Hungarian noun phrase

In Hungarian grammar, the unmarked order of elements in the noun phrase is determiner, adjective, noun.

Grammatical marking

Grammatical gender

Hungarian does not have grammatical gender and uses a single third‑person singular pronoun wikt:ő which does not distinguish gender or animacy; this uniformity extends to verb conjugation and related forms.

Grammatical distinction between animate and inanimate things

The kinds of grammatical distinctions present between animate and inanimate things are corresponding to English's, although it appears different because - contrary to Hungarian - in English the distinction can only be explicit. Also just like in English definite article may refer to a non-sentient, or inanimate thing rather to a sentient thing

When it comes to living beings for example - it works the same way just like in English - "the wolf" is used instead of "wolf" only, likewise "John" is used instead of "the John"

However, there are arguably wrong practices in Hungarian language:

The words "this", and "that" are often used to refer to people instead of "she", and "he" word
Interestingly the "wikt:ő" word is often used to refer to inanimate things
People are often referred to putting the definitive article "wikt:a", or "wikt:az" right before their names
* For example, such a weird sentence in English would be similar to "I tell 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, in Hungarian there are possessed and not possessed plural cases. Since the possessor may also be plural, the plural case is marked with either or both of two possible marks:

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
There are many verb exceptions

So very basically k mark is used to mark

for verbs: the number of actors
for both nouns, and adjectives
# the plurality of things
# the plurality of a single thing's possessors
# the plurality of multiple things' possessors

k mark is also used specifically for proper nouns specifically with vowel "é" 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 had ratatouille for dinner today "

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 a noun's, or an adjective's count is marked with the i mark, but only when it is possessed by something

This renders the k mark in the same noun, or adjective to mark the count of its possessors if the possessor is plural
Note that verbs can not be possessed so the i mark is not for verbs
* For verbs there is going to be ni suffix 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
* Verbs used as nouns specifically with the s verb mark can be possessed, and marked with the i mark when such nouns are plural

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 "" despite letter j 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 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" is added between i, and the last vowel
* Hungarian people often refers to Europe as "Eu", or the female Greek name "Io" are susceptible to such pronunciationWhich 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 "wikt:sarok" with i:
# "wikt:sarki" means "polar", or "from the pole", or "at the corner"
# "wikt:sarkai" means "her, his, its corners"
# note that "wikt: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 wikt:sarki the vowel is even missing before the i mark, although wikt:sarka means "her, his, its corner" singular
#* Consonant clutters that are easy to pronounce are often more advantageous to pronounce compared to them with a vowel between generally speaking in Hungarian language, although wikt:saroki, and wikt: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 + k =
Unlike i, k may even change the last vowel when it would not result in ambiguity, for example: "tree" is "wikt:fa", and "trees" are "wikt:fák" in Hungarian language

Before specifically the k mark often n is put instead of a vowel, in which case meaning is changed

For example + nk =
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

Before k mark t may be present with a vowel between t, and k 'without the root word ending with t' by default

For example + t + k =
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
For example, to the question: - the answers may be:
# wikt:a wikt:kalapács + t = wikt:a wikt:kalapácsot - The hammer
# wikt:a wikt:kalapács + k + t = wikt:a wikt:kalapácsokat - The hammers
# wikt:a wikt:kalapács + t + k + t = wikt:a wikt:kalapácsotokat - Your hammer
# wikt:a wikt:kalapács + i + t + k + t = wikt:a wikt:kalapácsaitokat - Your hammersNote that t is underlined on the verb because it is the mark of past tense, not accusative case

More examples:

For example, root word "wikt:kutya" with i:
# "wikt:kutyai" means "from the dog", or "at the dog"
# "wikt:kutyái" means "its dogs"
# "wikt:kutyák" just means "dogs"
There are cases when ambiguity is not avoided for example to the word "wikt:szelő" with i:
# "wikt:szelői" means both "from cutter", and "its cutters"
# Although it does not mean "from its cutters" because that would be "wikt:szelőii"
# "wikt:szelők" just means "cutters"

Summary for everything above:

in English: dog -> dogs -> her dogs, his dogs, its dogs
in Hungarian: wikt:kutya -> wikt:kutyák -> wikt:kutyái, wikt:kutyái, wikt: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 :
*
*
*
Multiple dogs are owned by multiple people :
*
*
*

Note that before the other kind of i mark was mentioned. 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 markerFor example: "A napjain'ki hírességek már nem annyira szépek" - "Famous people of these days are no longer as beautiful" literally told as: "Famous people of our days' are no longer as beautiful"
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
For singular case of "you" the above example is as follows:

A single dog is owned by a single person :
*
Multiple dogs are owned by a single person :
*

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 :
*
*
Multiple dogs are owned by a single person :
*
*

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 "wikt:fiúk" means "boys"
# "wikt:öt wikt:fiú" means "five boys", but told as "five boy"
# also "wikt:sok wikt:fiú" 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:

"wikt:van wikt:szék wikt:a wikt:szobában" means "there are chairs in the room", but told as "there is chair in the room"
"wikt:nincs wikt:szék wikt:a wikt: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. "wikt:lámpa" meaning "lamps", 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. "wikt: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 "wikt: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 is used before the number of things that are plural

For example:, or, or

This allows Hungarian language to say any number of "pairs", not only "pairs" of two

For example: would mean "troth" maybe, but it can surely be translated to "all three"

Although it is worth mentioning that the word for 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

"wikt:bakancs", and "wikt:bakancsok" are translated to "boots", and "multiple boots"

There are exceptions for example "wikt: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 counterparts 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: "wikt:egyik wikt: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" according to its grammar's logic. The complete visualization is the following:

	Singular possessor	Plural possessor
Singular possession
Plural possession

Note the number of the noun in the following examples:

"wikt:tánc wikt:közben wikt:összegabalyodott wikt:a wikt:lába" using "his/her/its leg"	Literally means "his/her/its legs got tangled up during the dance"
"wikt:tánc wikt:közben wikt:összegabalyodott wikt:a wikt: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, the actual plural number might also be used, but the above 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 "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", etc. – the name of the mole used to be "wikt:vakondok", but this form took on a plural meaning and the word is mostly used today as "wikt:vakond".
Homonymy may occur between a word in the singular and another in the plural. Examples:

""
* Through "wikt:far" + "k" with filler vowel according to vowel harmony
""
* Through "wikt:paca" + "k" with filler vowel according to vowel harmony, and a/e/o/ö lengthening before suffixes
""
* Through "wikt:tél" + "k" with filler vowel according to vowel harmony, and [|vowel-shortening]

Person

The Hungarian language completely lacks grammatical gender.

Neither the definite nor the indefinite articles have got any other inflexion markers whose logic may otherwise possibly be applied to any adjectives or nouns right after them, or instead of them.

Forms for "you"

Beside te, which are used informally, there are polite forms for the second person pronouns: ön and maga. Ön is official and distancing, maga is personal and even intimate and some people think it has rude connotations. 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, but ön kér or maga kér, just like ő kér.

Impersonal usage

Hungarian does not have a distinct impersonal or generic pronoun, but there are two ways of expressing this:

The 3rd person plural, for example
The phrase, for example "" 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:

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" word in the point of view of the Hungarian language is also a generic word for a person

One of the most remarkable examples is

Determiners

Articles

Hungarian has definite and indefinite articles. The definite article, a, changes to az before a vowel. The indefinite article is egy, an unstressed version of the word for the number "one". Articles are invariable

Differences in using the definite article

The definite article "a" is applied more commonly than in English, for example in general statements, even before uncountable nouns, e.g. A szerelem csodálatos, and with plural nouns, e.g. A kiskutyák aranyosak. The latter sentence can thus have two meanings, either referring to specific dogs or puppies in general. However, in a semi-specific sense the article is omitted in Hungarian, e.g. Ceruzákat tett az asztalra.
"A" is used before holidays, when referring to a forthcoming or recent event and also when referring to companies.
"A" is used before names of months and days of the week in a general sense However, it's omitted in statements about the current month or day, with the verb van/volt/lesz.
This article is also used after ez/az as a determiner, e.g. ez a szék, as well as before the possession.
Sometimes the definite article 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 :

before indefinite noun phrases as predicates, e.g. A nővérem tanár,
before "theatre" and "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? or Van nálam toll and
before the subject in "there is" constructions, especially in a sentence-initial position, e.g. Szellem van a konyhában.

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, a Dominikai Közösség, a Dominikai Köztársaság, a Kongói Köztársaság, a Kongói Demokratikus Köztársaság, a Közép-afrikai Köztársaság, a Zöld-foki Köztársaság, 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 Egyesült Államok, az Egyesült Arab Emírségek, and the short form a Bahamák
* including the plural form szigetek at the end of the name: a Bahama-szigetek, a Comore-szigetek, a Fidzsi-szigetek, a Fülöp-szigetek, 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 and ''a Vatikán.''

Other proper nouns

Cities never have articles in Hungarian.
In contrast with English, "the" is used before the following types:

streets, squares, and parks
public buildings , including railway stations and airports
bridges
hills and mountains
woods, forests, gardens, and valleys
lakes, bays, and gulfs
islands and peninsulas
and planets.

As a result, a Niger refers to the river while Niger refers to the country. People can colloquially say a Móriczon találkozunk, where the definite article indicates the square as opposed to the person. 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 are ez a/''ez az and az a/az az''.

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. Compound numbers are formed simply by joining the elements together. Examples:öt tíz tizenöt ötvenöt százötvenöt
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 :-odik//-edik/-ödik for ordinal numbers, e.g. ötödik -od//-ed/-öd for fractional numbers, e.g. ötöd -os//-es/-ös for adjectival numbers, 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 and other quantity expressions:-szor/-szer/-ször for how many times, e.g. ötször, sokszor -féle and -fajta for "kind of", e.g. ötfajta -an/-en/-n for numeric adverbs
The use of the adverbs suffixed with -an/-en/-n is best illustrated by examples: Sokan voltunk. ''Öten vannak. Ketten mentünk.''

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 házam my house	-unk/-ünk/-nk a házunk our house
2nd person	-od//-ed/-öd/-d a házad your house	-otok//-etek/-ötök/-tok/-tek/-tök a házatok your house
3rd person and 2nd person	-a/-e/-ja/-je a háza his/her/its house a háza your house	-uk/-ük/-juk/-jük a házuk their house a házuk / az önök háza your house.

The following suffixes are used for plural nouns:

	Singular	Plural
1st person	-aim/-eim/-im az házaim my houses	-aink/-eink/-ink a házaink our houses
2nd person	-aid/-eid/-id a házaid your houses	-aitok/-eitek/-itok/-itek a házaitok your houses
3rd person and 2nd person	-ai/-ei/-i a házai his/her/its houses a házai your houses	-aik/-eik/-ik a házaik their houses a házaik / az önök házai your houses

The háza, házai type 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. 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.

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 : kalapja. This group also uses the -j for a singular noun with a 3rd person plural possessor, e.g. kalapjuk. The -j is also inserted for a plural noun, e.g. kalapjaim, kalapjaid, kalapjai, etc.
The two most common types are the following:
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.
Where a form applies the j, the other forms will apply it too. An exception is the uncommon type of barát where the -j type is incorrect with a plural noun: barátja, barátjuk but barátaik, 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 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, 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. Vowel-dropping and vowel-shortening stems always use the variant without -j, just like most words using -a as linking vowel.

Apparent possessive suffixes and homonymy

Certain words have endings which are identical with a possessive suffix. Examples:
Notes:

For the szemét → szemet change, see [|Oblique noun stem].
For the apa → apá, hulla → hullá change, see Oblique noun stem.
For the plural marked with "" in "your eye", see Pairs of body parts.
For the different link vowels after words taken as absolute or relative stems, 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 or fal + ‑unk.
A similar kind of homonymy may arise with [|vowel-dropping] words. Examples:
Note that the first person singular possessive form of hal is not the above halom but exceptionally halam, cf. a link vowel.
Examples:
Finally, another kind of homonymy may arise between a noun with a possessive suffix and a verb: hasad "your stomach " 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
The possessor is a noun suffixed with -nak/-nek and the possessed noun is preceded by a/''az, e.g. Istvánnak a lakása

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. Note the sehogy se találom wedged in between the parts of the possessive structure.
If the 3rd person plural possessor is a lexical word, not a pronoun, the possession will be marked like the 3rd person singular: a szülők lakása . In other words, the plurality of the 3rd person plural possession is only marked once: either on the possessor or on the possession, cf. az ő lakásuk''.

Possessive pronouns

The following pronouns are used to replace singular nouns:
The following pronouns are used to replace plural nouns:

-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- ''-i- -é- -i.
The suffixes are also used to form the question word kié''.

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, 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".
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 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, 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 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	"Surface" cases: superessive, sublative, delative
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 Taiwan" but Tajvanban is "in Taiwan" – Note: Tajvanon may also refer to the countryTolnán means "in Tolna" but Tolnában is "in the county of Tolna" – Note: Tolnában may also refer to the townVelencén means "in the Hungarian town of Velence" but Velencében is "in the Italian city of Venice " – 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.
In some cases, the local usage is encouraged based on traditional usage in literature and linguistic history, e.g. Csíkszeredában as well as Nagyszombatban. In other cases, the "outsider" usage is considered more received or even normative, for example:

General/ outsider usage	Sátoraljaújhelyen	Balmazújvárosból
Insider usage	Sátoraljaújhelyben	Balmazújvárosról

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 " 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 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 and the other noun endings can only be added to absolute stems. For example, lakás-om-mal exists, but *lakás-om-ostul doesn't.

Case endings

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.

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	darabot, lábat, ebet, köböt padot, holdat, ebédet, ködöt etc.

The accusative suffix after other suffixes

As shown in the above chart, -ot//-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, -at/-et is used. Examples:

	Absolute stem with accusative	Relative stem with accusative
Back	ablakot	ablakomat ablakokat ablakaimat
Front	gyümölcsöt	gyümölcsömet gyümölcsöket gyümölcseimet

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 : fánk + -ot	fánkat : fa + -nk + -at
sütőtök	sütőtököt : sütőtök + -öt	sütőtöket : sütő + -tök + -et

Accusative without marking

The accusative can be expressed without the -t morpheme after the first and second person possessive suffixes. For example:Látom a kalapod'. or Látom a kalapodat. "I see your hat."Látod a kalapom'. or Látod a kalapomat. "You see my hat."
The accusative personal pronouns engem and téged are also used without the -t suffix.
The third case where the accusative remains unmarked is the infinitive, e.g. Szeretek kirándulni.

Apparent accusative endings and homonymy

The letter t also occurs at the end of certain words which thus may appear accusative. Examples include eset, falat, hét, kabát, kert, kötet, lakat, lapát, part, párt, sajt etc.
Telling them apart:
Homonymy may also arise between accusative nouns and verbs, e.g. választ may mean "answer" or "s/he chooses/elects" and nevet may mean "name" or "s/he laughs".
The accusative of terem is termet instead of the regular teremet. On the other hand, teremt means "s/he creates". Termet is another homonymy as it may be another word in the nominative. – 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

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. 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	Meaning	Example	Meaning of the example	"Case" name
-an/-en/-n		en	briefly	"Modal-essive case" #1
-lag/-leg		lakásilag	as far as a flat/apartment is concerned	"Modal-essive case" #2
-szor/-szer/-ször		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:
The asterisk means that almák/körték and almám/körtém 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.
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.
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 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, 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//-e/-ö occurs with the following suffixes:-ok//-ek/-ök/-k for noun plurals, e.g. házak -om//-em/-öm/-m for 1st singular possessive, e.g. házam -od//-ed/-öd/-d for 2nd singular possessive, e.g. házad -otok//-etek/-ötök/-tok/-tek/-tök for 2nd plural possessive, e.g. házatok -ot//-et/-öt/-t for accusative case, e.g. házat -onként//-enként/-önként/-nként, e.g. házanként -ostul//-estül/-östül/-stul/-stül, e.g. házastul -odik//-edik/-ödik for ordinal numbers, e.g. nyolcadik -od//-ed/-öd for fractional numbers, e.g. nyolcad -os//-es/-ös for adjectival numbers, e.g. nyolcas -onta//-ente/-önte for distributive occasions, e.g. nyaranta
Theoretical:-ott//-ett/-ött/-t for position
This irregularity sometimes help differentiate between otherwise homonymous verbs and nouns:
The case of nyúl is similar except that it becomes short in the plural as a noun and remains long as a verb. Beside árak ''árok also exists. Finally, beside vágyak, vágyok may also occur as a verb although it is expressed as vágyom'' in standard Hungarian.

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:
Note: as with other nouns, the plural and the possessive forms 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 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 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.
As noted above, when it is added to tíz and to húsz to form compound numbers, e.g. tizenegy, huszonegy, 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 and öten, haton and hatan.

Order of noun suffixes

Where more than one type of noun suffix occurs, the plural suffix is first. The possessive suffix follows this and the case suffix is last.

Pronominal forms

Demonstrative pronouns

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

Subject and object pronouns

Pronouns exist in subject and object 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.
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 or for emphasis tebenned has the stem benn- which is derived from the front variant of the position suffix -ban/-ben.
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	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, italic=no, -stul/-stül, -onként//-enként/-önként/-nként, -ott//-ett/-ött/-t, -onta//-ente/-önte, -kor. Their personal variants can be only paraphrases.

Postpositions with personal suffixes

Most postpositions are combined with personal suffixes in a similar way, e.g. alattad.
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 ends in a long vowel, the 3rd person singular has a ∅ suffix.
Postpositions in bare forms are capitalized.

Derived postpositions with possessive suffixes

These below are declined like words with possessive suffixes plus cases:
Részére and számára are often interchangeable. To express sending or giving something, usually részére is preferred. On the other hand, to express the affected party of some perception or judgement, only számára can be used, as well as when expressing goal, objective, intention, or other figurative purposes.

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	ezek a lakások
a lakást	ezt' a lakást
a lakásban	ebben a lakásban
a lakással	ezzel a lakással
a lakás alatt	ez alatt a lakás alatt

As peripheral phenomena, there also exist non-duplicating forms, like e, ezen, eme, azon and ama, but they are poetic or obsolete. For example: e házban = eme házban = ebben a házban. Ezen and azon are used before vowel-initial words, e.g. ezen emberek = ezek az emberek'. The duplicating forms are far more widespread than these.