Personal Infinitives: Forms and Core Pattern

Hungarian can mark the understood subject directly on an infinitive. Olvasni means “to read,” whereas olvasnom means “for me to read” in a licensing environment such as El kell olvasnom “I have to read it.” These endings resemble possessive suffixes, and an overt logical subject is normally dative: Péternek el kell olvasnia “Péter has to read it.”

This page describes the formal system. See personal-infinitive usage for its communicative functions and personal-infinitive contrasts for competing finite and impersonal structures. All forms are neutral modern standard Hungarian unless labeled.

The full person paradigm

Before first- and second-person endings, the final i of ordinary -ni is absent and the infinitive marker appears as -n-: olvas-n-om. Third-person forms retain -ni-: olvas-ni-a, olvas-ni-uk.

The visible first-person singular set highlighted in many grammars is therefore -nom/-nem/-nöm. The same three-way harmony appears in second-person singular -nod/-ned/-nöd and second-person plural -notok/-netek/-nötök. First-person plural has two surface options, -nunk/-nünk, while third-person forms use -nia/-nie and -niuk/-niük.

The person ending identifies the reader, sitter, or signer. It does not mark the infinitive for tense, and it does not alternate for object definiteness: olvasnom egy levelet and olvasnom ezt a levelet have the same personal ending.

The dative logical subject

An overt noun or pronoun corresponding to the infinitive's subject normally bears -nak/-nek or uses the dative pronoun series.

The dative phrase can be omitted when context or the ending makes the participant clear: Most indulnunk kell still means “We have to leave now.” When present, dative case and the personal ending normally agree in person and number.

This resembles possession: compare Péternek a könyve “Péter's book” with Péternek olvasnia kell “Péter has to read.” The similarity is structural and morphological, but olvasnia remains verbal: it can take an accusative object and an adverb.

Licensing environments

Personal infinitives are not freely interchangeable with bare infinitives. They are characteristic with impersonal predicates and modal environments such as kell “must/need,” lehet “may/can/be possible,” szabad “be permitted,” muszáj “must,” and evaluative expressions such as fontos “important,” érdemes “worthwhile,” or ideje “it is time.”

With a generic participant, these environments can instead take a bare infinitive: Itt lehet parkolni “Parking is allowed here.” A personal ending changes the participant structure, not merely the politeness level.

Linking-vowel and irregular stems

Build the personal form from the infinitive stem pattern. Infinitives with -ani/-eni retain their linking vowel: mondani → mondanom, tanítani → tanítanom, segíteni → segítenem.

Irregular infinitives supply corresponding personal stems:

Long consonants are preserved: mennem, not menem; hinnie, not hisznie. Harmony follows the established lexical pattern, so frequent exceptions must be learned as whole forms.

Prefix placement

In a neutral positive kell construction, the infinitive's verbal prefix commonly climbs before kell:

Negation, focus, and some other operators prevent that neutral order, leaving the prefix attached to the personal infinitive:

The personal ending stays on vinnem in all three. Prefix position and participant agreement are independent layers.

Segmentation exercise

1. olvas-n-om: stem olvas
   • personal-infinitive -n-
     • 1sg back-vowel ending -om.
2. ül-n-öd: stem ül
   • -n-
     • 2sg front-rounded -öd.
3. kér-ni-e: stem kér
   • full infinitive -ni-
     • 3sg -e.
4. mond-a-n-unk: stem mond
   • linking -a-
     • -n-
       • 1pl -unk.
5. el-men-ni-ük: prefix el-
   • irregular infinitive stem menni
     • 3pl front ending -ük.
6. Péter-nek meg kell ír-ni-a a választ: dative logical subject + climbed prefix + modal + personal infinitive + definite accusative object.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Personal infinitives mark their logical subject with possessive-like person-number endings.
• The core 1sg forms are -nom/-nem/-nöm; the full paradigm distinguishes all six persons.
• An overt logical subject is normally dative and agrees with the infinitive ending.
• Kell, lehet, szabad, muszáj, and several evaluative predicates license personal infinitives; ordinary control verbs do not license them freely.
• Linking vowels and irregular infinitive stems remain visible in mondanom, segítenem, mennem, jönnöm, tennem, vennem, vinnem, hinnem.
• A personal infinitive marks its participant, not tense or object definiteness; prefixes still respond independently to information structure.