How Hungarian words are built

Where English strings together separate words (in our houses), Hungarian builds one word: házainkban. The pieces are always the same size and always come in the same order, so once you can see the slots, long Hungarian words stop looking like noise and start looking like arithmetic.

Agglutination: one suffix, one job

Hungarian is an agglutinative language. Each grammatical meaning is carried by its own suffix, and suffixes are glued onto the stem one after another. Compare Latin, where a single ending such as -orum packs plural, genitive and gender into one indivisible chunk. In Hungarian you can point at each piece:

Two consequences make the system learnable. First, each case ending has the same shape on every noun: there are no declension classes to memorise, only vowel harmony variants such as -ban/-ben. Second, suffixes combine freely, so knowing 20 suffixes lets you build hundreds of forms.

The fixed order of noun suffixes

Noun suffixes occupy slots in a strict sequence. Hungarian grammar traditionally distinguishes képző (derivational suffix, makes a new word), jel (marker, such as plural) and rag (final inflection, such as a case ending). The order is always képző, then jel, then rag:

Rules that follow from the template:

• Plural and possession share a slot. The ordinary plural -k is replaced by -i- when the noun is possessed: házak (houses) but házaim (my houses), never *házakom. See possessive suffixes.
• Only one case ending per word (the -é construction is the only way to stack a second noun phrase inside): Az én kocsim kicsi, a szomszédéban több hely van. "My car is small; in the neighbour's there is more room."
• The case ending is always last. Nothing follows it except clitics written separately such as is (also).

Verbs have their own template

Verbs follow the same logic: stem, derivational suffixes (such as causative -tat or potential -hat), then tense or mood, then person.

• olvas-hat-t-am → olvashattam read + can + past + I: I was able to read
• tanul-hat-ná-l → tanulhatnál study + can + conditional + you: you could study
• olvas-tat-hat-ná-nk → olvastathatnánk read + causative + can + conditional + we: we could have (someone) read

How stems change before suffixes

Lengthening of final -a and -e

A stem ending in short -a or -e lengthens it to -á or -é before almost every suffix. Other final vowels do not change (autó → autót, kapu → kaput, kocsi → kocsit).

Exceptions are few: compounds do not lengthen (almafa, apple tree), and neither do a handful of suffixes such as -ként (almaként, as an apple), -szerű (almaszerű, apple-like) and -ság/-ség in words such as apaság (paternity) and anyaság (motherhood).

Stems with a second form

Most nouns keep their stem unchanged, but a sizeable minority of everyday nouns have a second stem that appears before suffixes starting with a vowel (plural, accusative, possessive). The unchanged form appears before consonant-initial suffixes such as -ban, -nak, -ra. Learning the classes is more efficient than learning words one at a time:

Classes overlap: madár both shortens and lowers (madarak, not *madarok), and ló is a v-stem that also lowers (lovak). Watch for individual quirks: szó (word) has the plural szavak but the accusative szót.

Linking vowels

When a consonant-initial suffix meets a consonant-final stem, Hungarian often inserts a linking vowel (kötőhang) to avoid a heavy cluster. The vowel follows vowel harmony and, for lowering stems, is a or e:

• ablak → ablakok, ablakot, ablakom window: windows, window (object), my window
• kert → kertek, kertet, kertem garden
• gyümölcs → gyümölcsök, gyümölcsöt fruit
• ház → házak, házat, házam house (lowering: a, not o)

Whether a linking vowel is needed depends on the suffix and the final consonant. The plural always takes one after a consonant, but the accusative -t attaches directly after l, r, n, ny, j, s, sz, z, zs in most words: asztalt, bort, pénzt, lányt, sört. Case endings such as -ban or -hoz never need one.

Derivational suffixes: making new words

Derivational suffixes sit right after the stem and create a new word, often of a different part of speech. A small set does a huge amount of work:

Derivational suffixes are less regular than inflections: not every stem takes every suffix, and meanings can drift (szabadság is both "freedom" and "annual leave"). Treat derived words as vocabulary items, but use the suffixes to guess meanings and to remember words in families: ír, író, írás, írhat, írott.

The famous long word, morpheme by morpheme

megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért is often quoted as the longest Hungarian word. It is a constructed showpiece rather than something anyone says, but it is grammatically well formed, and taking it apart is the best possible demonstration of the slot system:

Notice how perfectly the template holds: a verbal prefix and nine derivational suffixes (slots 1 and 2), then the possessed plural -i- (slot 3), the possessor -tek (slot 4) and a single case ending -ért (slot 6), in that order. The -ik of -kedik disappears inside the word because it is a personal ending of the dictionary form, not part of the stem. Written out, the word has 44 characters but 43 Hungarian letters, because sz counts as one.

Why learners get word-building wrong

1. Putting plural after possessive. *házamok for "my houses"; correct házaim. Possessed nouns use -i- before the person marker.
2. Stacking two cases. *házbanhoz is impossible. Use a postposition or restructure.
3. Forgetting lengthening. *almat, *kefeben; correct almát, kefében.
4. Applying stem changes before consonant suffixes. *lovra, *bokrban; correct lóra, bokorban.
5. Missing the linking vowel with the plural. *kertk; the plural after a consonant always needs one: kertek.

Sources and further reading

• István Kenesei, Robert M. Vago and Anna Fenyvesi, Hungarian (Descriptive Grammars series, Routledge, 1998), morphology chapter
• Carol H. Rounds, Hungarian: An Essential Grammar (2nd ed., Routledge, 2009), on noun stems and derivation
• Péter Siptár and Miklós Törkenczy, The Phonology of Hungarian (Oxford University Press, 2000), on stem alternations and linking vowels
• Ferenc Kiefer (ed.), Strukturális magyar nyelvtan (Akadémiai Kiadó, 1992 onward), morphology volume

Frequently asked questions