Adjectives with Case-Marked Complements: Meanings and Usage

Hungarian case-marked complements identify the relationship between a property and its target, cause, standard, domain, or experiencer. The useful question is not “Which suffix translates English of?” but “Which participant slot does this Hungarian predicate require?” Thus pride points toward its target with -ra/-re, fear is construed away from a source with -tól/-től, and similarity is oriented toward a standard with -hoz/-hez/-höz.

This page organizes those patterns by meaning and discourse situation. The formal inventory is on the forms page, while subtle alternatives are on the contrast page. Unless marked otherwise, examples are neutral modern standard Hungarian.

Evaluation: pride, satisfaction, and gratitude

Büszke valamire evaluates a person, achievement, or association positively. Elégedett valamivel evaluates a result or situation as meeting expectations. Their English translations both often contain “with/of,” but their Hungarian cases differ.

The demonstrative arra carries sublative case and points forward to the hogy clause. Javítással is instrumental, with long ss created by assimilation of -val/-vel to final s.

Gratitude commonly uses two roles: hálás valakinek valamiért “grateful to someone for something.” Dative marks the recipient of gratitude; causal-final -ért marks its reason.

These frames are lexical. Replacing one ending with the preposition suggested by English changes or destroys the relation.

Emotional orientation: curiosity, anger, jealousy, sensitivity

Several emotional adjectives select sublative -ra/-re, construing attention or reaction as directed toward a target: kíváncsi valamire, mérges valakire, féltékeny valakire, érzékeny valamire.

The same case does not make these adjectives synonymous. Context decides whether érzékeny valamire means a physical sensitivity, an allergy, or responsiveness to a topic. Mérges is ordinary conversational “angry”; dühös is stronger and selects the same target case.

With a person, use the fused sublative forms rám, rád, rá, ránk, rátok, rájuk, not nominative pronouns plus an invented ending.

Fear, distance, and independence

Hungarian frames a feared stimulus as a source with ablative -tól/-től: fél valamitől. The same case appears with független valamitől “independent of something,” though the meanings are otherwise unrelated.

Fél is a verb, despite the English phrase “be afraid.” It conjugates: félek, félsz, fél, félünk, féltek, félnek. Független is an adjective: with a plural subject, A döntések függetlenek az időjárástól. English surface similarity must not override Hungarian word class.

Here attól carries the selected ablative case and announces the feared clause. This established expression can also soften a negative prediction or disagreement.

Similarity, suitability, and orientation toward a standard

Hasonló valamihez uses the allative family to identify a comparison standard. Közel valamihez “close to something” and kedves valakihez “kind to someone” use the same case for different semantic relations.

Suitability and readiness instead commonly select sublative -ra/-re: alkalmas valamire, képes valamire, kész valamire.

Alkalmas is frequent in neutral and formal assessment. Everyday speech may prefer a fuller predicate such as Ez a terem jó lesz a megbeszélésre “This room will work for the meeting.” Both retain sublative marking for intended purpose.

Domain, certainty, and personal relevance

Inessive -ban/-ben can mark the domain in which a property holds: jó matematikában, jártas a jogban, biztos a dolgában. Dative marks an experiencer or person for whom something matters: fontos nekem, nehéz neki, hasznos a diákoknak.

These dative phrases do not possess the adjective. They identify the person relative to whom the evaluation holds. Fronting strengthens that contrast: Nekem fontos a véleményed means “Your opinion matters to me,” perhaps unlike to someone else.

Agreement reveals structure

A predicative adjective agrees with a plural subject, not with its complement.

Elégedettek is plural because a tanárok is plural. The singular instrumental complement munkájával does not affect adjective number. Before a noun, the adjective remains unchanged:

Attributive elégedett has no plural ending even though tanárok is plural. This is the central asymmetry explained on the adjective-agreement usage page.

Concrete nouns, infinitives, and clauses

The same predicate slot can sometimes be filled in more than one structural way. Képes a feladatra assesses capacity for a noun-denoted task; képes megoldani a feladatot uses an infinitive and profiles the action.

Finite clauses commonly use a case-marked correlate:

In spontaneous conversation, speakers sometimes omit a predictable correlate: Biztos vagyok, hogy... is common. The version with benne displays the inessive frame more explicitly and is natural in both speech and writing.

A short dialogue

This exchange is informal:

The predicates select three different cases: lakással instrumental, zajra/első hétre sublative, and attól ablative.

The complement as topic or contrastive focus

The selected case remains the same when discourse order changes. A case-marked complement can establish what the sentence is about near the beginning, or it can stand immediately before the finite verb as contrastive focus. Hungarian therefore uses word order to organize information without replacing the lexical ending.

Here a bemutatóra is an initial topic. The sentence can continue a conversation already centered on the presentation. In the next example, erre az eredményre is immediately preverbal and excludes alternatives.

English often signals the same contrast mainly through stress or a cleft (“it is this result…”). Hungarian uses the preverbal focus position very systematically. In neutral informal conversation, Büszke vagyok erre az eredményre is more appropriate when no correction is intended. The distinction concerns discourse, not government: both versions preserve sublative -ra/-re after büszke.

Informal and formal expression

Case government itself does not become more formal. What changes is vocabulary, address, and how explicitly the relation is stated.

The first is informal, with second-person vagy and fused vele. The second is formal address: the polite subject is omitted, the adjective is singular, and the understood copula is zero in third-person present. The longer lexical noun phrase fits an interview or customer survey.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Complement cases encode target, source, standard, domain, or experiencer roles; learn each adjective as a lexical frame.
• Sublative is common with directed emotions and suitability; ablative with fear/independence; allative with similarity; instrumental with satisfaction.
• Fél valamitől is a verb frame, not an adjective-plus-copula construction.
• Predicate adjective number follows the subject, never the complement; attributive adjectives remain invariant.
• Finite clauses often have a case-marked correlate such as arra, attól, or benne.