Advanced Prepositional Usage

In Hungarian, prepositions play an important role in indicating relationships between different elements in a sentence. By expanding your repertoire of prepositional phrases, you can add nuance and complexity to your sentence construction. In this guide, we will explore some advanced prepositional usage in Hungarian.

1. Multiple Prepositions

Hungarian allows for the combination of multiple prepositions to express complex relationships. Here are some examples:

• felé: indicates direction towards someone/something
  • Péter fél három felé megy. (Peter is going towards half past two.)
• hozza: indicates bringing something/someone to a certain location
  • Viszel valamit a főnöknek? Hozd el hozzám! (Are you taking something to the boss? Bring it to me!)
• felől: indicates the perspective or opinion of someone
  • Mit gondolsz erről a filmről? Mit szólhatsz felőle? (What do you think about this movie? What can you say about it?)
• szerint: indicates someone's opinion or belief
  • Az orvos szerint diétára van szükségem. (According to the doctor, I need to be on a diet.)

2. Preposition + Postposition

In Hungarian, it is common to use a preposition followed by a postposition to express specific relationships. Here are a few examples:

• a végén: at the end of
  • Ki fogja fizetni a számlát a vacsora végén? (Who will pay the bill at the end of the dinner?)
• a közepén: in the middle of
  • A gyermekek játszanak a park közepén. (The children are playing in the middle of the park.)
• a közelében: in the vicinity of
  • Van egy parkoló a bevásárlóközpont közelében. (There is a parking lot near the shopping center.)

3. Prepositional Phrases as Adverbs

Hungarian allows for the use of prepositional phrases as adverbs to provide additional information about actions or situations. Here are a few examples:

• egy perc alatt: in a minute
  • Ígérem, megcsinálom egy perc alatt! (I promise, I will do it in a minute!)
• lassan, fokozatosan: slowly, gradually
  • Az élet változik lassan, fokozatosan. (Life changes slowly, gradually.)

4. Prepositional Prefixes

In Hungarian, there are several words that are formed by combining a preposition with a verb. These prepositional prefixes change the meaning of the verb. Here are a few examples:

• el-: indicates separation or completion
  • leír (to write) vs. leír (to describe, literally "write down")
• ki-: indicates outward movement or completion
  • húz (to pull) vs. kihúz (to pull out, literally "pull out of")
• meg-: indicates completion or intensification
  • mos (to wash) vs. megmos (to wash thoroughly, literally "wash completely")

5. Prepositions with Cases

Certain prepositions in Hungarian require specific cases, adding further complexity to their usage. Here are some examples:

• felett: above, over (requires the accusative case)
  • Az ég alatt repülőgépek vannak. (There are airplanes flying above the sky.)
• mellett: next to, beside (requires the accusative case)
  • A folyó mellett sétálunk. (We are walking next to the river.)
• körül: around (requires the accusative case)
  • A kutyák körül játszanak a parkban. (The dogs are playing around in the park.)

Remember to pay attention to the cases that prepositions require, as they can significantly change the meaning of a sentence.

By mastering advanced prepositional usage, you can enhance your ability to express more nuanced ideas in Hungarian. Keep practicing and expanding your knowledge to become more confident in your understanding and usage of prepositions.