Core Spatial Postpositions: Forms and Core Pattern

Hungarian spatial postpositions organize location and motion into a three-way system. Az asztal alatt locates something under the table, az asztal alá describes movement to a position under it, and az asztal alól describes movement out from under it. English often uses under for all three and leaves the verb to supply the path; Hungarian marks the contrast in the postposition itself.

These forms follow the noun-first syntax introduced on the postposition-system forms page. Their directional organization also parallels the attached cases on the spatial-case triples page.

The core spatial triples

The questions hol? “where?”, hova? “to where?”, and honnan? “from where?” reveal the three forms.

The forms are related, but they are not created by attaching a freely chosen case ending during conversation. Learn each row as a lexical set. Notice the long vowels and rounded front vowels: fölött, fölé, fölül; mögött, mögé, mögül.

Motion verb does not automatically mean goal

A motion verb can describe movement located within a region rather than movement ending there. The postposition still answers the decisive question.

The first answers hol?: all the running occurred in the region under the table. The second answers hova?: that region is the endpoint. English ran under the table can express either reading, so relying on the verb class alone fails.

Likewise, a placement verb strongly favors a goal because it changes an object's location, while a posture verb can be static or inchoative. A szék az ablak mellett áll means the chair is there; A széket az ablak mellé állítom means I place it there; Az ablak mellé állok means I move into a standing position there. The selected postposition encodes the path structure directly.

Under: alá – alatt – alól

Alatt is static, alá is the endpoint of the cat's movement, and alól is the origin of the box's movement. The noun phrase az ágy itself remains otherwise unmarked and comes before the postposition.

The contrast can also describe vertical organization rather than literal contact. A cím alatt means “under/below the title,” while a cím alá means “to a position below the title.”

Above: fölé – fölött – fölül

Felett is a standard variant of locative fölött. The forms with ö/ő must keep their length distinctions: folott and fölöt are not acceptable spellings. Source fölül is less frequent in everyday concrete descriptions because speakers often choose a more specific paraphrase, but it remains the regular source member of the triple.

Front and back

Goal elé/mögé, location előtt/mögött, and source elől/mögül refer to the landmark's front or rear region. Elől as a postposition means “from in front of”; independent elöl with short ö means “at the front.” That accent contrast is grammatical.

This source form often occurs when someone avoids an approaching person, animal, or object: elfut a kutya elől “runs away from the dog.” English does not explicitly say “from in front of,” but Hungarian profiles the source region.

Beside: mellé – mellett – mellől

These examples use personal forms: mellett-em, mellé-d, mellől-em. With a noun landmark, write separate words: Dóra mellett, Dóra mellé, Dóra mellől.

The goal form is required even when English next to does not change: Dóra mellett ülök “I am sitting next to Dóra,” but Dóra mellé ülök “I sit down next to Dóra.”

Between and among: közé – között – közül

Között works with two coordinated landmarks or a plural/group landmark. Közé expresses entry into that interval or group; közül expresses selection or movement out of it.

The last use of közül is abstract selection from a set, not physical emergence. It still retains the source logic: the chosen item comes from among the alternatives.

Personal forms commonly alternate between full and shorter stems in this series: közöttünk/köztünk “between/among us,” közöttük/köztük “between/among them.” Both are standard; individual constructions and rhythm influence the choice.

Around: körül and köré

Körül describes position or movement around a landmark; köré describes movement into an encircling arrangement.

Unlike the six neat triples, körül has no equally basic everyday one-word source counterpart parallel to alól or mellől. Hungarian normally chooses a more specific phrase such as a ház környékéről “from the area around the house.” This gap is lexical and must not be filled by inventing körülül.

Personal locative forms expand the stem: körülöttem, körülötted, körülötte, körülöttünk, körülöttetek, körülöttük. Goal forms are körém, köréd, köré, körénk, körétek, köréjük.

Postposition versus verbal prefix

The postposition follows a landmark as its own word. A similar-looking verbal prefix joins the verb in neutral order.

In mögém, the postposition itself has a personal ending. Do not confuse this with mögé plus an independent pronoun. Motion verbs still take their normal prefixes independently of the spatial phrase, as bebújt az ágy alá demonstrates.

Segmentation exercise

1. az asztal alatt → landmark noun phrase + locative postposition.
2. az asztal alá → landmark noun phrase + goal postposition.
3. az asztal alól → landmark noun phrase + source postposition.
4. mellettem → mellett-em: beside + 1st singular.
5. melléd → mellé-d: to beside + 2nd singular.
6. mellőlük → mellől-ük: from beside + 3rd plural.
7. körülöttünk → körülött-ünk: around + 1st plural.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Learn spatial sets by hova?–hol?–honnan?: goal, location, and source.
• The landmark noun phrase comes before the separate postposition and is typically otherwise unmarked.
• Motion toward uses alá, fölé, elé, mögé, mellé, közé; static location uses the -tt series; motion away uses source forms.
• Personal references appear as mellettem, melléd, mellőlük, not bare pronouns after postpositions.
• Körül/köré forms a two-way contrast and normally uses a paraphrase for an explicit source.
• Preserve ö/ő, ü/ű, doubled consonants, and multigraphs: fölött, mögül, mellől, körülöttünk.