is and sem: Meanings and Usage

Hungarian is and sem do more than translate English too and either. They point to alternatives already present in the conversation: Júlia is jön adds Júlia to the people coming, while Júlia sem jön adds her to the people not coming. Their position and intonation show what is being added. This is their deeper function: they manage common ground and the speaker’s stance toward alternatives rather than naming a new event or object.

Add one participant, object, time, or circumstance

Unstressed is follows the constituent it uses as its visible host. In the most straightforward additive reading, the conversation has already made one alternative relevant and the speaker adds another.

The host immediately before is guides the natural interpretation. Réka is adds a person; sajtot is adds an object; kedden is adds a day. English can put too at the end of all three sentences, so English speakers often place Hungarian is at the end without deciding what it belongs to. Hungarian asks you to identify the added constituent first.

The particle can also attach to a verbal complex. With a verbal prefix, it normally stands between the prefix and the verb: meg is vettem, el is küldtem.

Here el is küldte confirms an expected consequence. Depending on context, English may use also, indeed, or emphatic did. The Hungarian particle signals that the realized event fits an alternative or expectation already active in the discourse.

Scalar surprise: an unlikely alternative is included

Additive is does not by itself always mean scalar even. Context can make the added alternative surprising, and még ... is marks that scalar reading clearly.

The surprise comes from an ordering of alternatives: the speaker treats the neighbors, themselves, or broccoli as relatively unlikely. Plain A szomszédok is eljöttek usually just means “The neighbors came too.” With the right intonation and context, plain is can receive a scalar interpretation, but még ... is is the safest explicit form.

In a negative sentence the corresponding scalar frame is még ... sem:

These clauses need no separate nem when the sem-phrase occupies the preverbal negative position. The form sem supplies the negative additive relation there.

Negative addition with sem

Use sem when the added proposition is negative: someone else is not coming, and Én sem jövök adds “me” to that negative set.

Position matters. Preverbal én sem kérek can carry clause negation without nem. When a sem-phrase appears after the verb, an earlier nem commonly licenses the negative clause, as in Nem vettem tejet sem “I did not buy milk either.” This is part of Hungarian negative concord: several negative-looking elements can express one semantic negation rather than canceling each other as two negatives may in standard English.

Negative indefinites follow the same system:

In senki sem szólt, senki “nobody” and sem participate in one negation. In nem találtam semmit, preverbal nem licenses postverbal semmit “nothing.” Do not delete one element merely because English avoids negative concord.

Paired sem ... sem

Paired sem ... sem means “neither ... nor.” In this correlative construction, each particle precedes the constituent it marks, and the finite predicate is normally negative too when it follows the paired phrases.

The pair can stand before or after the verb, but the negative architecture changes with the placement. Before the verb, sem X, sem Y nem + verb is a dependable neutral pattern. After a verb already negated by nem, use nem + verb + sem X, sem Y. Everyday speech often has se ... se, discussed on the contrast page.

Concession: accepting a point without changing the outcome

In concessive patterns, is signals that a condition is admitted into the discussion but does not overturn the main claim. This use is especially common with ha, bár, and indefinite forms such as bármilyen.

These patterns are neutral to somewhat written (formal), depending on the surrounding sentence. In everyday conversation Még ha későn érünk is haza... is also natural and makes the concession more explicit. The main assertion survives despite the admitted obstacle.

English glosses do not determine the particle

English either is not always negative-additive. In an affirmative choice, Hungarian uses vagy ... vagy, not sem:

English sentence-level also may correspond to a connector such as ezenkívül in formal prose rather than an unattached clause-final is:

Conversely, concessive English even if is normally a whole Hungarian frame such as még ha ... is, not a single particle placed wherever English has even. These lexical boundaries are why position, polarity, and discourse context must be checked together.

Dialogue and register

In an everyday exchange (informal), the particles efficiently track shared alternatives:

The ellipsis én is is possible because “want tea” is recoverable from the first turn. A more explicit institutional statement may use the same grammar in a (formal) register:

Compare an ordinary spoken version:

Is and sem themselves are standard across registers. Formality here comes from pályázók, nyújtott be, and igazolást, not from choosing a special formal particle.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Put is or sem after its visible host: Réka is, kedden is, én sem.
• Is adds an alternative in a positive setting; sem adds one in a negative setting.
• Még ... is/sem explicitly marks scalar “even/even not.”
• Hungarian negative concord keeps forms such as senki sem and nem ... semmit.
• Paired sem ... sem means “neither ... nor,” with each alternative marked.
• In concessive patterns, is admits an obstacle while preserving the main claim.