Idioms with megy, jön, tart, and kerül: Meanings and Usage | Hungarian Grammar

The motion verbs megy “go,” jön “come,” and kerül “get/be placed,” plus tart “hold/last,” participate in expressions whose meanings cannot be predicted by physical direction alone. Equipment may tönkremenni, an option may szóba jönni, and a scheduled vote can be expressed with sor kerül valamire. The forms page gives spelling, cases, and prefix separation. Here the expressions are organized by the situations in which speakers use them.

Failure, ruin, and collapse: tönkremegy

Tönkremegy applies naturally to machines, equipment, organizations, finances, plans, and relationships that cease to function or are ruined. The subject undergoes the deterioration; a person or force causing it requires transitive tönkretesz.

A hűtő éppen a nyári hőség közepén ment tönkre.

The refrigerator broke down right in the middle of the summer heat.

A kisvállalkozás majdnem tönkrement, amikor elveszítette a legnagyobb megrendelőjét.

The small business nearly went bankrupt when it lost its biggest client.

A folyamatos bizalmatlanság lassan tönkretette a kapcsolatukat.

The constant distrust slowly ruined their relationship.

The first two subjects undergo failure, so tönkremegy is intransitive. In the third, distrust causes damage to a direct object, so tönkretesz is transitive and definite tönkretette agrees with a kapcsolatukat. For spoiled food, megromlik is normally more precise than tönkremegy.

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Ask whether the subject fails or somebody ruins an object. Use intransitive tönkremegy for the affected subject and transitive tönkretesz valamit for the cause acting on an object.

Options and candidates: szóba jön

Szóba jön presents something as eligible for consideration. It works with routes, dates, products, candidates, and solutions. Negative nem jön szóba rejects eligibility; emphatic szóba sem jöhet means “is completely out of the question.”

Kisebb lakás is szóba jöhet, ha közel van a metróhoz.

A smaller apartment could also be considered if it is close to the metro.

A vasárnap szóba sem jöhet, mert akkor zárva van a műhely.

Sunday is completely out of the question because the workshop is closed then.

This expression is about the option set, not merely the topic of a conversation. When a subject is mentioned or arises as a topic, szóba kerül is often the more exact expression. The decision page treats that boundary in detail.

The modal form szóba jöhet is especially common because consideration is inherently about possibility. Plain szóba jön may describe what counts as an option under known conditions.

Reaching an understanding: rájön

Rájön valamire describes arriving at a realization or solution through thought, clues, experience, or delayed recognition. A proposition can follow hogy.

A technikus néhány perc alatt rájött, mi okozza a furcsa zajt.

Within a few minutes, the technician figured out what was causing the strange noise.

Hazafelé jöttem rá, hogy a kulcsot az étteremben hagytam.

On the way home, I realized that I had left the key in the restaurant.

The expression often implies a cognitive transition: earlier the experiencer did not know, then the connection became clear. Information simply received from another person is more naturally expressed with megtud “find out/learn.” Direct visual perception may call for észrevesz “notice.”

Word order tracks information structure. Neutral rájött a hibára keeps the prefix attached. Focused HAZAFELÉ jöttem rá and negative nem jöttem rá place rá after the finite verb.

How long or how far: tart

An event, state, route, or extent can tart to an endpoint with -ig or for a duration. Meddig tart? asks for the endpoint; Mennyi ideig tart? asks for the duration. A bare duration in the accusative, such as két órát tartott, is also possible, so -ig is not the only duration form.

A garancia a vásárlástól számított három évig tart.

The warranty lasts for three years from the date of purchase.

Meddig tart a lezárás ezen az útszakaszon?

How long will the closure on this stretch of road last?

Spatially, tart valahonnan valahová can describe extent: A kert a háztól a patakig tart “The garden extends from the house to the stream.” In conversation, Hol tartasz? asks about progress in a book, task, or journey.

Hol tartasz a szakdolgozattal? Már a következtetést írod?

How far have you got with your thesis? Are you writing the conclusion already?

The progress use requires an appropriate -val/-vel phrase for the task. It is not physical holding.

Money, time, and effort as cost: valamibe kerül

Valami valamibe kerül expresses a price or cost. The cost phrase takes -ba/-be, whether it is money, time, energy, or sacrifice.

Az éves előfizetés ötvennégyezer forintba kerül.

The annual subscription costs fifty-four thousand forints.

A régi adatok helyreállítása három napba és rengeteg türelembe került.

Restoring the old data took three days and a great deal of patience.

The subject is the item or undertaking that has the cost. To state what a buyer paid, use fizet valamiért: Ötvennégyezer forintot fizettem az előfizetésért. The two perspectives are related but their cases differ.

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Store the paired questions: Mennyibe kerül? asks an item's price; Mennyit fizettél érte? asks what a person paid. The answer changes from illative forintba to accusative forintot.

Scheduled institutional events: sor kerül valamire

Sor kerül valamire places an event in an agenda or expected sequence without foregrounding an agent. It is common in formal, administrative, journalistic, and institutional language.

Az új szabályzat részletes vitájára a jövő havi közgyűlésen kerül sor.

The new regulations will be debated in detail at next month's general meeting. (formal)

A baleset körülményeinek vizsgálatára csak a helyszín biztosítása után kerülhetett sor.

The circumstances of the accident could only be investigated after the scene had been secured. (formal)

The construction is useful when the event and schedule matter more than who performs it. It can also become bureaucratically heavy. If the agent is known and relevant, a direct finite verb is often clearer.

Formal and informal packaging

Az eredmények nyilvános ismertetésére pénteken kerül sor.

The results will be presented publicly on Friday. (formal)

Pénteken mutatjuk be az eredményeket mindenkinek.

We'll show everyone the results on Friday. (informal/neutral conversation)

The first suppresses the presenter and turns the event into an agenda item. The second identifies an implicit “we” and sounds direct. Both are standard; the communicative setting decides which is appropriate.

A travel-planning dialogue

– Szóba jöhet a tóparti vendégház? – Talán. Mennyibe kerül két éjszakára? – Harmincnyolcezer forintba. – És mennyi ideig tart az út busszal? – Majdnem három óráig. Most jöttem rá, hogy vasárnap ritkábban járnak a buszok.

– Could the guesthouse by the lake be an option? – Maybe. How much does it cost for two nights? – Thirty-eight thousand forints. – And how long is the journey by bus? – Almost three hours. I've just realized that buses run less frequently on Sundays.

The dialogue combines option, price, duration, and realization. None of the case endings can be predicted from the English particles for or to alone.

Prefix separation as discourse structure

Neutral forms present the idiom as one unit: tönkrement, rájött. Negation and a focused constituent precede the finite verb and move the prefix behind it.

Nem a kijelző ment tönkre, hanem a töltőcsatlakozó.

It wasn't the display that broke, but the charging port.

Erre jöttünk rá a második mérés alapján, nem arra, amire először gondoltunk.

This is what we inferred from the second measurement, not what we had initially thought.

The contrast erre ... nem arra gives erre preverbal focus and moves rá after the finite verb. With szóba jön and sor kerül, the expression is already written as separate words, but the same preverbal versus postverbal ordering alternation appears: szóba jön / nem jön szóba, sor kerül rá / nem kerül rá sor.

Common Mistakes

❌ A régi fényképezőgép tegnap tönkremegy.

Incorrect tense: a completed breakdown yesterday requires past tönkrement.

✅ A régi fényképezőgép tegnap tönkrement.

The old camera broke down yesterday.

❌ A szabadtéri koncert is szóba jönni, ha nem esik.

Incorrect verb form: this finite clause requires szóba jöhet or szóba jön.

✅ A szabadtéri koncert is szóba jöhet, ha nem esik.

The outdoor concert could also be an option if it doesn't rain.

❌ A vezetett séta három órában tartott.

Incorrect duration frame: tart uses terminative -ig or an accusative duration, not inessive here.

✅ A vezetett séta három óráig tartott.

The guided walk lasted three hours.

❌ A javítás sok pénzt került.

Incorrect cost frame: the amount with kerül takes -ba/-be.

✅ A javítás sok pénzbe került.

The repair cost a lot of money.

Key Takeaways

Tönkremegy is intransitive failure; tönkretesz valamit names a cause ruining an object.
Szóba jön admits an option for consideration; szóba sem jöhet rejects it emphatically.
Rájön presents a transition to understanding and takes -ra/-re or a content clause.
Tart covers temporal duration, endpoint, spatial extent, and progress with different frames.
Kerül expresses money, time, effort, or sacrifice with -ba/-be.
Sor kerül valamire is an agent-backgrounding formal event expression; a direct verb is often lighter in conversation.

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