő is tanár.
She also teacher.
Pronouns
There is one word for both he and she and it is ő. The word for they is ők.
He is American.
Ő amerikai.
Who are they?
Kik ők?
Notice for plurals, everything pluralizes, including question words (see below).
But if the subject is already clear you can even leave out this.
This is the mother.
Is she a muscician?
Ez az anya.
Zenész?
This mother.
Musician?
Adjective Place Names
To say someone is from a certain place zou add an i to the end to form an adjective
Budapesten
budapesti
London dweller
Londoni
However if the word does not end in an i, like angol or finn or magyar it is considered a noun and pluraliyes differently (see below).
Vowel Harmony
Back Vowels: a á o ó u ú
Front Unrounded Vowels: e é i í
Front Rounded Vowels: ö ő ü ű
Words contain only front or back vowels. The front unrounded vowels are considered neuttral vowels. If a word has back and neutral vowels it is a back word and if it contains neutral and/or front rounded vowels it is a front word.
Because of this vowel harmony when adding word endings there are two possible endings depending on if it is a front or back word.
Noun Plurals
For plurals you have an ending on the noun, so there are 3 possible endings, one for each category - while usuallz there are only 2 endings sometimes there are 3.
Back: ok
front unrounded: ek
front rounded: ök
An important note is that choosing between ek and ök is based on the last vowel in the front word, not on the overall definition.
The first set of plurals are those ending in a vowel. If the last vowel is an a then it becomes ák and if it is e then it becomees ék. Otherwise just add a k.
student - students
egyetemista - egyetemisták
cup - cups
csésze - csészék
boat - boats
hajó - hajók
Otherwise you use the previously described word endings.
notebook - notebooks
füzet - füzetek
lawyers - lawyers
jogász - jogászok
acquaintence - acquaintences
ismerős - ismerősök
Adjective Plurals
If it ends in -a or -e then you lengthen it to á and é and add k
black
fekete
feketék
dear
drága
drágák
If it ends in i, ú, or ű then an ak or ek is added.
bostonian
bostoni
bostoniak
simple
egyszerű
egyszerűek
long
hosszú
hosszúak
Adjectives ending in ó or ő are unpredictable.
good
jó
jók
comprehensible
érthető
érthetőek or érthetők
Adjectives ending in consonants add ak or ek.
Position of Is
Is means too, also and it usually comes right after what is being referred to.
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