Adjectives with Case-Marked Complements: Forms and Core Pattern

Many Hungarian adjectives select a particular case for the person or thing completing their meaning. One is büszke valamire “proud of something,” another hasonló valamihez “similar to something.” English prepositions cannot predict these endings: Hungarian treats the adjective and its complement case as one lexical frame.

The verb fél valamitől “be afraid of something” belongs in the same practical problem even though fél is morphologically a verb, not an adjective. This page establishes the forms; the usage page organizes their meanings, and the contrast page resolves close choices. Unless labeled otherwise, examples are neutral modern standard Hungarian.

Learn an adjective together with its case

There is no single Hungarian case meaning “of” or “to” after every adjective. Each predicate establishes its own relational frame.

The case ending attaches to the complement noun phrase, not to the adjective. In a lányomra, possession comes before sublative -ra. In kutyáktól, plural precedes ablative -tól.

When the complement is unspoken

A selected case is required when the complement is expressed, but the whole complement can be omitted when its referent is already clear. This does not turn the adjective into a different construction. It means that Hungarian, like English, allows a predictable argument to remain implicit.

The first speaker makes the target explicit with rám. The second leaves it unspoken because the conversation supplies it. If another target is named, the adjective's original case returns: mérges a főnökére “angry with their boss.”

This complementless exclamation is natural in informal conversation when everyone knows what achievement prompted it. It does not license a bare noun in büszke a lányod. Once the daughter is overtly expressed as the object of pride, Hungarian requires büszke a lányodra. English speakers should therefore distinguish omission of a recoverable phrase from omission of its case ending.

Harmony and the shape of the noun

The selected case stays constant, but its vowel-harmonic allomorph changes with the complement: munkára–eredményre, vihartól–esőtől, baráthoz–testvérhez–főnökhöz.

Instrumental -val/-vel assimilates to a preceding consonant: rendszer + vel → rendszerrel. Demonstrative ez also assimilates before sublative: ez + re → erre. These are ordinary case-form rules inside a lexically selected frame.

The complement may already contain plural, possession, or derivation:

Eredmény-ei-k-re contains the noun, plural possessed material, third-person plural possessor marking, and finally the sublative required by büszke. The adjective's case choice governs the outermost ending.

Personal complements use fused case paradigms

When the complement is a personal pronoun, Hungarian normally uses a fused relational form rather than adding the suffix to nominative én, te, ő.

The sentence includes neutral rád, complement of büszke, and versenytől, complement of verbal félsz “you are afraid.” Do not invent forms such as tere by attaching a case ending directly to te. Hungarian does also have reinforced forms such as énrám, terád; éntőlem, tetőled; énhozzám, tehozzád. These emphatically identify the person: Fél tetőled is grammatical when “you” is contrasted, while neutral discourse normally uses Fél tőled.

Other common fused forms include elégedett velem “satisfied with me” and biztos benne “sure of it.” The local pronoun forms page gives their full paradigms.

Adjective agreement is independent of complement case

The complement does not control the adjective's number. The adjective agrees only when it is predicative with a plural subject; it stays unchanged before a noun.

Predicate büszkék has plural -k because a szülők is plural. Attributive büszke remains invariant before szülők, even though its complement precedes it. This is the same agreement split described on the adjective-agreement forms page.

Present third-person adjectival predicates have a zero copula: A szülő büszke and A szülők büszkék. First person requires vagyok/vagyunk, as in büszke vagyok.

Fél is a verb, despite English “be afraid”

Hungarian fél conjugates as a verb: félek, félsz, fél, félünk, féltek, félnek. Its ablative complement behaves lexically like the selected complements above, but the predicate never takes adjective plural -k.

Compare adjectival ijedt “frightened,” which requires a copula with first person: ijedt vagyok. English makes both look like “be + adjective,” so identifying Hungarian word class prevents errors such as fél vagyok.

Infinitives and clauses as complements

Some adjectives alternate between a case-marked noun and an infinitive. Képes valamire means capable of something; képes megoldani valamit uses an infinitive.

A finite hogy clause often has a demonstrative correlate carrying the selected case: büszke arra, hogy..., fél attól, hogy..., biztos abban, hogy....

Benne is a fused inessive pronoun referring forward to the clause. Such correlates may sometimes be omitted in conversation, but they make the adjective's case frame explicit and are especially useful in careful writing.

Segmentation exercise

1. lányomra → lány-om-ra: daughter + my + sublative selected by büszke.
2. kutyáktól → kutya-k-tól: dog + plural + ablative selected by fél.
3. eredménnyel → eredmény-vel → eredménnyel: result + instrumental, with v assimilation to ny.
4. tervhez → terv-hez: plan + front unrounded allative selected by hasonló.
5. főnökhöz → főnök-höz: boss + front rounded allative.
6. gyerekeikre → gyerek-ei-k-re: child + possessed plural + their + sublative.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Learn the adjective and complement case as one frame: büszke valamire, hasonló valamihez, elégedett valamivel.
• Harmony changes the case allomorph, not the selected case relation.
• Personal complements use fused forms such as rám, tőlem, hozzám, velem, bennem.
• Predicate adjectives agree with plural subjects; attributive adjectives remain invariant.
• Fél valamitől is verbal, while case-correlates such as arra, attól, benne can introduce clauses.