The Remaining Cases

Hungarian is famous for having a lot of cases, usually counted as eighteen. Here is a secret: you already know most of them. You have learned the nine place cases (-ban, -ba, -ból, -n, -ra, -ról, -nál, -hoz, -tól), the accusative -t, the dative -nak/-nek and the instrumental -val/-vel. In this lesson you will learn the rest. They are easy, because each one has a single, clear meaning, rather like an English preposition glued to the end of the word.

Here they are, so you know what is coming:

Let's take them one at a time.

-ért: for, for the sake of

The ending -ért never changes: there is no vowel harmony and no linking vowel. It means "for" in three senses. First, in exchange for, especially money:

▶Háromezer forintot fizettem a könyvért. (I paid three thousand forints for the book.)

▶Köszönet a segítségért! (Thanks for the help!)

▶Bocsánatot kérek a késésért. (I apologise for being late.) késés = lateness

Second, for the sake of someone or something:

▶Mindent megteszek a családomért. (I would do anything for my family.)

▶Aggódom érted. (I'm worried about you.) érted = for you. See the personal forms below.

Third, with verbs of going, it means to fetch:

▶Elmegyek kenyérért. (I'm going to get some bread.)

▶Négykor megyek a gyerekekért. (I'm picking the children up at four.)

And now you can see where one of the first question words comes from: ▶miért? (why?) is literally "for what?".

-vá/-vé: becoming something

The translative -vá/-vé is used when something turns into something else. It mostly goes with the verbs ▶válik (to become), ▶változik (to change, turn into) and ▶tesz (to make):

▶A víz jéggé fagyott. (The water froze into ice.)

▶A béka herceggé változott. (The frog turned into a prince.)

▶A kislány gyönyörű nővé vált. (The little girl grew into a beautiful woman.)

▶Ez a hír boldoggá tett. (This news made me happy.)

Like -val/-vel (Lesson 16), the v of this ending assimilates: after a consonant, it turns into a copy of that consonant. After a vowel, it stays v, and final a or e become long:

Notice ▶Kováccsal: with a digraph such as cs, only the first letter is doubled.

-ig: until, as far as

The ending -ig marks an end point, in time or in space. Like -ért, it never changes:

▶Ötig dolgozom. (I work until five.)

▶Hétfőig itt maradok. (I'm staying here until Monday.)

▶Ez a busz csak Budapestig megy. (This bus only goes as far as Budapest.)

▶Éjfélig vártam rád. (I waited for you until midnight.)

▶Meddig maradsz? (How long are you staying?) meddig = until when

It pairs naturally with -tól/-től (from):

▶reggeltől estig (from morning till night)

▶hétfőtől péntekig (from Monday to Friday)

▶A boltig gyalog megyek. (I'll walk as far as the shop.)

-ként: as, in the role of

The ending -ként describes a role: what someone or something is acting as. It is the Hungarian "as". It also never changes:

▶Tanárként dolgozik. (She works as a teacher.)

▶Barátként mondom. (I'm telling you as a friend.)

▶Ajándékként kaptam. (I got it as a present.)

▶Turistaként jöttem, de itt maradtam. (I came as a tourist, but I stayed.)

-kor: at a time

The ending -kor answers ▶Hánykor? (at what time?) and sometimes ▶Mikor? (when?). Use it with clock times and with festivals:

▶Hánykor kezdődik a film? (What time does the film start?)

▶Nyolckor. (At eight.)

▶fél hétkor (at half past six) Literally "at half seven".

▶negyed tízkor (at quarter past nine)

▶éjfélkor (at midnight)

▶karácsonykor (at Christmas)

▶húsvétkor (at Easter)

▶érkezéskor (on arrival) Formal.

-ul/-ül: in a language

You already know this ending from the very first lessons: ▶magyarul (in Hungarian). It mostly appears in a fixed set of words, the most important being the names of languages:

▶Beszélsz magyarul? (Do you speak Hungarian?)

▶Hogy mondják ezt magyarul? (How do you say this in Hungarian?)

▶angolul, németül, franciául (in English, in German, in French)

▶oroszul, olaszul, spanyolul (in Russian, in Italian, in Spanish)

It is also hidden in some very common adverbs:

▶például (for example) From példa (example).

▶végül (finally) From vég (end).

▶rosszul (badly)

▶Ajándékul kaptam. (I got it as a present.) An older alternative to ajándékként.

-stul/-stül: together with

This ending means "together with", in the sense of "with X and everything". It is used with only a handful of words, and often sounds a little humorous:

▶Családostul jöttek. (They came with the whole family.)

▶Ruhástul ugrott a vízbe. (He jumped into the water with his clothes on.)

▶Kutyástul érkeztek. (They arrived, dog and all.)

▶mindenestül (with everything, completely)

Recognise it when you see it, but you will rarely need to make new forms yourself.

-nként: per, each

The ending -nként (with a linking vowel after a consonant) means "per" or "each". You will meet it on price lists, in timetables and in the weather forecast:

▶Személyenként ötezer forint. (Five thousand forints per person.)

▶darabonként (per piece, each)

▶fejenként (per head)

▶óránként (per hour, hourly)

▶hetenként (weekly, every week)

▶esténként (in the evenings, every evening)

▶egyenként (one by one)

▶időnként (from time to time)

▶Holnap helyenként eső várható. (Tomorrow rain is expected in places.) helyenként = in places

Next to me, without you: postpositions with personal endings

In Lesson 18 you learned postpositions such as ▶mellett (next to). But how do you say "next to me"? You can't say "én mellett". Instead, the postposition takes a possessive ending, as if you were saying "my next-to":

▶Ülj mellém! (Sit next to me!)

▶Ki ül melletted? (Who is sitting next to you?)

▶Mögöttünk egy hangos család ült. (A noisy family was sitting behind us.)

▶Nélküled nem megyek. (I'm not going without you.)

▶Gyere utánam! (Follow me!) Literally "come after me".

▶Miattad késtem el. (I was late because of you.)

▶Helyetted is dolgoztam. (I worked for you as well (in your place).)

The directional forms work the same way: ▶mellém (to beside me), ▶elém (to in front of me), ▶alám (to under me). And ▶között (between) only has plural forms, of course: ▶köztünk or ▶közöttünk (between us).

The ending -ért and most of the place cases also have personal forms. You know several already from Lesson 16 (▶nekem, ▶velem, ▶nálam). For -ért they are:

▶értem, érted, érte (for me, for you, for him/her)

▶értünk, értetek, értük (for us, for you (pl.), for them)

With ▶Ön and ▶Önök you simply use the plain postposition: ▶Ön mellett (next to you), ▶Önök nélkül (without you).

All eighteen cases

That's it: you now know every case in Hungarian. Here they are all together, with the word ▶ház (house). Grammars don't all agree on the exact count. Most give eighteen, as here, and some also count -kor, -stul and -nként, which would make it more than twenty. What matters is not the number but the forms, and you know them all.

Notice how regular the plural is: once you have ▶házak, every plural case is simply ▶házak + the ending. You can find a printable copy of this table, with the nine place cases arranged in a grid, on the Case Table tab, and more about every case on the grammar page.

Conclusion

You have finished the case system! That is a real milestone, because from now on there are no new endings to learn for nouns. Review the Vocabulary, keep the Case Table handy, and try the Exercises. In Lesson 21 you will learn to say what you would do, and how to give orders.