Vowel-Dropping and Vowel-Lengthening Stems: Forms and Core Pattern | Hungarian Grammar

Hungarian suffixation sometimes selects a stem shape different from the dictionary form. In bokor–bokrot, an internal vowel disappears before a suffixal pattern; in alma–almát, final a lengthens to á. These are two distinct mechanisms. Both interact with harmony, but harmony alone cannot predict them, so principal parts are essential. The usage page applies the patterns in sentences, and the contrast page distinguishes alternating stems from stable lookalikes.

Two architectures, kept separate

Class	Dictionary form	Accusative	Plural	“my” form
Vowel-dropping, back	bokor	bokrot	bokrok	bokrom
Vowel-dropping, front rounded	tükör	tükröt	tükrök	tükröm
Final-a lengthening	alma	almát	almák	almám
Final-e lengthening	körte	körtét	körték	körtém

The accents in almát and körtét mark real long vowels; they are not decorative spelling. The internal o of bokor and ö of tükör, by contrast, are absent in the reduced allomorphs bokr- and tükr-.

A kert végében van egy nagy bokor.

There is a large bush at the end of the garden.

Tavasszal megmetszem a bokrot.

I'll prune the bush in spring.

Ezeket az almákat a piacon vettem.

I bought these apples at the market.

Kérsz még egy körtét?

Would you like another pear?

The reduced stem in bokor-type nouns

Vowel-dropping nouns usually have a full citation form and a bound reduced stem. Common examples include bokor–bokr-, tükör–tükr-, szobor–szobr-, gyomor–gyomr-, torok–tork-, álom–álm-, dolog–dolg-, and eper–epr-. The class is lexical: the ending of the nominative gives a clue, but does not guarantee membership.

The reduced stem appears in several frequent forms whose suffixal shape begins with a vowel:

accusative: bokr-ot, tükr-öt, epr-et;
plural: bokr-ok, tükr-ök, epr-ek;
first-person possessive: bokr-om, tükr-öm, epr-em;
superessive: bokr-on, tükr-ön, epr-en.

A tükröt a hálószobába tesszük.

We'll put the mirror in the bedroom.

A torkom már kevésbé fáj, mint tegnap.

My throat hurts less than it did yesterday.

Friss epret hoztam a piacról.

I brought fresh strawberries from the market.

Consonant-initial case endings generally attach to the full form: bokorban, bokorhoz, bokornak, bokortól; tükörben, tükörhöz, tükörnek, tükörtől. Compare bokron with bokorban. The first uses the reduced stem plus superessive -on; the second retains the full stem before inessive -ban.

Egy rigó ül a bokron, egy veréb pedig a bokorban bújik meg.

A blackbird is sitting on the bush, while a sparrow is hiding in it.

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Store bokor as two forms, bokor ~ bokr-. “Delete the last vowel before every suffix” is wrong: compare bokrot but bokorban.

Final a and e become á and é

A noun or adjective ending in short a or e normally lengthens that vowel before an overt suffix: alma → almát, almák, almában; körte → körtét, körték, körtével; tiszta → tisztább; fekete → feketét. This is a productive spelling and pronunciation rule, not a small list of exceptional words.

Az almát tedd a hűtőbe, a körtét pedig hagyd az asztalon.

Put the apple in the fridge, but leave the pear on the table.

A szobában sokkal tisztább lett a levegő.

The air in the room became much cleaner.

Possessive endings show the same lengthening. Almám is alma + -m, while third-person almája contains both lengthened á and possessive -ja. Körtém and körtéje behave in parallel.

Az almám még éretlen, de a körtéd már puha.

My apple is still unripe, but your pear is already soft.

Some endings and derivational formations have their own behavior, so “lengthen before every imaginable continuation” is too broad. In particular, adjectival -i and compound-like -féle preserve the short vowel in apa → apai and lencse → lencseféle. At B1, apply lengthening confidently to ordinary case, plural, possessive, and comparison suffixes, and learn other formations in their attested form.

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Final a/e → á/é is not the same as adding an accented suffix vowel. The final vowel belongs to the stem and lengthens: alma + -ban → almában.

Harmony still follows the lexical stem

Deletion does not erase a word's harmony class. Bokor is back, so reduced bokr- takes -ot, -ok, -om, -on. Tükör is front rounded, so tükr- takes -öt, -ök, -öm, -ön. Eper is front unrounded and gives epret, eprek, eprem, epren.

A szobrokat óvatosan csomagolták be.

The statues were packed carefully.

A tükröm mellett találtam meg a fülbevalót.

I found the earring beside my mirror.

Final-vowel lengthening likewise precedes ordinary suffix selection: almában uses back -ban, while körtében uses front -ben. Do not choose from the newly written accent alone; á remains harmonically back and é front.

Principal parts: the reliable learning method

For a potentially alternating consonant-final noun, record at least the nominative, accusative, and plural: bokor, bokrot, bokrok. Adding a possessive form, bokra or bokrom, makes the reduced stem unmistakable. Dictionaries often provide these forms precisely because sound shape alone is not enough.

For final a/e, one suffixed form confirms productive lengthening: alma, almát; körte, körtét. Do not write an artificial long vowel in the unsuffixed citation form: it remains alma, not almá.

Segmentation exercise

Separate the stem allomorph from the suffix.

bokrot = bokr- + -ot: reduced back stem plus accusative.
tükrök = tükr- + -ök: reduced rounded-front stem plus plural.
eprem = epr- + -em: reduced front stem plus first-person possessive.
almában = almá- + -ban: final a lengthens before the inessive.
körtékkel = körté- + -k + -kel: lengthened stem, plural, then assimilated instrumental.
bokorhoz = bokor + -hoz: consonant-initial suffix selects the full stem.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jövő héten megmetszem a bokorot.

Incorrect: bokor uses its reduced stem bokr- before the accusative pattern.

✅ Jövő héten megmetszem a bokrot.

I'll prune the bush next week.

❌ A tükrben megláttam magam.

Incorrect: deletion is not used before consonant-initial -ben; the full stem is required.

✅ A tükörben megláttam magam.

I saw myself in the mirror.

❌ Kérek egy almat és két körtet.

Incorrect: final a and e lengthen before the accusative ending.

✅ Kérek egy almát és két körtét.

I'd like one apple and two pears.

❌ A tükrom a hálószobában van.

Incorrect: tükör is front rounded, so reduced tükr- takes -öm.

✅ A tükröm a hálószobában van.

My mirror is in the bedroom.

❌ A madár a bokrban bújik meg.

Incorrect: consonant-initial -ban attaches to the full stem bokor.

✅ A madár a bokorban bújik meg.

The bird is hiding in the bush.

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Do not repair an unfamiliar form by picking the vowel closest to the last written stem vowel. First choose the correct stem allomorph, then apply backness, rounding, and the suffix's own linking-vowel pattern.

Key Takeaways

Vowel-dropping stems use a reduced allomorph in forms such as bokrot, bokrok, and bokrom, but retain the full stem in bokorban.
Stem-final a and e lengthen to á and é before ordinary overt suffixes.
Stable lookalikes such as motor do not inherit the bokor–bokr- alternation.
Principal parts reveal both stem selection and the linking vowel required by the suffix.

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