Hungarian verbs

This page is about verbs in Hungarian grammar.

Lemma or citation form

There is basically only one pattern for verb endings, with predictable variations dependent on the phonological context.
The lemma or citation form is always the third person singular indefinite present. This usually has a ∅ suffix, e.g. kér.

''-ik'' verbs

A slight variation to the standard pattern is with certain verbs which have third person singular indefinite present ending with -ik, e.g. dolgozik, and 1st singular indefinite present usually with -om/-em/-öm. The stem for this is reached by removing -ik. These verbs are one of the reasons why this form is the citation form.
The -ik verbs were originally middle voice, reflexive or passive in meaning, which can still be seen e.g. about the pair tör vs törik. However, most of them have lost this connection so historically speaking they are like deponent verbs. Some verb pairs only differ in the presence or absence of the -ik ending, while they are unrelated in meaning, such as ér and érik.
With these verbs, the third person singular form consistently uses the -ik form. What is more, new -ik words continue to be created .
However, the first person singular suffix is often assimilated to the "normal" conjugation, so most verbs usually take the regular form for this person. Nevertheless, with some basic -ik verbs, the assimilated variant is stigmatized, so with these verbs, the traditional form is advised. At any rate, such non-traditional, assimilated variants are not rare in colloquial spoken language.
Since this -ik ending coincides with the -ik ending of the 3rd person plural definite form, only the type of the object makes it possible to identify the subject:

eszik egy almát: egy almát "an apple" is indefinite, so the verb must be a singular form, i.e. "s/he is eating an apple;"
eszik az almát: az almát "the apple" is definite, so the verb must be a plural form, i.e. "they are eating the apple."

In fact, most -ik verbs are intransitive, and the context may clarify the question even if the subject is not made explicit.
Some important "traditional" -ik verbs are the following. A person may appear uneducated if s/he uses the -k ending with them for the 1st person singular form:
For most other verbs, the -k ending is common in the indefinite meaning, especially in casual speech. Verbs ending in -zik, which refer to using some tool, almost exclusively take the -k, such as biciklizik "ride the bicycle", gitározik "play the guitar" or mobilozik "use the mobile phone".
There are a few non-traditional -ik verbs where the -m ending is impossible and ungrammatical. These are called "pseudo -ik verbs" in Hungarian. Examples:
The regular non -ik verb könyörög "beg" has a hypercorrect first-person singular indefinite present form könyörgöm "I am begging", which conjugation mimics that of -ik verbs. The correct form would be könyörgök. However, it is argued by some that the form könyörgöm is not unacceptable, either, and it reflects an idiomatic expression könyörgöm "I am begging ", which has eventually lost its object and in which the form könyörgöm actually follows definite conjugation.

Infinitive

The infinitive of a verb is the form suffixed by -ni, e.g. várni, kérni. There is a variant -ani/eni, which is used with the following groups:

verbs ending in two consonants,
verbs ending in a long vowel + t and
the words véd and edz.

Exceptions are állni "to stand", szállni "to fly", varrni "to sew", forrni "to boil", which have -ni despite the two consonants.
This is due to the fact that, in written language, the "long" 'l' or 'r' of the stem has to be kept even in the forms where it is pronounced short.

Infinitive with personal suffixes

When an infinitive is used with an impersonal verb, the personal suffixes may be added to the infinitive to indicate the person, as in Portuguese. Except in the 3rd person singular and plural, the -i of the infinitive is dropped, e.g. Mennem kell.. The person can also be indicated using -nak/-nek, e.g. Nekem kell mennem., Jánosnak mennie kell
These forms use the o/e/ö set of suffixes, see Personal suffixes and link vowels.

Person	menni	látni
	for me to go etc.	for me to see etc.
1st Sg.	mennem	látnom
2nd Sg.	menned	látnod
3rd Sg.	mennie	látnia
1st Pl.	mennünk	látnunk
2nd Pl.	mennetek	látnotok
3rd Pl.	menniük	látniuk

Tenses

Most verbs have two inflected tenses, past and present, and a future form using an auxiliary verb. The verb lenni, to be, has three inflected tenses: past, present and future.

Present

In the present tense, only sibilant-ending verbs differ from the rest, such as verbs ending in -s, -sz, -z and -dz. The chart below compares the conjugation of the regular kér 'ask' and vár 'wait' with the sibilant-ending keres 'look for' and mászik 'climb.' Example of verbs ending in the other two possible sonorants, -z and -dz, are húz 'pull' and edz 'train', which similarly double their stem consonants where -s and -sz are doubled.
The forms marked in bold are those where the suffix of sibilant-ending verbs differ from the suffix of other verbs: either because of the alternative 2nd person ending l, or because of the assimilation of j. Incidentally, the latter forms coincide with the subjunctive forms.

Futurity

Futurity can be expressed in a variety of ways:

By the auxiliary verb fog for any verb, expressing a strong intention or a necessity of events brought about by circumstances
The verb van, uniquely, has an inflected future tense.
By the present tense, when this is clearly a reference to a future time..

Past tense

The past tense is expressed with the suffix -t or -ott/-ett/-ött and inflects for person and number. As in the present tense, there are special indefinite forms for intransitive verbs and transitive verbs with direct objects that are 1st or 2nd person or indefinite, while definite forms are used for transitive verbs with definite, 3rd person direct objects, and there is a special form used just for instances where there is a 1st person subject and 2nd person direct object.
As far as the two phonetic variants are concerned, there are three types:

Type I never uses link vowel
Type II only uses link vowel in the 3rd person singular indefinite
Type III uses link vowel in every form.

If the above phonetic guidelines don't help, it may be useful as a rule of thumb to learn the rules and exceptions only for Type I and Type III and use Type II otherwise, because this latter type comprises the broadest range of verbs.

Regular homonymy of plain and causative forms in the same tense

Front-vowel unrounded verbs that end in consonant + -t may have ambiguous forms between plain and causative forms. In dialects that have e-ë distinction, these forms are distinguished in speech. The syllable 'tet' always contains a "closed e" in the meaning 1 and always contains an "open e" in the meaning 2. Approximately a hundred verbs are concerned that end in one of the following endings: -jt, -lt, -mt, -nt, -rt, -st, -szt.

Homoverb	Meaning 1	Meaning 2
Megértette.	"S/he understood it." megért + -ette	"S/he made them understand it." megért + -et- + -te
Sejtette.	"S/he suspected it." sejt + -ette	"S/he made them suspect it." sejt + -et- + -te

The past tenses of sejt and sejtet are identical, except for the third person indefinite form where it is sejt|ett for sejt, but sejtet|ett for sejtet. However, it usually turns out from the argument structure and the context which meaning is intended.
This ambiguity doesn't occur with back-vowel verbs because the linking vowel is different for the normal past tense and the causative, e.g. bontotta "s/he demolished it" vs. bontatta "s/he had it demolished". The linking vowel can only be o for back-vowel verbs and the causative can only have a with back vowels. Similarly, it doesn't occur with front-vowel verbs with a rounded vowel, either: e.g. gyűjtötte vs gyűjtette.
Below is a chart to review the conjugation differences between coinciding forms of the same verb. Ambiguous forms in the same person are marked in bold.

"I understood it" etc., past, def.	"I made them understand it" etc., past, def.	"I understood something" etc., past, indef.	"I made them understand something" etc., past, indef.
megértettem megértetted megértette megértettük megértettétek megértették	megértettem megértetted megértette megértettük megértettétek megértették	megértettem megértettél megértett megértettünk megértettetek megértettek	megértettem megértettél megértetett megértettünk megértettetek megértettek

Regular homonymy: other cases

Another kind of ambiguity can arise with type I verbs between the second person plural plain form and the first person singular causative form, e.g. beszéltetek :

"you spoke": beszél + -t- + -etek
"I make somebody speak": beszél + -tet- + -ek

It can also occur with similar back-vowel verbs, e.g. csináltatok "you did something" or "I have something done".
beszéltek can also have two interpretations in writing because the letter 'e' represents two different vowels: ɛ IPA Number 303 and æ IPA Number 325:

"you speak": beszél + -tek
"they spoke": beszél + -t- + -ek

The syllable 'tek' always contains a closed ɛ in the meaning you and always contains an open æ in the meaning third person plural past in speech. This homonymy only exists in writing if the speaker is sophisticated.
This latter case is not possible with back-vowel verbs, due to the difference of the linking vowel: csináltok "you do something" vs. csináltak "they did something". If the affix contains the back-vowel 'o' then it is the counterpart of the front-vowel 'e' which always a closed ɛ. If the affix contains the back-vowel 'a' then it is the counterpart of the front-vowel 'e' which always an open æ.
Below is a chart to review the conjugation differences between coinciding forms of the same verb. Ambiguous forms in different persons are marked with asterisks.

"I speak" etc., present, indef.	"I spoke" etc., past, indef.	"I make somebody speak" etc., present, indef.	"I do" etc., present, indef.	"I did" etc., past, indef.	"I have something done" etc., present, indef.
beszélek beszélsz beszél beszélünk beszéltek* beszélnek	beszéltem beszéltél beszélt beszéltünk beszéltetek* beszéltek*	beszéltetek* beszéltetsz beszéltet beszéltetünk beszéltettek beszéltetnek	csinálok csinálsz csinál csinálunk csináltok csinálnak	csináltam csináltál csinált csináltunk csináltatok* csináltak	csináltatok* csináltatsz csináltat csináltatunk csináltattok csináltatnak

Sporadic coincidences

Front-vowel verbs in type III that end in -t may cause ambiguity, like between the past tense of a verb and the present tense of another. For example:

Homonymous verb	Meaning 1	Meaning 2
Féltem.	"I was afraid." fél + -tem	"I fear for him/her/it." félt + -em
Nem ért hozzá.	"S/he didn't touch it." hozzá\|ér + -t	"S/he isn't familiar with it." ért
Köszönt.	"S/he said hello." köszön + -t	"S/he welcomes ." köszönt
Megbánt valamit.	"S/he regretted something." megbán + -t	"S/he offends something." megbánt

Below is a chart to review the conjugation differences between coinciding forms of unrelated verbs. Ambiguous forms in the same person are marked in bold; ambiguous forms in different persons are marked with asterisks.

"I was afraid" etc., past, indef.	"I fear for somebody" etc., present, indef.	"I fear for him/her/it" etc., present, def.	"I am not familiar with it" etc., present, indef.	"I didn't touch it" etc., past, indef.
féltem féltél félt féltünk féltetek féltek*	féltek* féltesz félt féltünk féltetek féltenek	féltem félted félti féltjük féltitek féltik	nem értek hozzá* nem értesz hozzá nem ért hozzá nem értünk hozzá nem értetek hozzá nem értenek hozzá	nem értem hozzá nem értél hozzá nem ért hozzá nem értünk hozzá nem értetek hozzá nem értek hozzá*

The correct pronunciation of 'féltem' "I was afraid" is 'feltæm'.
The correct pronunciation of 'féltem' "I fear for him/her/it" is 'feltɛm'.
The correct pronunciation of 'féltetek' "you were afraid" is 'feltæt'ɛk'.
The correct pronunciation of 'féltetek' "you fear for somebody" is 'feltɛ'tɛk'.
The correct pronunciation of 'féltek' "They were afraid" is 'feltæk'.
The correct pronunciation of 'féltek' "I fear for somebody" is 'feltɛk'.
These homonyms only exist in writing if the speaker is sophisticated.

Moods

Hungarian verbs have 3 moods: indicative, conditional and subjunctive / imperative. The indicative has a past and non-past tense. The conditional has a non-past tense and a past form, made up of the past tense indicative as the finite verb with the non-finite verb volna. The subjunctive only has a single tense.

Conditional

Use of the conditional:
In a sentence with "if", unlike in English, the appropriate conditional tense is used in both the "if" clause and the main clause. The present conditional is used to talk about unlikely or impossible events in the present or future, e.g. Ha találkoznál a királynővel, mit mondanál?. The past conditional is used for past events which did not happen, e.g. Ha nem találkoztunk volna a királynővel, órákkal ezelőtt megérkeztünk volna. .

Forms of the conditional

Person	Indefinite	Definite
1st Sg.	kérnék, várnék	kérném, várnám
2nd Sg.	kérnél, várnál	kérnéd, várnád
3rd Sg.	kérne, várna	kérné, várná
1st Pl.	kérnénk, várnánk	kérnénk, várnánk
2nd Pl.	kérnétek, várnátok	kérnétek, várnátok
3rd Pl.	kérnének, várnának	kérnék, várnák

The front-vowel suffix at the end of the 1st person singular indefinite form of the back-vowel verb ' is an apparent exception from the vowel harmony: it may serve to distinguish from the 3rd person plural definite form .
The only opposition between the 3rd person singular definite and indefinite forms is vowel length, which can be considered one of the rare fusional traits in Hungarian.
A linking vowel is inserted into verbs with a consonant cluster or long vowel + t at the end, e.g. feste'nék 'I would paint', tanítanék'' 'I would teach', analogously to the rules given for the [|infinitive form].

Subjunctive (imperative)

Uses of the subjunctive:

For a command
For a request
For hesitant questions with 1st singular subject
For suggestions for joint action with 1st plural subject
For wishes
In subordinate clauses after verbs expressing orders, requests, suggestions, wishes, permission, etc.
In hogy subordinate clauses expressing purpose

Forms of the subjunctive

In the subjunctive or imperative mood, verbs with a sibilant or t ending differ from the rest, with two groups for the t ending: those with a preceding short vowel, and those with a preceding long vowel or a consonant.
Meanings of the verbs below: kér 'ask ', vár 'wait', keres 'look for', olvas 'read', fest 'paint', szeret 'love', fut 'run', ment 'save', tanít 'teach', böngészik 'browse', mászik 'climb', ereszt 'let go', akaszt 'hang', néz 'look at', húz 'pull', edz 'train', lopódzik 'sneak'.
Note 1: Fest 'paint' is the only single example that ends in st, and there is no -ik verb with these two ending consonants. This verb is conjugated like the szeret, fut type: fessek, fess, fessen, fessünk, fessetek, fessenek; fessem, fesd, fesse, fessük, fessétek, fessék; fesselek.
Note 2: the definite conjugation may be ungrammatical for verbs that cannot have an object, e.g. fut 'run', lopódzik 'sneak'. However, these forms may occur in constructions like végigfutja a távot 'run all through the distance', or perhaps even végiglopóddza az épületeket 'sneak through the buildings'. This solution doesn't work, though, for the forms affecting the 2nd person, that is why they are marked with an asterisk.
Forms marked with a preceding equality sign are identical with the indicative forms.
Second person forms have a short and a long variant both in indefinite and definite conjugation, with minimal difference in style.

Definite and indefinite conjugations

In Hungarian, verbs not only show agreement with their subjects but also carry information on the definiteness of their direct objects. This results in two types of conjugations: definite and indefinite :
Basically, the indefinite conjugation is used if there is no definite object, that is i) if there is no object at all, or ii) if the object is indefinite. However, exceptionally, the indefinite conjugation is also used if the object is a 1st- or 2nd-person pronoun, either stated or not.
An object is indefinite if it is:

a noun with no determiner
a noun with an indefinite article
a noun with a numeral or an indefinite determiner
an indefinite pronoun such as "something, anything, everyone" etc.
an interrogative pronoun
a first- or second-person pronoun, whether stated or unstated
a relative pronoun

The definite conjugation is used if the verb has a definite object, which can be:

a proper noun
a noun with a definite article
a noun with the determiners melyik, hányadik, mindegyik, or az összes ; the noun may be omitted in these constructions
a 3rd-person pronoun, either stated or unstated
the reflexive pronoun
a demonstrative pronoun
the indefinite pronoun mind, including mindkét, or a noun phrase determined by it
a subordinate clause

A special suffix is used if the verb has a first-person singular subject AND a second-person object, e.g. Szeretlek., Szeretlek titeket..
Examples:

Indefinite	Definite
Látsz. Látsz valamit. Látsz egy könyvet. Látsz engemet/bennünket. Látsz valamennyit/kettőt. Nem ''látsz semmit/senkit. Látsz mindent/mindenkit. Kit/mit/mennyit látsz? Az ember/könyv akit/amit látsz...	Látod a könyvet. Látod ezt a könyvet. Látod magadat. Látod Máriát. You see Mary. Látod mindkettőt/mind a két könyvet. Látod mindent/minden könyvet. (You see everything/all the books. Melyik embert/könyvet látod? Látod, hogy itt vagyok.''

No explicit object

If no explicit object is present, the most common interpretation of the definite verb forms is including "him/her/it". If an indefinite verb form semantically requires an object, "me" or "you " or – obviously – an indefinite object can be inferred: "something". This difference makes it possible for the writer or speaker to refer to people without making them explicit. In most cases it is enough through the context to differentiate between 3rd-person and non-3rd-person pronouns.
Definite examples:

olvassa – most common meaning: s/he is reading it
nézi – most common meaning: s/he is looking at him/her/it

Indefinite examples:

fut – usually can't have an object so its meaning is unambiguous
olvas – most common meaning: s/he is reading something
néz – most common meaning: s/he is looking at me or ''you''

Grammatical voice

Hungarian uses active forms not only in the active sense and in the middle voice sense, but also uses the third person plural active form to express the passive. For example, Megvizsgálják a gyereket literally means "They examine the child", but it is more commonly meant like "The child is examined". The passive voice meaning is shown by the fact that the third person plural form can be used even when only one agent is meant.
Another way to express the passive meaning is with middle voice lexical forms or unaccusative verbs, e.g. épül: "being built"/ intransitive, alakul: "developing form"/ intransitive. Here the suffix -ul/-ül expresses the middle voice, as opposed to -ít which expresses the active. Middle voice forms can also be created from some plain verbs by adding -ódik/-ődik, e.g. íródik "get written", ütődik "get hit". These active/middle pairs are available for a considerable proportion of Hungarian verbs.
In the perfect, there is a third way to express passive meaning: the existential verb van plus the adverbial participle ending in -va/-ve, e.g. meg van írva "it is written". It is used when the result of the action is emphasized. It can be formed in the past perfect and future perfect, too, with the past and future forms of van. – A similar structure is used in a past meaning with lett: meg lett írva "it was written" or "it has been written".
Though generally considered obsolete, the actual passive form does occur, formed with -atik/-etik or -tatik/-tetik. The only common example is születik. However, the construction can be used more generally, as in adatik, viseltetik, foglaltatik. These can be formed by.

An example of a regular verb

Here is a regular verb, kér. The personal suffixes are marked in bold.

Modal and causative suffixes

Hungarian has two forms which can be added to any verb stem to modify the meaning. These are sometimes referred to as "infixes", since they appear between the verb stem and its conjugation suffixes, but technically, true infixes are inserted inside a morpheme.
The suffix -hat-/-het- has a modal meaning of permission or opportunity, e.g. beszélek "I speak", beszélhetek "I may speak" or "I am allowed to speak".
Note: Ability is usually expressed with the auxiliar verb tud. See Auxiliary verbs (modal and temporal).
The suffix -at-/-et- and -tat-/-tet- have a causative meaning. It can express "having something done" or "having/making someone do something". For example: beszélek "I speak", beszéltetek "I make somebody speak", beszéltetem "I make him/her/it speak".
The suffix -tat/-tet is used if the word ends in vowel + -t or if the stem ends in a consonant different from -t, but it has two or more syllables. In other cases, -at/-et is used: that is, with words ending in a consonant + t and with one-syllable words ending in a consonant different from -t.
The monosyllabic words which don't end in vowel + -t, but have -tat/-tet in the causative are áz·ik, buk·ik, kop·ik, él, kel, lép, szűn·ik, szök·ik .
Some monosyllabic words not ending in vowel + -t have both -at/-et and -tat/-tet as causative forms, with differences in meaning. For example:szop·ik hány jár goes somewhere regularly, to start and operate ; jártat: to lead someone or something.

Verbal noun

A noun is formed from a verb by adding -ás/-és to the verb stem, e.g. ''Az úszás egészséges.''

Participles

There are three participles in Hungarian. They are formed by adding the following suffixes to the verb stem:

-ó/-ő - present participle, e.g. író ember
-ott/-ett/-ött/-t - past participle, e.g. megírt levél
-andó/-endő - future participle, e.g. írandó levél

Since the past participle usually expresses a perfected action/event, the verb sometimes changes into its perfective counterpart by taking a verbal particle ' with this function, as seen in the above example '. This verbal particle may, however, be replaced by a noun, e.g. Annának írt levél. – ''See more under Hungarian syntax.''

Verb particles/prefixes ''(igekötők)''

Hungarian verbs can have verb particles or prefixes, similar to phrasal verbs in English. The most common ones are meg-, fel-, le-, be-, ki-, el-, vissza-, át-, oda-, ide-, össze-, szét-, "rá-".
These can produce literal or figurative, idiomatic meanings. For example ír, leír, beír can figuratively mean: leír, beír ; also rúg, kirúg, berúg They often serve to change the verb into perfective.
When the particle precedes the verb without any other inserted word, they are used as one word, e.g. Leírja. The particle may instead follow the verb for various syntactic reasons. It may be displaced from the leading position by a stressed element of the sentence, e.g. Ő írja le or a negation, e.g. Nem írja le, or in the imperative mood, e.g. Írjad le!. Finally, it may also indicate continuity, e.g. Lement a lépcsőn vs. Ment le a lépcsőn.
If the verb is in the infinitive, the finite verb is placed between them, e.g. Le akarja írni or Le tudja írni.
The particle may considerably affect the case of the complement: for example, the verb kezd can be modified by several different verb particles, but their complement agrees with the particle:

elkezd valamit
nekikezd valaminek
belekezd valamibe
hozzákezd valamihez

When giving a short positive answer to a yes/no question, the particle can refer back to the whole sentence, see Yes/no questions. e.g. Elkezdted? El!
In literary style, articles can be reduplicated to indicate a gradual or stuttering action: ki-kijött a mὁkus.

Exceptional cases

A few words begin with a syllable which is a homonym of a particle, e.g. felel, lehel, kiált and beszél, where the first syllable is an integral part of the morpheme, not a particle modifying a verb stem. Another is fellebbez, from the adverb fellebb. These syllables do not function as particles: compare the above kiált with ki|áll : nem kiált, but nem áll ki. An entire verb may occasionally have such a homonym, e.g. betűz, but be|tűz.
In some cases, an original compound word has become fused into a single inseparable morpheme. For example, kirándul was originally analyzed as ki + rándul, but current usage is Kirándulni akar, not Ki akar rándulni, which is obsolete and only used jokingly.
Some verbs do not admit separation because they are formed from a noun with a prefixed particle. An example is befolyásol, derived from the noun befolyás, itself a calque from German Einfluß, literally "in-flow". In the derived verb befolyásol, the particle be- cannot be separated, since there is no verb ~~folyásol~~. Another example is kivitelez from kivitel. Similarly, ellenőriz 'check', derived from the noun ellenőr, stays together as Nem ellenőrzök, in contrast to ellenáll, which separates as in Nem állok ellen. A common solecism among native speakers is the case of feltételez, which comes from the noun feltétel, but is still often separated: ?fel sem tételezhetjük, ?fel kell tételeznünk, instead of the correct forms nem is feltételezhetjük, feltételeznünk kell.

Auxiliary verbs (modal and temporal)

Most Hungarian auxiliary verbs are impersonal; beside them, the suffixed infinitive is used. A few are conjugated.
The suffix -hat/-het mentioned in the last row can be further conjugated, just like any verb.
The verb lehet is used impersonally, e.g. oda lehet menni "one can go there".

The verb ''szokik''

The verb szokik is conjugated like a regular past tense one, however, used with an infinitive, it has the meaning of a habitual action which includes the present time.
Examples:

Szoktam álmodni
''Meg szoktam mosni''

Irregular verbs

The verbs van, jön and megy have an irregular present tense and irregular stems for different tenses. jön also has irregular forms in the subjunctive. A further group of 9 verbs have irregular stems for different tenses, but follow the same pattern of irregularity as each other. A few other verbs shorten or drop a vowel with certain suffixes.

''van'' (to be)

The verb "to be" in Hungarian is van, lenni.

Use

When the verb is used as a copula i.e. if one speaks about what someone or something is, it is omitted in the third person singular and plural of the present tense. The verb is required in all other tenses and persons, and also when speaking about where or how something is, or to emphasize the existence or availability of something the verb is required too. There is a hierarchy according to which the "van" verb is omitted.
Lets name these hierarchical steps the steps of "van's omission"

Would there be a verb in the sentence in the first place? - if so, then "van" might be omittable in the next steps
Is the subject in third person singular form? - if it is, then it might be omittable in the next steps
Is the sentence not passive voice? - if it is not, then it might be omittable in the next steps
Is the sentence present tense? - if it is, then it might be omittable in the next steps
Is the subject not possessed? - if it is not, then it might be omittable in the next step
Is the subject straight this, or that? - if it is, then "van" must be omittable by this time
"Van" is proven to be impossible to omit against all the effort in the previous steps

Examples:

A több az jobb ∅. - The more, the merrier ∅
*
Péter orvos ∅. – Peter is a doctor
*
Péter jól van. – Peter is well
*
Péter itt van. – Peter is here
*
Péter Juliskánál van. – Peter is at Juliet
*
Péter Juliskáé ∅. – Peter is Juliet's
*
Péter jó fiú ∅. - Peter is a good boy
*
Péter orvos volt. – Peter was a doctor
*
Orvos vagyok. – I am a doctor
*
Az ég kék ∅. - The sky is blue.
*
A szobor kőből van. - The statue is made out of stone.
*
Szoborból négy van. - There are four statues.
*
Kék vagyok. - I am blue.
*
Az ég vagyok. - I am the sky.
*
Ő Péter ∅ - He is Peter
*
Az ajtó zárva van - The door is closed
*
A bolt nyitva van - The shop is open
*

The non-copula form of van is also used to express the equivalent of "There is/are":Van orvos a szobában. – There is a doctor in the room.
The negation of the third person van as a non-copula verb is the suppletive nincs :

Itt van Péter. – Peter is here.

Nincs itt Péter. – Peter isn't here.

Hungarian has no verb which is equivalent to "to have". Instead, ownership/possession are expressed in various other ways including to use "van" with a possessive suffix on the noun. This makes possessives in Hungarian very different to English:

Van egy könyvem - I have a book
Van könyvem -
* In English it would roughly be translated to one of these :
** ~I have the book
** ~I do not lack at least one of my books
** ~I have all the books at me that are necessary in this context
* That is because the word for book can also be meant plural here without "i", and "k" marks, and because there is no article
Könyveim vannak - I have books
* Contrary to "Van könyvem" in this case books are plural explicitly, and this makes translation possible to English while meaning is preserved
- I have the book
* In Hungarian there is no "Van a könyvem" because the English version is not accusative, but invariant, however in Hungarian the word for book must not be in accusative case when using "van" to possess with. Also "van" does not mean "to have" word for word
* The Hungarian version would roughly be ~megszereztem a könyvet~ which in English would roughly be "I have got the book"
* Birtoklom a könyvet is a good candidate to translation, but that would rather mean "I possess the book", or "I own the book" with both translations are treating book in accusative case
Az a könyvem van, amelyik... - I have the book, which...
* In this case the word for book is no longer in accusative case, and is possible to say with definite article, and "van" verb in the same clause

Conjugation

Like the verb "to be" in many other languages, van is irregular. It comes from three bases: vagy-, vol-, and len-. These overlap to some extent with the verb lesz. As it cannot have an object, it does not have definite forms. It is the only verb in Hungarian which has a future form.
There is little difference between the two conditional forms. In theory, lennék etc. are preferred when an option is considered as possible and volnék etc. are preferred when it is considered impossible, but the limits are rather vague. It is probably not by chance that the former is akin to the future form, which might still become true, and the latter to the past form, which is already determined. In practice, the lennék series is somewhat more frequently used in both senses.