Place

Vowel harmony

Hungarian vowels are back vowels, a, á, o, ó, u, ú, or front vowels, e, é, i, í, ö, ő, ü, ű; among the front vowels, ö, ő, ü, ű are front rounded. Most endings have two forms, one with a back vowel and one with a front vowel, and a few have a third form with a front rounded vowel. A word with a back vowel takes the back form: ház → házban, autó → autóban. A word with only front vowels takes the front form: kert → kertben, könyv → könyvben. This agreement of the ending with the vowels of the word is called vowel harmony.

The neutral vowels

The vowels i, í, e and é are neutral: in a word that also has a back vowel, they do not count, and the word takes the back form: mozi → moziban, kávézó → kávézóban. A word with only i, í, e or é takes the front form: film → filmben, Berlin → Berlinben; a few short words with only i, í or é take back endings and are learnt one by one.

Formation

The ending for in is -ban after a back-vowel word and -ben after a front-vowel word. A final -a becomes -á-, and a final -e becomes -é-, before the ending: táska → táskában, iskola → iskolában. This lengthening is found before most endings.

Use

The ending says that something is inside a place: a room, a bag, a building, a town or a country of this kind. English at school and at the bank are said with the ending for in: az iskolában, a bankban. Other words take the ending for on, set out in Saying on and at: -n, -on, -en, -ön.

Formation

The ending for on is -n after a vowel, with -a and -e lengthened: tévé → tévén, utca → utcán. After a consonant it has three forms: -on after a back-vowel word, -en after a word whose last vowel is front unrounded (e, é, i, í), and -ön after a word whose last vowel is front rounded (ö, ő, ü, ű).

Use

The ending says that something is on a surface (az asztalon, “on the table”), in an open place or a street (az utcán, “in the street”; a strandon, “on the beach”), at a station or a university (az állomáson, az egyetemen) and in a picture or on a screen (a képen, a tévén). The same noun may take both endings with two meanings: a házban is “in the house”, a házon “on the house”.

Towns and countries

Each town and country takes one of the two endings, learnt with the name. Many Hungarian towns take -n, -on, -en: Budapesten, Szegeden, Pécsen. Others take -ban, -ben: Debrecenben, Győrben, Egerben, Sopronban. Foreign towns take -ban, -ben: Londonban, Bécsben, Berlinben, Párizsban. Among countries, Magyarország takes -on, Magyarországon; the others take -ban, -ben: Angliában, Ausztriában, Németországban.

Use

Hol? asks “where?”. Itt (here) and ott (there) answer it with no ending, like otthon and itthon (at home). The question word stands right before the verb: Hol van az állomás? In an answer, itt or ott takes the same place: Ott van. With ez and az, the words make pairs: ez itt (“this one here”), az ott (“that one there”).

Formation

The question hova? asks “where to?”. A word that takes -ban, -ben for in takes -ba (back) or -be (front) for into, to. A word that takes -n, -on, -en, -ön for on takes -ra (back) or -re (front) for onto, to. A final -a or -e lengthens, as before -ban: iskola → iskolába, utca → utcára.

Use

The endings follow verbs of movement: megy (go), jön (come), utazik (travel). The ending for in says where someone is, never where someone goes: a moziban van (“is at the cinema”), but a moziba megy (“is going to the cinema”).

Formation

The question honnan? asks “where from?”. A word of the first set takes -ból (back) or -ből (front) for out of, from; a word of the second set takes -ról (back) or -ről (front) for off, from. The endings follow jön (come) and megy (go).

The two sets

Every place word belongs to one of two sets of three endings, and its ending for where? shows the set: iskolában gives iskolába and iskolából; egyetemen gives egyetemre and egyetemről. So Debrecenben, Debrecenbe, Debrecenből, but Szegeden, Szegedre, Szegedről.

Use

Here and there have three forms each, like the place endings: itt, ott answer hol? (where?); ide (to here), oda (to there) answer hova? (where to?); innen (from here), onnan (from there) answer honnan? (where from?).

Formation

A postposition is a word placed after a noun, where English places a preposition before it. The noun takes no ending: a ház előtt (in front of the house). The postpositions of place answer hol? (where?).

Use

Között follows two nouns joined by és, a plural noun (a fák között, “among the trees”) or a number with a singular noun (két szék között). A postposition takes the bare noun, while a movement takes a case ending: a ház előtt van, but a házba megy.

Formation

The ending -ul (back) or -ül (front), added to the adjective of nationality, says in which language something is said, written or understood: magyar → magyarul (in Hungarian), angol → angolul, német → németül. A final -a lengthens: francia → franciául. Names of languages and nationalities are written with a small letter: magyar, angol; names of countries with a capital: Magyarország, Anglia.

Use

The form follows verbs such as beszél (speak), tanul (learn), ért (understand), ír (write) and olvas (read). With tud it means “to speak a language”: Tudsz magyarul? (“Do you speak Hungarian?”).

Formation

The ending -i makes an adjective meaning “from that place” from the name of a town or a country: Budapest → budapesti, London → londoni, Prága → prágai, Magyarország → magyarországi. It has one form for every word, and the adjective is written with a small letter.

Use

The adjective stands before a noun, egy szegedi étterem (“a restaurant in Szeged”), or after a name with no verb, Tom londoni (“Tom is from London”). Magyarországi says where someone or something is from; magyar is the nationality, “Hungarian”.