Relative Clauses: Broaden your sentence-building capabilities

Introduction to Relative Clauses

Relative clauses are essential for expanding your sentence-building capabilities in Hungarian. These clauses allow you to provide additional information about a noun or pronoun within a sentence. By using relative clauses, you can make your sentences more descriptive and add important details.

In Hungarian, relative clauses are introduced by relative pronouns or relative adverbs. These words not only connect the clauses but also refer back to a noun or pronoun in the main clause.

Relative Pronouns and Adverbs

To form a relative clause, you'll need to know the appropriate relative pronouns and adverbs in Hungarian. Here are the most commonly used ones:

Relative Pronouns:

• aki (who, that) - refers to people
• ami (which, that) - refers to things
• amely (which, that) - emphasizes the importance of the information
• amit (which, that) - refers to things that are the object of the main clause
• akinek (whose) - indicates possession of people
• aminél (where, when) - specifies a location or time
• ahol (where) - specifies a location

Relative Adverbs:

• amikor (when) - indicates time
• ahol (where) - specifies location
• ahogy (as) - specifies the manner

Forming Relative Clauses

To form a relative clause, follow these steps:

1. Identify the noun or pronoun to which the relative clause will refer.
2. Introduce the relative clause with the appropriate relative pronoun or adverb.
3. Conjugate the verb in the relative clause to match the subject of the relative clause.
4. Place the verb at the end of the relative clause.

Examples:

Let's look at some examples to understand the formation of relative clauses in Hungarian:

1. A lánynak van egy macskája, amit mindenki imád. - The girl has a cat that everyone loves.

In this example, the relative pronoun amit refers back to the noun macskája (cat) in the main clause. The verb imád (loves) is conjugated to match the subject mindenki (everyone) in the relative clause.

1. Az ember, aki az újságot olvas, okosnak tűnik. - The person who reads the newspaper seems intelligent.

In this example, the relative pronoun aki refers back to the noun ember (person) in the main clause. The verb tűnik (seems) is conjugated to match the subject az újságot olvas (reads the newspaper) in the relative clause.

Tips for Using Relative Clauses

• Keep the relative clause as close as possible to the noun or pronoun it refers to. This makes the sentence more cohesive and easier to understand.
• Remember to conjugate the verb in the relative clause to match the subject of that clause.
• Practice using relative pronouns and adverbs in different contexts to become more comfortable with their usage.

With the use of relative clauses, you can enhance your sentence-building capabilities in Hungarian and provide additional details and descriptions. Keep practicing and incorporating relative clauses into your speech and writing to become more fluent in Hungarian.