Adjectives with Case-Marked Complements: Contrasts and Learner Traps

The hardest adjective complements are not the rare ones but the near-neighbors. English “of” appears in both “proud of” and “afraid of,” yet Hungarian requires büszke valamire and verbal fél valamitől. “Similar to” is hasonló valamihez, while “identical to” is azonos valamivel. The predicate, not its English preposition, selects the case.

This page turns those differences into decisions. Review the inventory on the forms page and meaning-based examples on the usage page. Unless marked otherwise, examples are neutral modern standard Hungarian.

Pride is directed; satisfaction is relational

Büszke valamire uses sublative -ra/-re for the target of pride. Elégedett valamivel uses instrumental -val/-vel for the situation or result judged satisfactory.

The sentences can describe the same work, but the evaluations differ. Pride connects the work to achievement or identity; satisfaction says it meets expectations. Munkámra ends in the selected sublative; munkámmal contains instrumental assimilation and long mm.

With people, the cases remain:

English speakers often reuse one preposition-driven form for both. Hungarian requires the lexical frames even when English happens to translate both with “with.”

Fear is verbal; a frightened state is adjectival

Fél valamitől conjugates as a verb. Ijedt is an adjective meaning “frightened,” and first or second person therefore requires a copula.

Do not say fél vagyok. Plural exposes the class difference: A gyerekek félnek has verbal -nek, while A gyerekek ijedtek has plural adjectival -ek and a zero present copula.

Another look-alike is félt “fear for; be concerned about,” a transitive verb:

Fél locates the feared stimulus in the ablative. Félt valakit places the protected/worried-about person in the accusative. The long vowel é belongs in both verbs, while the final t distinguishes félt.

Similar, identical, and different

Comparison predicates divide the standard and relation differently:

Hasonló and azonos are adjectives; különbözik is a verb. In the plural, say A tervek hasonlók/azonosak, but A tervek különböznek. An ending that looks like plural agreement must match the predicate's word class.

The verb hasonlít traditionally selects the same allative standard as adjective hasonló:

For “more similar,” jobban hasonlít is often more idiomatic than mechanically building an English-style “more + adjective.” Hasonlóbb is possible when a graded adjectival comparison is genuinely intended. With the verb, sublative -ra/-re is also fully established in contemporary speech; the adjective hasonló continues to require allative -hoz/-hez/-höz.

Three cases with jó

The broad adjective jó changes relational meaning with its complement.

Inessive matematikában gives the domain of proficiency. Sublative gyakorlásra gives a purpose or use. Dative nekem gives the person for whom something is beneficial, suitable, or acceptable. These are not optional stylistic variants.

Jó valamivel can introduce an instrument or accompanying feature in another construction, but it is not the default for English “good with” a subject: “good with children” is naturally jól bánik a gyerekekkel “handles/treats children well,” not a blindly formed jó gyerekekkel.

Personal complements: fused form, not suffixed nominative

Personal pronouns use fused case paradigms: büszke rám, fél tőlem, hasonló hozzám, elégedett velem. The nominatives én, te, ő do not accept these endings mechanically.

This sentence contains two different comparison frames. Conversational hasonlít valakire yields sublative rám, while the comparative standard nálam belongs to the adessive pronoun series.

With the verb, traditional and formal/literary usage often prefers hasonlít valakihez, so hasonlít hozzám is also standard. Modern speech widely uses hasonlít valakire. The adjective is stricter: learn hasonló valakihez. The case-pronoun contrast page explains rám/hozzám/nálam as separate fused paradigms.

Noun complement, infinitive, or clause

Képes valamire and alkalmas valamire take a sublative noun. Képes megtenni valamit takes an infinitive. A finite clause often appears with a case-marked demonstrative correlate.

The first evaluates suitability for a nominalized activity; the second attributes an ability expressed by an infinitive. Alkalmas működni is avoided in careful standard usage; use alkalmas a működésre or recast the sentence.

The fronted correlates abban and attól preserve the selected case and receive focus. The clauses provide their content.

Complement focus and neutral order

Hungarian word order distinguishes an afterthought or neutral complement from contrastive focus.

In the second sentence, the focused complement stands immediately before vagyok. The case does not change, but the focus corrects which result is evaluated. With third-person zero copula, word order still marks contrast even though no verb is pronounced.

Register-sensitive alternatives

Everyday dative experiencers are compact: Ez nekem fontos. Számomra “for me” is neutral in careful writing and can sound more formal or detached in conversation.

The second fits formal institutional language. Replacing every dative with számára does not make a sentence more correct; it changes register and often adds distance.

Decision tree

1. Identify the Hungarian predicate and its word class: adjective büszke/hasonló, verb fél/hasonlít/különbözik.
2. Retrieve its lexical frame rather than translating the English preposition.
3. If the predicate has several frames, identify the role: domain, purpose, experiencer, target, standard, or source.
4. For a personal complement, select the fused case pronoun: rám, tőlem, hozzám, velem, bennem.
5. For an infinitive or hogy clause, check whether the predicate allows it and whether a case-marked correlate is needed.
6. Mark predicate adjective plurality from the subject; never from the complement.
7. Move the complement immediately before the finite verb only when it is contrastive focus.

Diagnostic exercise

1. “proud of the team” → büszke a csapatra: sublative target.
2. “satisfied with the team” → elégedett a csapattal: instrumental relation.
3. “similar to me” with adjective → hasonló hozzám; with the verb “resembles” → contemporary conversational hasonlít rám, traditional/formal hasonlít hozzám.
4. “good at chess” → jó sakkban: inessive domain.
5. “good for the trip” → jó az útra: sublative purpose.
6. “the plans are different from ours” → A tervek különböznek a mieinktől: verbal plural and ablative standard.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• English prepositions do not predict Hungarian complement cases; the Hungarian predicate selects its frame.
• Distinguish adjective and verb pairs: hasonló valamihez–hasonlít valamihez/valamire, ijedt–fél valamitől.
• Different cases with jó distinguish proficiency, purpose, and experiencer.
• Personal complements use fused forms such as rám, tőlem, hozzám, velem.
• Case remains stable under focus movement; adjective agreement follows the subject, not the complement.