Szokott: how do you say "usually" and "used to" in Hungarian?

To say you usually do something, put szokott next to the infinitive of the verb: Minden reggel kávézni szoktam, "I usually have coffee every morning". The form looks like a past tense, but the meaning is present. For a habit you no longer have, English "used to", use the ordinary past with régen, "in the old days". Régen minden pénteken moziba jártunk, "We used to go to the cinema every Friday". And "get used to" is a different verb again: hozzászokik.

Szokott and szokik, defined

Both words come from one verb, szokik. Wiktionary gives it two senses, and they behave so differently that it helps to treat them as two words.

Lexical szokik means "get used to". Lexical means it is an ordinary verb with its own meaning. Wiktionary's first sense is "to get used to something (-hoz/-hez/-höz), to get accustomed to". The elon.io verb reference notes that bare present szokik is "much less frequent" than prefixed forms such as hozzászokik.

Habitual szokott means "usually does". A habitual form describes something done regularly, as a routine. Here szokott works as an auxiliary: a helper verb that carries the person ending while another verb, in the infinitive, carries the meaning. The infinitive is the -ni form, such as főzni, "to cook". Wiktionary's examples are A leveleket reggel szoktam elolvasni, "I generally read the mail in the morning", and Nem szokott főzni, "She doesn't usually cook".

The odd part is the tense. Szoktam, szokott and the rest are past-tense endings, the same ones as vártam or várt. Yet elon.io says that "in current standard Hungarian it normally has present habitual meaning", and calls this "a real irregularity". Wiktionary adds that this sense "uses only past tense forms". So Hétfőnként úszni szoktam means "I usually swim on Mondays", now, not "I used to swim".

One week, five sentences

Take a learner describing their week to a Hungarian friend. Suppose they need five English verbs: "usually", "don't usually", "used to", "got used to" and "gave up". Here is how each is built, using elon.io's sentences.

1. "I usually have coffee every morning." A current routine, so szokott + infinitive: Minden reggel kávézni szoktam a kollégáimmal, "with my colleagues". Not *szokok: the habit takes the past-looking form.
2. The friend asks, "Do you usually check your messages before bed?" Meg szoktad nézni az üzeneteidet lefekvés előtt? The messages are definite, so szoktad, not szoktál, and the prefix meg- has moved in front. The answer "no" puts it back on the infinitive: Nem szoktam megnézni.
3. "We used to go to the cinema every Friday." The habit is over, so szokott is the wrong tool. Use the plain past with régen: Régen minden pénteken moziba jártunk, de már ritkán van rá időnk, "but now we rarely have time for it".
4. "I've got used to the cold." This is lexical "get used to": Hozzászoktam a hideghez, with -hoz/-hez/-höz. Here the past is a real past: the adjusting has happened.
5. "I gave up energy drinks in the summer." Another prefixed szokik, with its own case: A nyáron leszoktam az energiaitalokról, with -ról/-ről.

Five English verbs, three Hungarian tools. "Usually" is szokott + infinitive. "Used to" is the past with régen. "Get used to" and "give up" are prefixed szokik verbs, each with a fixed case.

The habitual paradigm: szoktam, szoktál, szokott

Like every Hungarian verb, szokott has an indefinite and a definite set of endings. Both are the regular past tense of szokik. The table follows elon.io's past paradigm.

One popular table, on hungarianreference.com, prints the indefinite "you plural" form as szokatok. That is a slip. The past ending keeps the -t-: szoktatok, as elon.io gives it, just as vártatok keeps it.

The infinitive never changes; only szokott takes the person: Vasárnaponként együtt szoktunk ebédelni a nagyszüleimmel, "On Sundays we usually have lunch with my grandparents" (elon.io). When "I" usually does something to informal "you", the ending is -lak: Mindig itt szoktalak várni, "I always wait for you here" (see -lak/-lek). And there is no habitual command. elon.io says the imperative belongs to lexical "get used to" and "is not used to command someone to 'usually' do something". Its example is lexical: Ne szokj rá arra, hogy..., "Don't get into the habit of...".

Szoktál or szoktad: the infinitive's object decides

Szokott has no object of its own. The choice between the two columns comes from the object of the infinitive. If that object is definite (with "the", "this", a possessive or a name), use the definite form. The rule itself is on the definite and indefinite conjugation page. elon.io's pair shows it:

• Szoktál zenét hallgatni munka közben? Do you usually listen to music while working? (zenét is "some music": indefinite)
• Meg szoktad nézni az üzeneteidet lefekvés előtt? Do you usually check your messages before bed? (az üzeneteidet is "your messages": definite)

In the "I" form the two columns look the same, szoktam. elon.io notes that "the grammatical contrast has not disappeared". It shows again when the person changes. Indulás előtt meg szoktuk nézni a forgalmi híreket, "We usually check the traffic reports before setting off", has definite szoktuk.

Meg szoktam nézni: where the prefix goes

Many verbs carry a verbal prefix such as meg-, el- or be-. With szokott, the prefix belongs to the infinitive but often stands in front of szokott. elon.io gives three positions:

• Neutral sentence: the prefix climbs in front. Meg szoktam nézni, "I usually check it".
• Negation: nem takes the slot and the prefix stays on the infinitive. Hétvégén nem szoktam bekapcsolni a munkahelyi telefonomat, "I don't usually switch on my work phone at weekends".
• Focus: a stressed word placed just before the verb also takes the slot. REGGEL szoktam megnézni, "It's in the morning that I usually check it".

This is the same pattern as akar, fog and tud, set out on the infinitive page.

"Used to": régen + past, and the older szokott volt

English "used to" means a past habit that has stopped. Wiktionary's usage note is blunt: Hungarian "lacks a direct equivalent" of it. elon.io gives the everyday choice: "current neutral Hungarian commonly uses a past verb with an adverb such as régen or korábban".

• Régen mindenhová gyalog jártam. I used to walk everywhere.
• Régen minden pénteken moziba jártunk, de már ritkán van rá időnk. We used to go to the cinema every Friday, but now we rarely have time for it.

Both examples use jár, the verb for regular going and attending, rather than megy (see megy or jár).

The older form is szokott volt + infinitive: the past of szokik plus an unchanging volt. Wiktionary labels it "dated" and glosses it "used to, to do formerly, and habitually or repeatedly, but no longer". Its example begins Férjemnek is azt szoktam volt mondani..., "I used to tell my husband too...". The note adds that it "appears in certain dialects". elon.io calls it regional or literary for many speakers and says it "should not be taught as the everyday default". Recognise it in books. Do not build your own.

hungarianreference.com gives a third version, régen szokott menni a moziba, for "he used to go to the cinema". Neither Wiktionary nor elon.io offers that pattern, and Wiktionary says the regular past of szokik "refers to the present". For a habit you have stopped, use the plain past with régen, the form both back.

Usually, used to, get used to, be used to

English builds four meanings out of "used". Each row below restates a ruling made on this page, with its source.

The last row needs a word. English "I'm used to it" is a state; elon.io's example reports the finished change instead: Már hozzászoktam, "I have already got used to". The state form is hozzá van szokva, with the participle szokva (elon.io). Wiktionary draws a fine line inside it. Nem vagyok a korai keléshez szokva means early rising is simply not your habit. Nem vagyok a korai keléshez hozzászokva means you have tried and still find it hard.

Five szokik verbs and their cases

Lexical szokik lives in its prefixed forms. Each one fixes a case on the thing you are getting used to, taking up or giving up. Learn the verb and the case together. elon.io puts it the same way: "Memorize the case with the prefix."

The cases match the prefixes: rá- "onto" and le- "off" take surface cases, hozzá- a proximity case. Wiktionary gives leszokik as "to give up, quit, stop (some habit)" and names rászokik as its opposite. So the frame for quitting smoking is leszokik a dohányzásról, and for taking it up rászokik a dohányzásra.

Two of the five both translate as "get used to". elon.io separates them: hozzászokik "presents adaptation toward a condition", while megszokik "presents the thing as successfully becoming familiar". Megszokik takes an object, so a definite object makes the verb definite: megszokják az új napirendet, megszokta a meleget. Wiktionary lists fourteen prefixed forms; these five are the ones elon.io calls productive.

In the present, szokik is an -ik verb: careful usage favours hozzászokom, with -szokok "also widespread" (elon.io). That choice exists only for the lexical verb. "I usually" is always szoktam.

Szokott, szokásos, megszokott: "usual"

Szokott is also the past participle of szokik, and Wiktionary lists it as an adjective: "usual, habitual, customary". It stands before a noun like any adjective: a szokott helyen, "at the usual place".

Wiktionary gives three synonyms. Szokásos is szokás, "habit, custom", plus the adjective suffix -os: "habitual, usual". Megszokott is the participle of megszokik, also glossed "usual". Szokványos is the third. The entries do not rank them, so this page does not either. The opposite, szokatlan, "unusual", is among the derived terms of szokik.

Four mistakes learners make

All four are on elon.io's list of common mistakes.

1. *Minden reggel kávézni szokok. The habit takes the past-looking form: Minden reggel kávézni szoktam.
2. *Hozzászoktam a hideget. Hozzászokik needs -hoz/-hez/-höz: Hozzászoktam a hideghez. Or switch verbs: Megszoktam a hideget.
3. *Megszoktam ellenőrizni a naptáramat. One word means "I got used to". For "I usually check", write three: Meg szoktam nézni a naptáramat.
4. *Leszokott a késő esti nassolást. Leszokik needs -ról/-ről: Leszokott a késő esti nassolásról, "She gave up late-night snacking".

What this page does not settle

This page covers the standard written and spoken language as the sources describe it. Where szokott volt is still used in speech, and by whom, the sources say only "certain dialects" and "regional", so no region is named here. Frequency adverbs such as általában and rendszerint can also express "usually", but no fetched source compares them with szokott, so this page does not rank them. Repeated action marked on the verb itself, the -gat/-get suffix, is a separate pattern and is not covered. Nor are the nine rarer prefixed verbs Wiktionary lists.

Sources and further reading

• elon.io Hungarian verb reference, "szokik / szokott: Complete Conjugation and Usage": habitual against lexical, paradigms, definiteness, word order, past habits, the five prefix frames and the mistakes list
• Wiktionary, "szokik": the two senses, "only past tense forms" for the habitual, the "used to" usage note and the list of prefixed verbs
• Wiktionary, "szokott": verb, participle and adjective senses, Nem szokott főzni, synonyms megszokott, szokásos, szokványos
• Wiktionary, "szokott volt": the dated past habitual, its example and dialect note
• Wiktionary, "hozzászokik" and "leszokik": case frames, the szokva against hozzászokva note, rászokik as the opposite of leszokik
• Wiktionary, "szokásos" and "megszokott": the "usual" adjectives
• HungarianReference.com, "Usually and used-to": the two-verb construction and the indefinite and definite tables (with the szokatok slip corrected above)

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