Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Hungarian Pluralization Rules

Hungarian nouns form the plural with the suffix -k. However, a linking vowel is needed with nouns which end with a consonant. This creates many plural forms.

The word autó means car. The plural is autók. However, with the word ház (house), a linking vowel is needed. The word for houses is házak. The plural of könyv (book) is könyvek. The linking vowel is conditioned by the final vowel of the root. Front vowels follow front vowels and back vowels follow back vowels. If the final vowel of the root is a neutral vowel, the linking vowel can be a front vowel or back vowel.

The accusative suffix is placed after the plural suffix. For example, I don't see the children is Nem látom a gyerekeket. The accusative suffix is -t, but in the word gyerekeket it is preceded by a linking vowel.

With numbers and quantitatives such as many, the plural is not used. The phrase két macska means two cats. The plural is not used because it is clear that the phrase is in the plural form. The phrase many cats is sok macska. The plural of macska (cat) is macskák, but in the examples it is not used.

The plural is not used with indefinite nouns, either. They are nouns which are not preceded by an article. For example, the sentence I love books is Szeretek könyvet. The accusative suffix is used, but the noun is not pluralized because the number is not specified. If the noun were preceded by a definite article, the plural would be used. The sentence I love the books is Szeretem a könyveket. The verb has a different form because the definite conjugation is required. In the sentence I love books, the indefinite conjugation is used.

The rules of Hungarian pluralization require a linking vowel for roots which end with a consonant. The plural suffix is always added before the accusative suffix. With number, the plural form of the noun is not used. 

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