irregular verbs

Discussion in 'Magyar (Hungarian)' started by DrWatson, Sep 7, 2007.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. DrWatson

    DrWatson Senior Member


    I just began to learn Hungarian some a month ago, so I'm a beginner here.

    I was informed by Wikipedia that there are 12 irregular verbs in Hungarian. With some detective work I managed to add the verbs van, jön, megy, vesz, tesz, eszik, iszik and alszik on the list. That leaves me four slots empty. I tried to google to find out the rest, but there just doesn't seem to be any lists of irregular verbs out there. Could someone who has more knowledge of this supply me with the rest?

    Thanks in advance!
  2. ronanpoirier

    ronanpoirier Senior Member

    Porto Alegre
    Brazil - Portuguese
    - Hinni (to believe)

    3 to go!

    The funny part of everything is that only lenni, menni and jönni are really irregular. The other ones, although theyu don't follow the regular conjugation, they have a rule to follow. :)
  3. DrWatson

    DrWatson Senior Member

    Nice to see some regularity inside irregularity :)

    I managed to find another one, visz. So the sum up until now is:
    van, jön, megy, vesz, tesz, hisz, visz, eszik, iszik, alszik. Two more.
  4. ronanpoirier

    ronanpoirier Senior Member

    Porto Alegre
    Brazil - Portuguese
    I guess "Tűnni" is also one of those verbs. :)
  5. Zsanna

    Zsanna ModErrata

    Hungarian - Hungary
    It is an old thread but it is an important issue for language learners.

    I don't really know why this "irregular verbs"-category was invented when there can be so many little problems with verb conjugation in Hungarian, the one this group has seems to me just one out of the many.
    However, it is true that it sounds encouraging when a language teacher says: there are only 7 irregular verbs in Hungarian! And even they are "irregular" they behave (e.g. when conjugated) the same way. (I know, I said that, too.;))
    They are: lesz, tesz, vesz, eszik, iszik, visz, hisz

    Their same behaviour means:
    - the sz appears only when they are conjugated in the present (N.B. leszek has a future meaning but the conjugation is grammatically in a present form)
    - the v ~ in the present participle (e.g. tevő, ivó) and in the 3rd Pers. Sing./Subjective Conj./Past of eszik and iszik (evett, ivott)
    - for the rest, the root of the verb is without the "sz"/"szik", ending in e or i (so: le-, te-, e-, i-, vi-, hi-) receiving e.g. the "tt+conjugational suffixes" when in the past (te+tt+em, i+tt+am, etc.)
    -- the root's "e" (N.B. not the "i"!) can become long before some verbal suffixes of the imperative and when a verb is used adverbially (e.g. tégy - but tegyél/tegyetek and téve - but tevén/tévén)
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page