Kis or kicsi: what is the difference in Hungarian?

Kis and kicsi mean the same thing, "small", but kis can only stand directly in front of a noun: egy kis ház, "a small house". Everywhere else, Hungarian needs kicsi: A ház kicsi, "The house is small". So kicsi is always safe, and kis is only correct in one position.

The rule: kis needs a noun after it

Wiktionary's usage note for kis calls it "attributive only": it describes a noun that follows it, and nothing else. If the word "small" would end up on its own, at the end of a sentence, after van, or with a suffix attached, the form is kicsi. The note gives the minimal pair:

• kis alma a small apple
• Csak kicsi van. There is only a small one.

The same note offers an English comparison that is worth remembering: kis behaves like "sick" in "sick people", and kicsi like "ill" in "they are ill". The restriction runs one way only. Kis is barred from standing alone, while kicsi is allowed before a noun as well.

That is the part learner sites tend to blur. Some describe kicsi as "the base adjective" and kis as "often used" before nouns, which makes the two sound interchangeable with a preference. They are not interchangeable: *A ház kis is simply wrong. The difference is one-directional, and that is what makes the rule easy.

Kis or kicsi: by position

Find where "small" sits in your sentence:

Two rows go against the general pattern, and both are covered below: the comparative is built on kis even when it stands alone, and compound words use kis even though it is no longer a separate word there.

The same split as két and kettő

If you have already met the two forms of "two", you know this rule. Wiktionary puts két and kis in one usage note: both "can only stand adjectively, before a noun", and kettő and kicsi are the forms used everywhere else.

The short form leans on the next word, like an unstressed prefix; when nothing follows it in the phrase, you need the long form. The numbers guide sets out the két and kettő side in full. Note one difference: kettő is "mostly" not used as a counter before nouns, while kicsi before a noun is normal. The pair is parallel in where the short form is banned, not in every detail of the long one.

Kicsi before a noun: allowed, with a different tone

Wiktionary is explicit that the longer form "may also occur adjectively, whether for emphasis or as a form of colloquialism". So all of these are correct:

• egy kis ház a small house (neutral)
• egy kicsi ház a small house (more emphatic or more casual)
• Egy kicsi, sárga ház. A small yellow house.

Since the note marks the long form before a noun as emphatic or colloquial, kis is the neutral choice there. Reach for kicsi before a noun when "small" is the point of the phrase, for example when you contrast it with a big one. If you are unsure, kis before a noun and kicsi everywhere else will never be wrong.

Nothing like this applies to the opposite word. Nagy ("big") has one form for every position: nagy ház, A ház nagy.

Endings, plural and the accusative go on kicsi

Kis takes no endings at all. Wiktionary describes it as indeclinable on its own. Any time "small" carries a suffix, the stem is kicsi:

• A gyerekek még kicsik. The children are still small.
• Kérem a kicsit. I'd like the small one.
• Ebből a kicsiből van még? Are there any more of these small ones?

The predicate plural kicsik follows the general rule that adjectives agree only when they stand after the noun (see the plural). The accusative kicsit needs a word of warning, because it is also an adverb.

Kicsit: "the small one" or "a little"?

Wiktionary records kicsit twice: as the accusative of kicsi, and as a lexicalised adverb, usually with egy, meaning "a bit, a little". The adverb covers both degree and amount:

• Egy kicsit türelmetlen vagy. You are a little impatient.
• Még van időnk, beszélgethetünk egy kicsit. We still have time, we can talk a little.

So Kérek egy kicsit can mean "I'd like a little (of it)" or "I'd like a small one", and only the situation decides. With a definite article there is no ambiguity: a kicsit is always "the small one". The adverb is the opposite of nagyon and sokat, which is where the nagyon or sok guide picks it up. Its comparative is not built on "small" at all: Wiktionary gives kevésbé, "less".

Egy kis + noun: "a little" of something

Before an uncountable noun, egy kis does not describe size. It means "a little, some", the way English "a little water" does. Wiktionary lists egy kis, egy kevés, egy kicsi and némi as Hungarian for the determiner "a little":

• Kérek egy kis vizet. I'd like a little water.
• Kell még egy kis idő. It needs a little more time.

The noun takes the case ending, not kis: egy kis vizet, never *egy kist vizet. The egy here is not the number "one" but the same egy as in English "a little"; the articles guide covers its other jobs. When the amount stands alone, without a noun, it becomes the accusative adverb from the previous section: Kérsz vizet? Egy kicsit. "Would you like some water? A little."

Smaller and smallest: kisebb, never kicsibb

The comparative and superlative are built on kis in every position, including as a predicate: kisebb, legkisebb. Wiktionary gives these as the forms of both words, and *kicsibb does not exist.

• Ez a szoba kisebb. This room is smaller.
• Ő a legkisebb a családban. She is the youngest (smallest) in the family.
• A kisebbiket kérem. I'd like the smaller one (of the two).

Kisebbik adds -ik to pick one out of a pair. This is the only place where the "kis needs a noun" rule breaks: once -bb is attached, the word is a normal adjective and can stand anywhere. The full list of irregular comparatives is in comparatives and superlatives.

Kis- in compound words

Many everyday nouns start with kis-, written as one word. Wiktionary and the Hungarian Wiktionary list, among others:

Wiktionary also records a colloquial put-down with kisfiú: Kisfiú ő ahhoz, hogy ezt megszervezze, roughly "He's not up to organising this". Compounds never take kicsi: there is no *kicsilány. Written apart, kis ház is an ordinary phrase; kis- joined to the noun makes a word with its own meaning, which is how Hungarian compounds work in general.

Other words for small: pici, apró, kicsiny, kissé

Kicsi itself also works as a noun. Wiktionary lists "baby, little child" and the endearment "darling", as well as "a small amount" in the proverb Sok kicsi sokra megy, "many small things add up". With kor it means "in childhood": kicsi koromban, "when I was little". All of these are uses kis cannot have, because each one needs the word to stand without a noun after it.

Typical learner errors

1. *A ház kis. → A ház kicsi. A predicate is never kis.
2. *Kis van. or *Kérem a kist. → Csak kicsi van. Kérem a kicsit.
3. *A szobák kisek. → A szobák kicsik.
4. *kicsibb, *legkicsibb → kisebb, legkisebb.
5. *egy kis vízet → egy kis vizet. The kis is right; the noun shortens its vowel in the accusative.
6. Translating "a little water" as egy kicsit víz. Before a noun it is egy kis víz; egy kicsit stands without a noun.
7. *kicsilány → kislány. Compounds always take kis-.

Where the rule stops applying

• The comparative. kisebb stands alone freely, so the "noun after it" test is only for the base form.
• Before a noun, it is tone, not correctness. Only the positions after the noun or with no noun are fixed.

Sources and further reading

• Wiktionary, "kis", "kicsi" and "két" (Hungarian): the usage note on attributive and predicative forms, the sick/ill comparison, comparatives and noun senses
• Wiktionary, "kicsit", "a little", "kisebbik", "kisfiú", "kislány", "apró", "pici", "kicsiny" and "kissé"
• Wikiszótár (Hungarian Wiktionary), "kis" and "kicsi": synonyms and the list of kis- compounds
• elon.io, "A ház kicsi itt", for the common learner-site description of the pair and kicsike

Frequently asked questions