Lesson Eight: Possession

Vocabulary
Grammar
Exercises

Page last updated December 8, 1997.

Vocabulary

túl - too
anya ('-t) - mother
apa ('-t) - father
pénz (-t) - money
feleség (-et) - wife
férj (-et) - husband
név (nevet) - name
sajnos - unfortunately
nehéz - difficult
tanár (-t) - teacher
kocsi (-t) - car (more colloquial than autó)
újság (-ot) - newspaper
térkép (-et) - map

Grammar

Part One: Possession

To express possession in Hungarian, a suffix is added to the noun. Which suffix to use depends of course on person (my book, his book, etc..) and on vowel harmony, and also on whether the noun ends in a consonant or a vowel. The following chart lists the suffixes. These suffixes ONLY apply to singular nouns.

Possessive Suffixes for Singular Nouns

Person	word ends in vowel	word ends in consonant
1st singular	-m	-om/-em/-öm
2nd singular	-d	-od/-ed/-öd
3rd singular	-ja/-je	-a/-e
1st plural	-nk	-unk/-ünk
2nd plural	-tok/-tek/-tök	-otok/-etek/-ötök
3rd plural	-juk/-jük	-uk/-ük

Notes:
-The suffixes -om, -od, -otok are in bold because certain nouns take the alternate forms -am, -ad, -atok. These are the same nouns that take the link vowel a with other suffixes.
-Some nouns ending in a consonant take ja/je in the third person. For example: barátja 'his/her friend', újságja 'his/her newspaper'
-Many nouns have irregularities such as accent dropping or adding, vowel dropping, and consonant dropping. So just notice these things. Soon there will be a glossary of all the words in the course in which the 3rd peron singular possessive suffix will be shown (this form is more often irregular). So for now just pay attention to the sentences.

Here are some nouns declined with all of the possessive suffixes:
nyelv: nyelvem, nyelved, nyelve, nyelvünk, nyelvetek, nyelvük

my language, your language, his/her language, our language, etc...

város: városom, városod, városa, városunk, városotok, városuk

autó: autóm, autód, autója, autónk, autótok, autójuk

név: (note loss of accent) nevem, neved, neve, nevünk, nevetek, nevük

ház: (note link vowel a) házam, házad, háza, házunk, házatok, házuk

étterem: (note loss of vowel) éttermem, éttermed, étterme, éttermünk, éttermetek, éttermük

Note: the irregularities in the last three examples also occur when these nouns are in the accusative: házat, nevet, éttermet. So these irregularities are consistent between varying suffixes.

Here are some sentences using the possessives. Note the use of the definite article a/az.

A férjem a házban van.
My husband is in the house.

Egy barátunkhoz megyünk
We are going to our friend's.

Mi a neve?
What is his/her name? OR What is your (polite) name?

Mikor utazik az anyád Magyarországra?
When is your mother travelling to Hungary?

The personal pronouns can be added for emphasis:
Az én könyvem új, de az o" könyve nagyon régi.
My book is new, but his book is very old.

Part Two: Expressing 'to have'

There is no verb 'to have' in Hungarian, so instead there is a construction using the possessive suffixes which serves the purpose. Basically, the possessive suffixes are used along with the word van 'there is/are'. So 'I have a book' appears 'There is my book' ('There is' in the sense of existence, not as in 'over there'). Look at the following sentences and note word order:

Van pénzem.
I have money.

Nincs pénzem.
I don't have any money.

Sajnos, nincs amerikai kocsim.
Unfortunately, I don't have an American car.

Szép nagy autód van.
You have a big, pretty car.

Van kutyájuk?
Do they have a dog?

Szép háza van.
He (or she or you polite) has a pretty house.

Péternek sok pénze van.
Peter has a lot of money.
Literally: To Peter there is a lot of (his) money.

A gyerekeknek nincs jó tanáruk.
The children don't have a good teacher.
Note: In this sentence 'tanáruk' could be replaced with 'tanára', since the plural suffix on 'gyerek' is enough to show that the possessor is plural. 'Tanára' is more common, but don't worry about this, either one is OK.

A feleségemnek új kocsija van.
My wife has a new car.

Kinek van újságja?
Who has a newspaper?

Words in parentheses are optional:

(Magának) van térképe?
Do you (polite) have a map?

(Nekik) van kocsijuk. Az (o") kocsijuk túl nagy.
They have a car. Their car is too big.
Note: o" is always used instead of o"k in a possessive structure. The suffix -juk is enough to denote the plural 'their'

Exercises

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Az o" háza túl nagy.
2. A pénzem a házban van.
3. Ma a barátomhoz akarok menni.
4. Sajnos, nincs kutyánk. A feleségem nem szereti.
5. A férjed magyar?

Translate the following into Hungarian:

6. I have a big, pretty map.
7. Peter doesn't have a car.
8. My friend lives in Hungary.
9. Where is your wife?
10. The Hungarian book is too difficult.

The following words have singular possessive suffixes. Make the suffixes plural:

Example: autóm --> autónk
11. térképed
12. újságja
13. könyvem
14. kocsija
15. éttermed

The following words have plural possessive suffixes. Make the suffixes singular:

Example: házuk --> háza
16. autótok
17. tanárunk
18. barátjuk
19. gyereketek
20. kutyánk

Click here for the answers.

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