The Delative -ról/-ről: Meanings and Usage | Hungarian Grammar

The delative -ról/-ről views a noun as the source of movement away from a surface or surface-like setting. Hungarian extends that source relation to topics, information, removal, and things abandoned or renounced. English translations vary among “off,” “from,” “about,” “of,” and no preposition, but the Hungarian meanings belong to one network. See delative forms and the personal paradigm before studying these uses.

Movement off a surface

The central use marks a surface from which something moves or is removed. It answers honnan? “where from?” within the surface triple.

A telefon leesett az ágyról.

The phone fell off the bed.

Levettük a képeket a falról.

We took the pictures down from the wall.

A gyerek leugrott a székről.

The child jumped down from the chair.

The complete triple is asztalon “on the table,” asztalra “onto the table,” asztalról “off/from the table.” A verb can reinforce the source with le- “down/off,” but the case itself identifies the relation.

A könyv az asztalról a földre esett.

The book fell from the table onto the floor.

Here asztalról is the source and földre is the target. English relies on two prepositions; Hungarian contrasts source and target case suffixes.

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Visualize a directional arrow. With -ról/-ről, the arrow begins at a surface or a surface-family setting and points away from it.

Removal and cleaning

Delative appears after verbs that detach, wipe, wash, clear, or otherwise remove something from a surface: levesz, letöröl, lemos, leszed, eltávolít. The removed item is normally accusative; the source takes delative.

Letöröltem a morzsákat az asztalról.

I wiped the crumbs off the table.

Mosd le a sarat a cipődről!

Wash the mud off your shoes!

A szerelő eltávolította a rozsdát a fékről.

The mechanic removed the rust from the brake.

The source family depends on the relationship. One removes a book a polcról “from the shelf,” a key a fiókból “from the drawer,” and an object Pétertől “from Péter.” English “from” does not choose among delative, elative, and ablative.

Departure from surface-family places

Many events, institutions, public-transport settings, and Hungarian place names belong to the surface family. Their source form is delative: koncertről, egyetemről, buszról, Budapestről, Magyarországról.

Késő este értünk haza a koncertről.

We got home late from the concert.

A lányom most jön az egyetemről.

My daughter is coming from the university now.

Két megállóval korábban szállt le a buszról.

He/she got off the bus two stops earlier.

Holnap indulunk Budapestről.

We are leaving Budapest tomorrow.

Contrast interior-family moziból, iskolából, and Berlinből, as well as person/proximity Pétertől. The convention is lexical. Learn koncerten–koncertre–koncertről as a family rather than memorizing only “at a concert.”

Topic and content

Delative's most frequent abstract extension marks what speech, writing, thought, or information is about. Common patterns include beszél valamiről “talk about something,” mesél valamiről “tell about something,” ír valamiről “write about something,” szól valamiről “be about something,” and hall valamiről “hear about something.”

Sokat beszélgettünk a régi iskolánkról.

We talked a lot about our old school.

Ez a cikk a városi közlekedésről szól.

This article is about urban transport.

Hallottál már erről az új étteremről?

Have you heard of this new restaurant?

A nagypapám gyakran mesél a gyerekkoráról.

My grandfather often tells stories about his childhood.

Topic is not the same as information source. Péterről hallottam means “I heard about Péter”; Pétertől hallottam means “I heard it from Péter.” Similarly, a könyvről tanultunk makes the book the topic, whereas a könyvből tanultunk makes it the source material.

The topic can be concrete or abstract:

A megbeszélésen a költségvetésről és a határidőkről döntöttünk.

At the meeting, we made decisions about the budget and the deadlines.

This is ordinary (neutral) formal workplace Hungarian. Delative does not itself make a sentence formal; the vocabulary and setting do.

Information and memory frames

The personal forms rólam, rólad, róla, rólunk, rólatok, róluk are particularly common with knowledge, reports, and reputation.

Mit tudsz róla?

What do you know about him/her/it?

Rólunk ne aggódjatok, minden rendben van.

Do not worry about us; everything is fine.

Sok jót hallottam rólatok.

I have heard many good things about you.

Some verbs that English translates with “about” take a different Hungarian case. Gondol valamire means to think of or keep something in mind, while mit gondol valamiről? asks for an opinion about it. Válaszol valamire “respond to something” uses sublative, and gondolkodik valamin “think something over” uses superessive. Lexical government and intended meaning decide; an English gloss cannot.

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Store topic predicates with valamiről: beszél valamiről, hall valamiről, szól valamiről. Contrast them with gondol valamire and gondolkodik valamin.

Renunciation, cessation, and dissuasion

When someone turns away from a plan, right, habit, or possibility, Hungarian often uses delative. Important predicates include lemond valamiről “give something up/renounce,” letesz valamiről “abandon the idea of,” leszokik valamiről “quit a habit,” and lebeszél valakit valamiről “talk someone out of something.”

Lemondtunk a hétvégi kirándulásról az eső miatt.

We gave up the weekend hike because of the rain.

Végül letett arról, hogy külföldre költözzön.

In the end, he/she gave up the idea of moving abroad.

Az orvos lebeszélte a beteget a hosszú útról.

The doctor talked the patient out of the long trip.

Két éve leszokott a dohányzásról.

He/she quit smoking two years ago.

The metaphorical source remains visible: the person moves away from a contemplated course or established habit. Still, the exact verb and its case are lexical knowledge. English “give up smoking” has no preposition, while Hungarian requires dohányzásról.

A short dialogue

This exchange is natural (informal) Hungarian after an event.

– Mikor értetek haza a koncertről? – Éjfél körül.

– When did you get home from the concert? – Around midnight.

– És mit gondoltok az új számokról? – Hazafelé végig azokról beszélgettünk.

– And what did you think of the new songs? – We talked about them all the way home.

– A következő koncertről semmiképp sem mondunk le.

– We definitely won't pass up the next concert.

The first delative marks a place/event source, the second and third mark topics, and the final one belongs to the renunciation pattern lemond valamiről.

Formal and informal packaging

The core case is register-neutral. (informal) conversation readily uses personal forms and vague topics: Mesélj róla! “Tell me about it!” (formal) administrative prose uses precise nominal topics and renunciation formulas.

Mesélj róla, mi történt!

Tell me about it—what happened? (informal)

A kérelmező írásban lemondott a jogorvoslatról.

The applicant waived the right to appeal in writing. (formal)

The formal example is denser and lexically specialized, but jogorvoslatról has the same case architecture as everyday kirándulásról.

Common Mistakes

❌ Tegnap egy érdekes filmre beszéltünk.

Incorrect — beszél selects delative for its topic.

✅ Tegnap egy érdekes filmről beszéltünk.

Yesterday we talked about an interesting film.

❌ Most jövök Berlinről.

Incorrect — Berlin belongs to the interior locative family.

✅ Most jövök Berlinből.

I have just come from Berlin.

❌ A kulcsot a fiókról vettem ki.

Incorrect — a drawer is an interior source in this scene.

✅ A kulcsot a fiókból vettem ki.

I took the key out of the drawer.

❌ Tavaly leszoktam a dohányzást.

Incorrect — leszokik selects a delative complement.

✅ Tavaly leszoktam a dohányzásról.

I quit smoking last year.

❌ Ezt a történetet Péterről hallottam.

Wrong meaning if Péter supplied the information — delative means 'about Péter.'

✅ Ezt a történetet Pétertől hallottam.

I heard this story from Péter.

Key Takeaways

Delative is the source member of the surface triple: asztalon–asztalra–asztalról.
Removal predicates use delative for a surface source but other source cases for interiors and people.
Surface-family events, institutions, transport, and place names form source expressions such as koncertről and Budapestről.
Topic predicates commonly select valamiről, while other “about” predicates select different cases.
Renunciation and cessation extend the idea of moving away from a source.
English “from,” “off,” and “about” do not map one-for-one to -ról/-ről.

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