Hungarian suffix builder
Type a noun such as ház, kert or tükör and the builder applies vowel harmony, final-vowel lengthening and -val/-vel assimilation to produce all 18 core forms, flagging anything that has to be memorised.
On this page
Hungarian nouns take case suffixes instead of prepositions, and every suffix changes shape to match the word. This builder does the matching for you and tells you why each form looks the way it does, so you learn the rule rather than just copy the answer.
How the builder decides each form
Every form in the table comes from four rules applied in a fixed order. Knowing the order lets you do the same thing in your head.
- Find the harmony class. The last vowels of the word decide whether the suffix takes its back form (-ban, -hoz), its front unrounded form (-ben, -hez) or, for three-form suffixes, its front rounded form (-höz, -ön). The neutral vowels e, é, i, í are skipped when a back vowel precedes them, which is why papír gives papírban. See vowel harmony.
- Lengthen a final a or e. Before almost every suffix, final -a becomes -á and final -e becomes -é: alma → almában, kefe → kefével. The exceptions are -ként and -kor: almaként.
- Assimilate the v of -val/-vel and -vá/-vé. After a consonant the v turns into a copy of that consonant: ház → házzal, kert → kerttel. With digraphs only the first letter doubles: busz → busszal, hegy → heggyel, kulcs → kulccsal. A word that already ends in a long consonant does not triple it: toll → tollal.
- Choose a linking vowel for -t and -k. The accusative and plural attach directly after vowels, and after many consonants the accusative does too (asztalt, lányt, buszt). Elsewhere a linking vowel appears: -ot/-et/-öt, -ok/-ek/-ök. See the accusative and the plural.
Worked examples
| Noun | Harmony | Inessive | Allative | Instrumental | What to notice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ház | back | házban | házhoz | házzal | Lowering stem: accusative házat, plural házak |
| kert | front | kertben | kerthez | kerttel | Ends in t: linking vowel in kertet |
| tükör | rounded | tükörben | tükörhöz | tükörrel | Stem shortens before vowel suffixes: tükröt, tükrök |
| alma | back | almában | almához | almával | Final a lengthens |
| híd | back | hídban | hídhoz | híddal | Only í, yet back suffixes; accusative hidat |
| sofőr | rounded | sofőrben | sofőrhöz | sofőrrel | Mixed loanword: the last vowel decides |
What the builder cannot know
Most of Hungarian noun morphology is predictable, and the builder handles that part. Three things are lexical, meaning they belong to the individual word and have to be learned with it:
- Lowering stems such as ház, fal, vaj, madár take -a- or -e- as the linking vowel: házat, falak. They cannot be recognised from spelling.
- Stem changes such as ló → lovat, bokor → bokrot, víz → vizet, pohár → poharat. See how Hungarian words are built.
- Place names, which choose between -ban and -on by convention rather than by rule: Budapesten but Debrecenben. See -ban or -on with cities.
The builder has a built-in list of very common nouns, including the irregular ones above, and uses the listed accusative and plural for them. For any other word it shows the regular pattern and warns you when a lowering stem or stem change is possible.
Sources and further reading
- Carol H. Rounds, Hungarian: An Essential Grammar (2nd ed., Routledge, 2009), chapters on noun suffixes and stems
- Péter Siptár and Miklós Törkenczy, The Phonology of Hungarian (Oxford University Press, 2000), on vowel harmony and lowering stems
- István Kenesei, Robert M. Vago and Anna Fenyvesi, Hungarian (Descriptive Grammars series, Routledge, 1998)
Frequently asked questions
Why does the builder show a warning for most consonant-final nouns?
Because whether a noun is a lowering stem (házat rather than házot) cannot be predicted from its spelling. The warning reminds you to check the accusative and plural in a dictionary for words outside the built-in list.
Does the builder handle possessive forms like házamban?
Not yet. It builds the singular case forms. Possessive suffixes come before the case suffix and are explained on the possessive suffixes page.
Can I use it for adjectives?
Yes, as long as you want the adjective used as a noun (a pirosat, "the red one"). Adjectives before a noun take no suffix in Hungarian: a piros házban.
Why is the temporal case -kor missing?
Because -kor attaches only to time expressions (háromkor, éjfélkor, karácsonykor), not to ordinary nouns. It is covered with the other minor cases.