Verb Conjugation

Hungarian verbs change their endings for person (I, you, she...) and tense, just as English "I go" becomes "she goes" and "I went". The endings are very regular, and vowel harmony picks the right version for you. The one big surprise is that most verbs have two sets of endings: one for when there is no object or an indefinite one ("I read a book"), and one for when the object is definite ("I read the book"). This page gives the endings, the rules for each tense, and full tables for sixteen key verbs.

The lessons introduce these forms step by step: the present in Lesson 5, the definite conjugation in Lesson 10, the past in Lesson 13, the future with ▶fog in Lesson 14, the infinitive with ▶kell and ▶tud in Lesson 15, and the conditional and subjunctive in Lesson 21.

The dictionary form

Hungarian dictionaries don't list the infinitive. They list the "he/she" form of the present tense, because it is the bare stem with no ending: ▶olvas (he reads, "to read"), ▶ír (he writes, "to write"). Verbs whose "he/she" form ends in -ik, such as ▶lakik (he lives), are called ik-verbs. They are listed with the -ik, but their stem is ▶lak.

Hungarian has no gender, so ▶ő means both "he" and "she". The polite "you", ▶Ön (plural ▶Önök), always uses the "he/she" and "they" forms: ▶Ön honnan jön? (Where are you from?, literally "Where does you come from?").

Present tense endings

The ending depends on the vowels in the stem: back, front unrounded or front rounded. See Vowel Harmony.

• Sibilant verbs. If the stem ends in s, sz, z or dz, the "you" form is -ol, -el, -öl instead of -sz, which would be hard to say: ▶olvasol, ▶nézel, ▶főzöl. In the definite forms, the j of the ending turns into a copy of the sibilant: ▶olvas + -ja → ▶olvassa, ▶néz + -jük → ▶nézzük.
• Two consonants at the end. If the stem ends in two consonants or in -ít, add a linking vowel in the "you", "you (pl.)" and "they" forms: ▶mond (says) → ▶mondasz, ▶mondotok, ▶mondanak; ▶tanít (teaches) → ▶tanítasz, ▶tanítotok, ▶tanítanak; ▶ért (understands) → ▶értesz, ▶értetek, ▶értenek.
• ik-verbs traditionally use -m in the "I" form: ▶lakom, ▶dolgozom. In everyday speech you will also hear ▶lakok, ▶dolgozok. The "he/she" form adds -ik. Everything else is regular.
• I → you: when the subject is "I" and the object is "you" (▶téged or ▶titeket), use the special ending -lak/-lek: ▶Szeretlek. (I love you.) ▶Látlak. (I can see you.)

The past tense

The past tense marker is -t or -tt, followed by a personal ending. Only the "I" form is the same in both conjugations.

Whether you need a linking vowel, and in which persons, depends on the end of the stem. There are three groups:

The negative is simply ▶nem before the verb: ▶Nem tanultam. (I didn't study.) The past of ▶nincs is ▶nem volt: ▶Tegnap nem volt itthon. (He wasn't at home yesterday.)

The future

Hungarian has no special future ending. Usually you use the present, often with a prefix or a time word: ▶Holnap megírom. (I'll write it tomorrow.) When you want to stress the future, use ▶fog with the infinitive. ▶fog takes the endings and can be definite or indefinite:

▶Holnap esni fog. (It will rain tomorrow.)

▶Meg fogom csinálni. (I will do it.)

▶Hol fogsz lakni? (Where are you going to live?)

The verb ▶van has a real future of its own: ▶leszek, ▶leszel, ▶lesz... (I will be, you will be, he will be).

The conditional

The conditional ("would") adds -na/-ne, or -ná/-né in some persons, after the stem. Verbs ending in two consonants or -ít add a linking vowel: ▶mondana, ▶tanítana, ▶értene.

Notice that the "I" form is -nék for back and front verbs alike: ▶tanulnék, ▶kérnék. The most useful conditional of all is ▶szeretnék (I would like). The past conditional adds ▶volna, which never changes, to the past tense: ▶Elmentem volna. (I would have gone.)

▶Szeretnék egy kávét. (I would like a coffee.)

▶Ha lenne időm, eljönnék. (If I had time, I would come.)

▶Ha tudtam volna, szóltam volna. (If I had known, I would have said something.)

The subjunctive and imperative

Hungarian uses one set of forms, with a -j-, both for orders ("Read it!") and for wishes and purposes ("I want you to read it", "Let's read"). Grammars call it the imperative, the subjunctive or the felszólító mód. Add -j- to the stem, then these endings:

The j often blends with the last consonant of the stem. These changes are in the spelling too:

▶Olvasd el! (Read it! (to the end))

▶Menjünk! (Let's go!)

▶Azt akarom, hogy eljöjj. (I want you to come.)

▶Ne nézz oda! (Don't look over there!)

▶Foglaljon helyet! (Take a seat. (formal))

To say "don't", put ▶ne before the subjunctive: ▶Ne menj el! (Don't go away!) With ▶Ön the "he/she" form is a polite request: ▶Jöjjön be! (Please come in.)

The infinitive

The infinitive ends in -ni, with a linking vowel after two consonants or -ít: ▶tanulni, ▶olvasni, ▶mondani, ▶tanítani, ▶érteni. After impersonal words such as ▶kell (must), ▶lehet (it is possible) and ▶szabad (it is allowed), the infinitive can take a personal ending to show who does it:

Regular verbs in full

These seven verbs show every regular pattern: a back verb, a front verb, a front rounded verb, two verbs ending in a sibilant, and two ik-verbs. ▶lakik never takes an object, so it has no definite forms.

tanul (to study, learn): regular back verb

Infinitive: ▶tanulni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

kér (to ask for, request): regular front verb

Infinitive: ▶kérni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

köszön (to thank; to greet): regular front rounded verb

Infinitive: ▶köszönni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

olvas (to read): back verb ending in a sibilant (s)

Infinitive: ▶olvasni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

néz (to look at, watch): front verb ending in a sibilant (z)

Infinitive: ▶nézni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

lakik (to live (somewhere)): ik-verb, intransitive

Infinitive: ▶lakni

játszik (to play): ik-verb, transitive

Infinitive: ▶játszani

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

Irregular verbs in full

A handful of very common verbs are irregular. ▶van, ▶megy and ▶jön never take an object, so they only have indefinite forms. ▶eszik and ▶iszik are ik-verbs with unusual stems, and ▶tesz, ▶vesz, ▶visz and ▶hisz all follow the same pattern: -sz- in the present, -tt- in the past, -nn- in the conditional and -gy- in the subjunctive.

van (to be)

Infinitive: ▶lenni

megy (to go)

Infinitive: ▶menni

jön (to come)

Infinitive: ▶jönni

eszik (to eat)

Infinitive: ▶enni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

iszik (to drink)

Infinitive: ▶inni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

tesz (to put; to do)

Infinitive: ▶tenni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

vesz (to take; to buy)

Infinitive: ▶venni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

visz (to carry, take (somewhere))

Infinitive: ▶vinni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)

hisz (to believe)

Infinitive: ▶hinni

Indefinite (no object, or an indefinite one)

Definite (with a definite object: the book, it)