Behaviour of verbal prefixes in a Hungarian sentence

(written by rpd Attila Psztor)

This is a short and simple introduction to a topic that is otherwise rather long and complex. My
purpose is to show the most important rules (while other, less common features will be ignored).
There can be some mistakes in the text, but I think it is 99% correct.
By no means I consider this document accurate in a strict, scientific sense. I hope many people will
understand it, even if they are not familiar with theoretical syntax. Therefore I tried to avoid terms
that are probably unknown to a wider range of readers, or at least I made sure to explain them.
Instead of the much more accurate syntactical trees (line diagrams) I used square brackets, [like
these], which have the advantage of being more linear as our speech is also linear in time;
something that we say before another thing is actually farther away from the end of the sentence. I
consider this kind of visual presentation more understandable by beginners who have no
background in linguistics. However, I was not able to write this paper without introducing new
concepts such as topic and focus. (They are probably new for casual student who just wants to learn
Hungarian, of course linguists know about them.)
What are verbal prefixes? They are also called pre-verbs (a term that is considered obsolete when
we talk about the Hungarian language). These prefixes are referred by traditional Hungarian
grammar books as igektk. Since ige means 'verb' and kt-ni means 'to link' (among other things),
igekt is nothing more than a 'verb-linker' in Hungarian. This name is actually very confusing, as
prefixes don't really link anything. Or they maybe do, but nobody can explain what exactly.
One of their purposes is to make a verb perfect. For instance, r-ni means 'to write' while megr-ni
means 'to finish writing'. Megrtam a levelet ('I have written the letter'). Olvas-ni means 'to read'
while elolvas-ni means 'to finish reading'. Elolvastam ezt a knyvet ('I have finished this book').
They can also modify the meaning of the original verb: el-rni (egy szt) means 'to make a typo (in
a word)' and fel-olvasni (valamit) is 'to read out loud (something)'.
Basic word order in Hungarian. Forget about subjects and objects. They can come very handy
when we want to determine the logical structure of a sentence, but for establishing word order rules
they are much less useful. At least in Hungarian. You should memorize the word toffee, as it sounds
like TO-F-I, which is the abbreviation of topik, fkusz, ige ('topic, focus, verb'). These positions
come in this very order, but any of them can be empty. In other words: not all the sentences have
focus, and some of them have no topic either. There are sentences without verbs. Everything else
(usually called the rest) comes after the verb. For example, an infinitive (that is not in focus):
Jnos velem akar tncolni = John wants to dance with me = I am the one that John wants to dance with.

It is a simple sentence in which Jnos ('John') is in the topic position, velem ('with me') is in the
focus position, akar ('wants') is the main verb and tncolni ('to dance') is an infinitive we put after
the verb. It doesn't mean that infinitives can't occupy the focus position when needed. Sure, they
can:
Jnos tncolni akar velem = John wants to dance with me = Dancing is what John wants to do with me.

What is a topic? The phrase in a clause (usually in a sentence) that the rest of the clause is
understood to be about. Generally it is already known by the listener before the speaker starts
saying the clause. Or at least it is self-evident from the context.
1

If we already started talking about John, then his name can always be the topic of any following
sentence. If we have not started the conversation yet, then we can only use such a topic if we know
John (either personally or through someone else).
Megjtt Jnos! Melyik Jnos jtt meg? Jnos az iskolnkban dolgozik. Jnos tanr?
John has arrived! Which John has arrived? John works in our school. Is John a teacher?
The first two sentences have no topic, because we have just started the conversation about John.
The other ones have the name Jnos in their topic position. This is an ideal situation, because in the
real word many more sentences have topics:
[Egy pasas] [bejtt a boltba tegnap, s...] = 'A guy came into the shop yesterday, and...'
Although this sentence probably sounds more natural by filling the topic with something already
known to both people who are talking:
[Tegnap] [bejtt egy pasas a boltba, s...] = 'Yesterday a guy came into the shop, and...'
Now the listener can already ask something like:
[Az a pasas] [MIKOR jtt be a boltba?] = 'When did that guy come into the shop?'
Topic
Focus
And the witness probably answers by saying:
[A pasas] [TEGNAP jtt be a boltba.] = 'It was yesterday when the guy came into the shop.'
Topic
Focus
Or he may prefer not to fill in the topic position again:
[Topic=Empty] [TEGNAP jtt be a pasas a boltba.] = Same meaning as above.
[Topic=Empty] [TEGNAP jtt be a boltba.] = 'It was yesterday when he came into the shop.'
[Topic=Empty] [TEGNAP jtt be.] = 'It was yesterday when he came in.'
[Topic=Empty] [TEGNAP.] = 'Yesterday.'
Let's move tegnap back to the topic position and change the other parts entirely:
[Tegnap] [HROM KNYVET olvastam el] = 'Yesterday I read three books'
Here tegnap ('yesterday') is the one we already know about and everything else (focus, verb, the
rest) is called the predicate. It sounds a bit strange to think of it this way, but we somehow state
about yesterday that we read three books on that day. (Three books are in focus, so we also want to
say, that we read exactly three of them yesterday, not two or twenty-three.) It is very different from
the usual Subject-Object-Verb relation. The logical subject would be n the first person singular
pronoun if it hadn't been omitted from the sentence, as Hungarian is a pro-drop language, like
Spanish for instance. But even if we decide to use the pronoun, tegnap remains in the topic position,
together with n:
[Tegnap n] [HROM KNYVET olvastam el.] = 'Yesterday I read three books.'
[n tegnap] [HROM KNYVET olvastam el.] = 'Yesterday I read three books.'
2

Unless we want to emphasize that I was the one who read three books yesterday (by moving n to
the focus position, instead of hrom knyvet):
[Tegnap] [N olvastam el hrom knyvet.] = 'It is me who read three books yesterday.'
The logical object is always hrom knyvet ('three books-ACC'), but sometimes we find it before
the verb, sometimes after it. Therefore, it is much more appropriate if we think of Hungarian as a
topic-prominent language instead of characterizing it either SOV or SVO or anything else. Hrom
knyvet n olvastam el tegnap ('It is me who read three books yesterday, not someone else') would
then be OSV, right? (We have just moved hrom knyvet into the topic position; here it is called
contrastive topic).
Does it mean that Hungarian is a language whose word order is completely free? Certainly not. As
we already learnt, word order always follows this pattern: TOPIC (if there is one), FOCUS (if there
is one), MAIN VERB (if there is one), THE REST (if there are other things in the sentence). By the
way, the predicate everything else than the topic is called comment by some linguists, but it is
just a matter of convention, I would say.
We have already analyzed some sentences whose focus position was not empty. If we look at them
carefully, we can see that the verbal prefixes got divided from the verbs and they also moved after
them, like olvastam el. That is actually because of the focus position being filled in by something
else. A sentence without focus looks different:
[Tegnap] [elolvastam hrom knyvet.] = 'Yesterday I read three books' (nothing emphasized)
[Tegnap] [olvastam]. = Yesterday I read. (The verbal prefix el- cannot be used here.)
[Tegnap] [megmrtem a lzamat.] = 'Yesterday I measured my temperature.' (Lz = fever.)
Here is a sentence without focus and topic (it is a single inflected verb in the predicate):
[Meggygyultam.] = I recovered. (Meg- is a prefix; gygyul-ni = 'to heal, to recover'.)
What do we have to know about the focus position? Let's take two sentences that have the same
logical subject and the same logical object:
[Jnos] [kinyitotta az ablakot.]
Topic Predicate (no focus)
John PREFIX-opened the window-ACC
[Az ablakot]
Topic
The window-ACC

[JNOS nyitotta ki.]

Predicate (starts with focus)
John opened PREFIX

These two sentences actually mean the same, but the predicate in the second one has its focus
position filled in by Jnos. I marked the focus by capital letters in the Hungarian sentence, because
it is always emphasized. Its first syllable bears the main stress of the sentence, which means we
have to say it much louder. If the first word of the focus is an article (a, az, egy), then the first
syllable of the second word is stressed instead. When egy is not an indefinite article, but it means
the number 'one', then it gets stressed in the focus position normally. (Primary stress marked by
bold characters.)

[Az ablakot]
[EGY GYEREK nyitotta ki.] Read: ...egy GYEREK...
'The window-ACC' 'a child opened PREFIX'
It is a child, who opened the window.
[Az ablakot]
[EGY GYEREK nyitotta ki.]
'The window-ACC' 'one child opened PREFIX'

Read: ...EGY gyerek...

One child opened the window (not more)

Sentence focus (in Hungarian: mondatfkusz) is one of the most important features of this language.
Surely, you can emphasize many things in English, too, by intonation and using additional stress.
But in Hungarian the whole structure of the sentence becomes different when the focus position is
filled in. As I said above, that position is always immediately before the main verb and nothing else
can stay between the two elements. Not even a verbal prefix. Well, except for some special cases,
for example when universal quantifiers such as mindenki ('everybody') or minden gyerek ('all
children') or minden egyes gyerek ('every single child') etc. are in the focus position:
[Az ablakot] [MINDENKI kinyitotta tegnap] = 'Everybody opened the window yesterday'.
[Tegnap] [MINDENKI kinyitotta az ablakot] = 'Yesterday everybody opened the window'.
While:
[Az ablakot] [SENKI NEM nyitotta ki tegnap] = 'Nobody opened the window yesterday'.
[Tegnap] [SENKI NEM nyitotta ki az ablakot] = 'Yesterday nobody opened the window'.
Therefore, one of the rules you should learn about verbal prefixes in a sentence is as follows:
whenever the focus position is not empty, the prefix has to go after the verb.
[Jnos] [kinyitotta az ablakot] = 'John opened the window'.
The above written sentence is a simple topicpredicate relation without focus. The verbal prefix ki('out-') is in its normal position before the verb. By the way: we could actually write them
separately, like ki nyitotta, because the original form of the word kint (from which the prefix was
created in Old Hungarian) also means 'outside'. Hol van Jnos? ('Where is John?') Kint van. ('He is
outside.') Hov megy Jnos? ('Where is John going?') Kifel. ('To the outside'). Mit csinl Jnos?
(What is John doing?') Jnos ki megy. ('John is going out') okay, if we want to respect
othographical rules, then this sentence should be written this way: Jnos kimegy because ki- is a
verbal prefix here, while Jnos kifel megy is correct, even orthographically.
[Topic=Empty][JNOS nyitotta ki az ablakot] = 'It is John, who opened the window.'
This sentence is a mere predicate, since the topic position is empty. The focus position is filled in by
Jnos, so the verbal prefix goes after the verb. Of course, we can always fill in the empty topic
position, if we want. For example, with 'today'. Or we can move something from the end of the
predicate there. In that case we already know about 'the window' from previous parts of the
conversation:
[Ma] [JNOS nyitotta ki az ablakot] = 'It is John who opened the window today.'
[Az ablakot] [JNOS nyitotta ki.] = 'It is John who opened the window.'
You can also combine the two sentences, since the length of the topic is not restricted:
[Az ablakot ma] [JNOS nyitotta ki.] = It is John who opened the window today.'
4

In the following sentences I played with filling the focus position by all sorts of words. It's not a
surprize that verbal prefixes always remain after the verb. The essential meanings of the sentences
with the same word in their focus position is generally considered the same.
[Az ablakot] [MA nyitotta ki Jnos.] = 'It is today when John opened the window.'
[Jnos] [MA nyitotta ki az ablakot.] = 'It is today when John opened the window.'
[Topic=Empty] [MA nyitotta ki az ablakot Jnos.] = 'It is today when John opened the w.'
[Topic=Empty] [MA nyitotta ki Jnos az ablakot.] = 'It is today when John opened the w.'
[Jnos ma] [NEM nyitotta ki az ablakot.] = 'John didn't open the window today.'
[Az ablakot ma] [NEM nyitotta ki Jnos] = 'John didn't open the window today.'
[Jnos ma] [AZ ABLAKOT nyitotta ki.] = 'It is the window that John opened today.'
[Ma Jnos] [AZ ABLAKOT nyitotta ki.] = 'It is the window that John opened today.'
[Jnos ma] [AZ ABLAKOT nyitotta ki.] = 'It is the window that John opened today.'
[Jnos] [AZ ABLAKOT nyitotta ki ma.] = 'It is the window that John opened today.'
[Topic=Empty] [AZ ABLAKOT nyitotta ki ma Jnos.] = 'It is the w. that John opened today.'
What happens if we want to emphasize that John opened the window instead of closing it? We can
simply move the verbal prefix into the focus position. Remember: the focus position is the one
immediately before the main verb. That is the place where we always find the prefixes in a sentence
without focus:
[Jnos] [kinyitotta az ablakot] = 'John opened the window' (NO FOCUS)
[Jnos] [KINYITOTTA az ablakot.] = 'John opened the window.'
Is there a difference between these two sentences? Well, their stress is almost the same. Still, the
second one tends to sound louder at the beginning of the verb, which is actually the prefix: (-ki-). If
we move Jnos from the topic position after the verb, we won't be able to hear any difference:
[Topic=Empty] [Kinyitotta az ablakot Jnos.] = John opened the window.
[Topic=Empty] [KINYITOTTA az ablakot Jnos.] = John opened the window.
Therefore we can say that the second structure does not really exist (or it can't be distinguished from
the first one). We cannot emphasize the verb if it's at the very beginning of the predicate. But this
statement is valid only for whole sentences, not clauses. If we want to ask whether John took the
book inside or outside, we would say this in Hungarian:
[KI-] vagy [BEVITTE a knyvet Jnos?] = 'Did John take the book inside or outside?'
Which is an abbreviation of this one:
[Topic=Emp] [KIVITTE a knyvet Jnos] vagy [Topic=Emp] [BEVITTE a knyvet Jnos?]
Everybody would understand that we asked whether the book had been taken inside or outside, with
the verb bevitte clearly in the focus position (actually it's the prefix that goes there). That sentence
also shows the ability of the prefix to occupy a whole clause. There are short answers like that:
Kinyitotta az ablakot Jnos? Ki. = Did John open the window? (Yes,) he did.
Ki- vagy bevitte a knyvet Jnos? Be. = Did John take the book inside or outside? Inside.
5

If you know about the rules of focusing, you'll understand why verbal prefixes go after the verb in
WH-questions too. (WH-questions are the ones that usually start with a question word like who,
what, where, why, when, which, whose, etc. in English.) It's because such question words also tend
to occupy the focus position in Hungarian.
[Jnos] [MIRT nyitotta ki az ablakot?] = 'Why did John open the window?'
[Topic=Empty] [MIRT nyitotta ki az ablakot Jnos?] = 'Why did John open the window?'
[Topic=Empty] [KI nyitotta ki az ablakot ma?] = 'Who opened the window today?'
[Ma] [KI nyitotta ki az ablakot?] = 'Who opened the window today?'
(Note that the question word ki? 'who?' is different from the verbal prefix ki.)
We already know a lot about the behaviour of verbal prefixes, but this paper cannot be considered
complete without mentioning that imperative sentences usually start with the main verb without
prefix (if there is a prefix, then it goes after the verb):
[Nyisd ki az ablakot!] = 'Open the window!'
[Olvasd el ezt a knyvet!] = 'Read this book!'
While sentences with subjunctive forms and conditional structures behave differently:
[Azt akarom, hogy] [kinyisd az ablakot.] = 'I want you to open the window.'
[J lenne, ha] [elolvasnd ezt a knyvet.] = 'It would be good if you read this book.'
A YES-NO question (that can be answered with either yes or no) usually follows the prefix-verb
pattern too (unless something other than the prefix goes to the focus, of course):
[Topic=Empty] [Elolvasta mr Jnos a knyvet] = 'Has John already finished the book?'
[Jnos] [elolvasta mr a knyvet?] = 'Has John already finished the book?'
[A knyvet] [elolvasta mr Jnos?] = 'Has John already finished the book?'
[A knyvet] [JNOS olvasta el?] = Is it John who read the book?
[Jnos] [A KNYVET olvasta el?] = Is it the book that John read?
We have analyzed basic sentences. This framework is short and incomplete, but beginners can use it
as a rule-of-thumb that certainly works well in the majority of their sentences. Yet, native speakers
can always come up with more complicated sentences where these patterns cannot be applied.
[n] [OLVASTAM mr gy el knyvet] hogy
[olvass eltt] [megnztem a filmet.]
Top. Predicate (with focus)
Compl.* Topic
Predicate (without focus)
[I] [read-PAST already so PREFIX book] that
[reading before] [PREFIX-watched the movie.]
= I have already read books in a way that I watched the movie before reading.
Note, that this sentence means the same without the first prefix: n olvastam mr gy knyvet, hogy
olvass eltt megnztem a filmet.

* Complementizer = (in English it is usually that, in Hungarian it may be hogy).

6