Hungarian grammar

1. Personal Pronouns.

Nominative.

Dative.

Accusative.

The Possessive Pronoun.

(a) Where the object possessed is a single object.

(b) Where more objects than one are possessed.

This pronoun is not used attributively, like the English my, thy, &c., but predicatively, like mine, thine, &c.

The force of the English my, thy, &c., is usually given by the personal endings, as explained in Chapter IV.: as, for instance, a kalap-om, my hat; az atyá-d, thy father. But if stress is laid on the fact that an object is mine, thine, &c., then the simple pronoun én, te, &c., is placed before the substantive, which takes in addition the personal endings.

As there is no verb “to have” in Hungarian, the word van (vannak, &c.) is often used with nekem, neked, &c., to express possession (see page 11), the object possessed taking the personal endings.

2. Reflexive Pronouns.

These pronouns are inflected like substantives. They are sometimes used as equivalent to my own, thy own, &c., as, magam könyve, my own book; magad könyve, thy own book, &c. The object possessed, in such cases, always takes the third person singular personal ending, because magam könyve, magad könyve, &c., strictly means my self’s book, thy self’s book, &c.

The reflexive pronouns may take the possessive suffix -é; as, a magam-é, mine.

Sometimes these pronouns are used to express solitude; as, magam vagyok, I am alone.

Egymás is a Reciprocal Pronoun = one another, each other.

The Use of the Second Person.

In Hungarian, when speaking to one or more persons, the second person is only used among members of the same family or by intimate friends, or else in poetry.

In addressing strangers, instead of te, neked, &c., one must use ön or maga, maga being rather less formal than ön.

These are all in the third person, and take the verb in the third person, e.g. ön elmegy, you are going away.

Similarly the words nagyságod, sir or madam; nagysád, madam; méltóságod, nagyméltóságod, your excellency, while formally in the second person, always takes the verb in the third person, e.g. nagyméltóságod tudja, your excellency knows.

kegyed (kegyetek, &c.) resembles ön, but is becoming old-fashioned.

3. Relative Pronouns.

These pronouns are inflected like substantives.

4. Interrogative Pronouns.

5. Demonstrative Pronouns.

emez, amaz, ezen, azon, ugyanezen and ugyanazon, are rarely used.

ezen, azon, stand before the substantive without the article, while ez and az are always followed by the article. Also, while ez and az are inflected like substantives, ezen and azon are incapable of inflection.

Before suffixes beginning with a consonant, ez and az change their final z into the first letter of such suffix; thus—

The suffixes -val, -vel, -vá, -vé, usually change their v into a letter like the final consonant of the word to which they are joined. When, however, they are combined with ez, az, either the v may change to z, or the z of the demonstrative to v. It is equally correct to write ezzel or evvel, azzal or avval.

These demonstratives may be used both as pronouns and as adjectives.

6. Definite Pronouns.

7. Indefinite Pronouns.

Exercise VIII.

Ti már egészségesek vagytok, de ők még betegek. Csak neked mondom meg a titkot. Holnap délután várlak. Téged is kértelek, Ferenczet is. A tietek ez a kocsi? Nem a mienk, hanem barátunké. A réten sok tehén van, az enyéim mind fehérek, az övéik mind feketék. Árpád, aki Magyarországot elfoglalta, nagy hős volt. A könyvtár amelyben dolgozom, csendes. Géza és Béla ismerik egymást. Szerencsét kivánok önnek.

This book is not mine but yours. My garden is not so pretty as theirs. I have a pretty garden. Ilona and her mother often write letters to each other. Everybody likes Ilona. Tell me what (ami) is true.