Chapter VIII · THE PRONOUN
Reading edition
1. Personal Pronouns.
Nominative.
én, I mi, we
te, thou ti, you
ő, he or she ők, they
Dative.
nekem, to or for me nekünk, to or for us
neked, ” thee nektek, ” you
neki, ” him or her nekik, ” them
Accusative.
engem, me minket or bennünket, us
téged, thee titeket or benneteket, you
őt, him or her őket, them
The Possessive Pronoun.
(a) Where the object possessed is a single object.
enyém, mine mienk, ours
tied, thine tietek, yours
övé, his or hers övék, theirs
(b) Where more objects than one are possessed.
enyéim, mine mieink, ours
tieid, thine tieitek, yours
övéi, his or hers övéik, theirs
This pronoun is not used attributively, like the English my, thy, &c., but predicatively, like mine, thine, &c.
Ez a könyv az enyém, a másik a tied, this book is mine, the other is yours.
Ezek a könyvek az enyéim, these books are mine.
The force of the English my, thy, &c., is usually given by the personal endings, as explained in Chapter IV.: as, for instance, a kalap-om, my hat; az atyá-d, thy father. But if stress is laid on the fact that an object is mine, thine, &c., then the simple pronoun én, te, &c., is placed before the substantive, which takes in addition the personal endings.
Ez az én kalap-om, this is my hat.
A magasabbik az én ház-am, a kisebbik az övé, the taller is my house, the smaller is his.
As there is no verb “to have” in Hungarian, the word van (vannak, &c.) is often used with nekem, neked, &c., to express possession (see page 11), the object possessed taking the personal endings.
Nekem van toll-am, I have a pen.
Neked van kert-ed, thou hast a garden.
2. Reflexive Pronouns.
magam, myself magunk, ourselves
magad, thyself magatok, yourselves
maga, himself or herself maguk, themselves
These pronouns are inflected like substantives. They are sometimes used as equivalent to my own, thy own, &c., as, magam könyve, my own book; magad könyve, thy own book, &c. The object possessed, in such cases, always takes the third person singular personal ending, because magam könyve, magad könyve, &c., strictly means my self’s book, thy self’s book, &c.
The reflexive pronouns may take the possessive suffix -é; as, a magam-é, mine.
Sometimes these pronouns are used to express solitude; as, magam vagyok, I am alone.
Egymás is a Reciprocal Pronoun = one another, each other.
Szeretik egymást, they like one another.
Levelet irtak egymásnak, they wrote a letter to one another.
The Use of the Second Person.
In Hungarian, when speaking to one or more persons, the second person is only used among members of the same family or by intimate friends, or else in poetry.
In addressing strangers, instead of te, neked, &c., one must use ön or maga, maga being rather less formal than ön.
Nominative. Dative. Accusative.
Sing.: ön önnek önt
Plural: önök önöknek önöket
Sing.: maga magának magát
Plural: maguk maguknak magukat
These are all in the third person, and take the verb in the third person, e.g. ön elmegy, you are going away.
Similarly the words nagyságod, sir or madam; nagysád, madam; méltóságod, nagyméltóságod, your excellency, while formally in the second person, always takes the verb in the third person, e.g. nagyméltóságod tudja, your excellency knows.
kegyed (kegyetek, &c.) resembles ön, but is becoming old-fashioned.
3. Relative Pronouns.
ki, aki, who (only for persons).
mely, amely, which (for things determinate).
mi, ami, which (for things indeterminate, and when the pronoun relates to an abstract idea or a preceding phrase).
These pronouns are inflected like substantives.
4. Interrogative Pronouns.
ki? kicsoda? who?
mi? micsoda? what? (for things).
melyik? which? (for persons or things).
milyen? minő? milyféle? what kind?
5. Demonstrative Pronouns.
ez, this az,[6] that
emez, this amaz, that
ugyanez, this same ugyanaz, that same
ezen, this azon, that
ugyanezen, this same ugyanazon, that same
ily, ilyen, such as this oly, olyan, such as that
emily, emilyen, ” ” amoly, amolyan, ” ”
emez, amaz, ezen, azon, ugyanezen and ugyanazon, are rarely used.
ezen, azon, stand before the substantive without the article, while ez and az are always followed by the article. Also, while ez and az are inflected like substantives, ezen and azon are incapable of inflection.
Before suffixes beginning with a consonant, ez and az change their final z into the first letter of such suffix; thus—
instead of az-nak we have annak.
” az-ba ” abba.
” az-ra ” arra, &c.
The suffixes -val, -vel, -vá, -vé, usually change their v into a letter like the final consonant of the word to which they are joined. When, however, they are combined with ez, az, either the v may change to z, or the z of the demonstrative to v. It is equally correct to write ezzel or evvel, azzal or avval.
These demonstratives may be used both as pronouns and as adjectives.
6. Definite Pronouns.
mindenki, everybody egyik, one (of more)
senki, nobody másik, the other
kiki, each one semmi, nothing
mindenik, all (of persons) mind, all (of persons or things)
mindnyájan, all ” minden, all ” ”
7. Indefinite Pronouns.
valaki, somebody akármi, anything
valami, something némelyik, some
akárki, anyone valamelyik, one (of them)
Exercise VIII.
Ti már egészségesek vagytok, de ők még betegek. Csak neked mondom meg a titkot. Holnap délután várlak. Téged is kértelek, Ferenczet is. A tietek ez a kocsi? Nem a mienk, hanem barátunké. A réten sok tehén van, az enyéim mind fehérek, az övéik mind feketék. Árpád, aki Magyarországot elfoglalta, nagy hős volt. A könyvtár amelyben dolgozom, csendes. Géza és Béla ismerik egymást. Szerencsét kivánok önnek.
This book is not mine but yours. My garden is not so pretty as theirs. I have a pretty garden. Ilona and her mother often write letters to each other. Everybody likes Ilona. Tell me what (ami) is true.
már, already
egészséges, healthy, well
még, still
beteg, ill
mondani, to tell
titok, a secret
holnap, to-morrow
délután, afternoon
várlak, I wait for thee
kértelek, I asked thee
is, also
kocsi, coach
hanem, but
rét, meadow
fekete, black
Magyarország, Hungary
elfoglalni, to occupy, to take
hős, hero
dolgozni, to work
csendes, quiet, still
ismerni, to know
szerencse, good luck
kivánni, to wish