Definite/Indefinite Conjugation in Hungarian

The Hungarian language has two conjugations, the definite and indefinite. This is very rare in the languages of the world. Aside from Hungarian, it is also found in Khanty and Mansi.

The definite conjugation is used with transitive verbs and definite articles, and the indefinite article is used with indefinite articles and intransitive verbs. Let us illustrate with a few sentences.

Látok egy fát. (I see a tree)
Látsz egy fát. (You see a tree)
Lát egy fát. (He/she sees a tree)
Látunk egy fát. (We see a tree)
Láttok egy fát. (You see a tree)
Látnak egy fát. (They see a tree)

Látom a fát. ( I see the tree)
Látod a fát. (You see the tree)
Látja a fát. (He/she sees the tree)
Látjuk a fát. (We see the tree)
Látjátok a fát. (You see the tree)
Látják a fát. (They see the tree)

In the Hungarian sentences, we notice that the base verb see has twelve forms. To compare, the English verb see has only two forms. The Hungarian verb is highly inflected.

The definite and indefinite conjugations are rare. They occur in Hungarian and also in Khanti and Mansi, two other Uralic languages. These languages make a distinction which few languages make.