Complex and Emerging Formal Postpositions: Forms and Core Pattern

Formal Hungarian uses several relational words that stand between ordinary nouns and fully grammaticalized postpositions. Alapján, érdekében, keretében, tekintetében, and vonatkozóan are common in news, administration, research, and professional communication. Their internal form still reveals a nominal or participial origin, but their modern function often resembles that of a postposition. This page establishes their architecture; the usage page develops their meanings, and the contrast guide deals with difficult choices.

A compact formal paradigm

Four items below historically and synchronically resemble case-marked possessed nouns. Vonatkozóan has a participial-adverbial structure and, unlike the first four, requires its complement in the sublative -ra/-re.

In alap-já-n, -ja is a third-person possessive marker and -n is superessive; its final a lengthens to á before the case suffix. In érdek-é-ben, keret-é-ben, and tekintet-é-ben, the third-person possessive -e surfaces with a long é before inessive -ben. Speakers need not consciously parse these expressions every time, but the structure explains why they follow their complement and why demonstratives commonly appear as ennek/annak: literally, “on its basis,” “in its interest,” or “in its frame/respect.”

Complement form and vowel harmony

The fixed heads alapján, érdekében, keretében, and tekintetében do not change to harmonize with the preceding noun. Hungarian vowel harmony operated when their endings became established, but modern speakers do not alternate them as alapjén or érdekában. Their complement is ordinarily unmarked: a döntés alapján, a gyerekek érdekében, a kutatás keretében, az ár tekintetében.

Vonatkozóan is different because the complement itself carries -ra/-re, chosen by harmony: a szerződésre vonatkozóan, but a szabályokra vonatkozóan. The head remains vonatkozóan in both phrases.

This is a lexical selection, not a meaning you can derive from English “regarding.” It must be stored as -ra/-re vonatkozóan. For the broader principle of selected cases, see case-governing postpositions.

Demonstratives and personal reference

With demonstratives, the nominal architecture becomes visible: ennek alapján, annak érdekében, ennek keretében, annak tekintetében. These dative forms correspond to an understood possessive relationship. In contemporary less formal speech, ez alapján also occurs, especially with alapján, but ennek alapján is the careful neutral choice in edited prose.

Do not attach ordinary personal postposition endings to the fixed head. Hungarian does not form alapjánam for “on my basis.” When a genuine possessor is intended, the underlying noun can take ordinary possessive marking: az én érdekemben “in my interest,” a mi érdekünkben “in our interest.” With vonatkozóan, the personal complement is sublative: rám vonatkozóan “regarding me.”

Productive formation and its limits

Hungarian can readily create relational expressions from case-marked nouns: kapcsán “in connection with,” következtében “as a consequence of,” segítségével “with the help of,” and figyelembevételével “taking into consideration.” This productivity does not make every coined noun-plus-case sequence a conventional postposition. Conventional frequency, restricted meaning, fixed order, and the ability to link a complement all matter.

The boundary is gradient. A projekt keretében is highly conventional as “within/as part of the project,” whereas a kép keretében is more readily interpreted literally as “in the frame of the picture.” Formal context pushes the former relational reading; a concrete possessible object favors the ordinary noun reading.

Segmentation exercise

Identify the base, possessive marker, and case ending where these are still transparent.

1. alapján → alap + ja + n. The final vowel of -ja appears long before -n.
2. érdekében → érdek + e + ben, conventionally displayed érdek-é-ben to show the long possessive vowel.
3. keretében → keret + e + ben, likewise surfaced as keretében.
4. tekintetében → tekintet + e + ben, surfaced as tekintetében.
5. vonatkozóan → vonatkozó + an. This one is not a possessed noun: it is an adverbial form based on the participle vonatkozó “applying/pertaining.”

The exercise is analytical, not an instruction to write hyphens. All five heads are written as single words in ordinary text.

Bureaucratic density and register

All five forms are standard, not archaic. Alapján and érdekében occur comfortably in neutral news and careful conversation. Keretében is common in institutional descriptions. Tekintetében and vonatkozóan are noticeably (formal) and can make casual speech sound administrative. A page packed with several such forms may be grammatical yet unnecessarily bureaucratic.

The second is often better in conversation than a pénz tekintetében holnap egyeztetünk, though the formal version may be entirely appropriate in minutes or a report.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• The formal heads follow their complements; four take an unmarked noun phrase, while vonatkozóan selects -ra/-re.
• Alapján, érdekében, keretében, and tekintetében preserve the shape of possessed, case-marked nouns.
• Fixed heads do not alternate for harmony; only productive suffixes on their complements do.
• Personal meaning may reactivate ordinary possessive forms such as érdekemben, while rám vonatkozóan uses a sublative pronoun.
• These expressions are standard but register-sensitive: grammatical precision includes knowing when a plain clause sounds better.