Hungarian spatial postpositions follow their noun phrase: az asztal alatt “under the table,” a ház előtt “in front of the house.” Many belong to location–goal–source triples, so their form shows whether something stays in a region, moves into it, or emerges from it. With personal reference they take endings such as mellettem “beside me,” revealing why postpositions sit between free relational words, case-like forms, and possessive-style paradigms.
The relation comes after the noun
The neutral order is noun phrase + postposition. The noun does not normally receive an additional spatial case before core forms such as alatt, előtt, mögött, or mellett.
A macska az asztal alatt alszik.
The cat is sleeping under the table.
A taxi a szálloda előtt vár.
The taxi is waiting in front of the hotel.
English speakers often plan under + the table or in front of + the hotel and start with the relational word. Hungarian makes the landmark first and the relation second: az asztal alatt, a szálloda előtt. Determiners and adjectives stay inside the noun phrase before the postposition: a nagy fa mögött “behind the large tree.”
A biciklik a régi iskola mögött vannak.
The bicycles are behind the old school.
See the full paradigms on the spatial postposition forms page.
Vertical regions: alatt and fölött
Alatt locates something lower than a landmark; fölött locates it higher. Contact is not required. If an object rests on a surface, Hungarian usually uses superessive -on/-en/-ön, not fölött.
A lámpa az étkezőasztal fölött lóg.
The lamp hangs above the dining table.
A cipősdoboz az ágy alatt van.
The shoebox is under the bed.
The common variant felett has the same spatial meaning as fölött in standard Hungarian. This page uses fölött consistently so that its goal and source partners—fölé, fölül—remain visually related.
Front, back, and side
Előtt means “in front of,” mögött “behind,” and mellett “beside/next to.” The landmark supplies the perspective. A ház előtt is the space conventionally treated as the front of the house, while a ház mögött is its rear region.
Találkozzunk a mozi előtt tíz perccel a film kezdete előtt!
Let's meet in front of the cinema ten minutes before the film starts!
This sentence uses előtt twice: first spatially after a mozi, then temporally after a film kezdete. The structure is the same, but the landmark changes from an object to an event.
Leülhetek melléd, vagy vársz valakit?
May I sit next to you, or are you waiting for someone?
Here melléd is the personal goal form “to beside you.” A stationary person beside you would be melletted.
Between, among, and around
Között locates something between two landmarks or among several members. Coordinated landmarks appear as A és B között.
A posta az iskola és a park között van.
The post office is between the school and the park.
A levelek között találtam meg a régi fényképet.
I found the old photograph among the letters.
Körül presents a surrounding region or an approximate neighborhood. It can describe a circle without claiming that every point is occupied.
A gyerekek a tábortűz körül ültek és énekeltek.
The children sat around the campfire and sang.
For numbers and time, körül extends to approximation: hat óra körül “around six o'clock,” száz ember körül “around a hundred people.” That lexical extension is natural, but it does not turn every English about into körül.
Location, goal, and source
The stationary forms have directional partners. Learn each row as a three-member family.
| Region | Location: Hol? | Goal: Hová? | Source: Honnan? |
|---|---|---|---|
| under | alatt | alá | alól |
| in front | előtt | elé | elől |
| above | fölött | fölé | fölül |
| behind | mögött | mögé | mögül |
| beside | mellett | mellé | mellől |
| between/among | között | közé | közül |
| around | körül | köré | no equally general source partner |
A kutya a pad alatt fekszik.
The dog is lying under the bench.
A kutya bebújt a pad alá.
The dog crawled under the bench.
A kutya előbújt a pad alól.
The dog emerged from under the bench.
The verb does not select the directional form by itself. A gyerekek az asztal körül futnak means they run around the table; the activity occupies the surrounding region. A gyerekek az asztal köré futnak means they run into positions around it, making the ring their endpoint.
A vendégek a hosszú asztal köré ültek.
The guests sat down around the long table.
Personal forms replace the pronoun phrase
With a personal landmark, core postpositions carry person-number endings. Hungarian normally says mellettem “beside me,” not én mellett; mögöttük “behind them,” not ők mögött. The optional pronoun is used mainly for contrast: énmellettem, often written and pronounced as one emphasized unit in this construction.
| Person | beside: mellett | to beside: mellé | from beside: mellől |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | mellettem | mellém | mellőlem |
| you (singular) | melletted | melléd | mellőled |
| he/she/it | mellette | mellé | mellőle |
| we | mellettünk | mellénk | mellőlünk |
| you (plural) | mellettetek | mellétek | mellőletek |
| they | mellettük | melléjük | mellőlük |
Állj mögém, mert innen jobban látod a színpadot!
Stand behind me because you can see the stage better from here!
Körül has an expanded personal series: körülöttem, körülötted, körülötte, körülöttünk, körülöttetek, körülöttük. This is a lexical paradigm, not a freely predictable ending attached to every postposition.
Hirtelen mindenki körülöttem kezdett beszélni.
Suddenly everyone around me started talking.
Abstract relationships
Spatial organization extends into abstract domains. Nyomás alatt is “under pressure”; ellenőrzés alatt means “under control/supervision.” Mögött can identify a hidden cause or supporting agent; mellett can mark support for a proposal; között organizes alternatives or relationships.
A csapat nagy nyomás alatt is nyugodt maradt.
The team remained calm even under great pressure.
A döntés mögött több hónapnyi kutatás áll.
Several months of research lie behind the decision.
A képviselők többsége a javaslat mellett szavazott.
Most representatives voted in favor of the proposal.
Nehéz választani a két lehetőség között.
It is difficult to choose between the two options.
These combinations are conventional. English under review may require felülvizsgálat alatt, but English understand has no spatial relation and cannot be translated piece by piece. Learn frequent abstract postposition phrases as collocations.
Dialogue and register
This is ordinary (informal) speech:
— Hol vársz? — A bejárat előtt, közvetlenül a nagy óra alatt.
— Where are you waiting? — In front of the entrance, directly under the large clock.
A public instruction may express the same spatial relation in a (formal) register:
Kérjük, a vészkijárat előtt semmilyen tárgyat ne helyezzen el.
Please do not place any object in front of the emergency exit.
The postposition itself is neutral in register. Formality comes from vocabulary and the polite third-person imperative ne helyezzen el.
Common Mistakes
❌ Alatt az asztal alszik a macska.
Incorrect neutral order — the landmark noun phrase must precede alatt.
✅ Az asztal alatt alszik a macska.
The cat is sleeping under the table.
❌ A barátom én mellett ül.
Incorrect — a personal landmark is expressed by an ending on mellett.
✅ A barátom mellettem ül.
My friend is sitting beside me.
❌ A táskát a szék mellett tettem.
Incorrect for the intended endpoint ‘I put the bag beside the chair’ — mellett marks location.
✅ A táskát a szék mellé tettem.
I put the bag beside the chair.
❌ A macska kijött az ágy alatt.
Incorrect for movement out from under the bed — alatt is stationary.
✅ A macska kijött az ágy alól.
The cat came out from under the bed.
Key Takeaways
- Put the landmark first: a ház előtt, az asztal alatt.
- Learn location, goal, and source as triples: mellett–mellé–mellől.
- Motion alone does not force a goal form; the spatial relation decides.
- Personal complements appear as endings: mellettem, mögéd, előlük.
- Spatial postpositions also form conventional abstract phrases such as nyomás alatt and a javaslat mellett.
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Start learning Hungarian →Related Topics
- Core Spatial Postpositions: Forms and Core PatternA1 — Form Hungarian spatial postposition triples for location, movement toward a landmark, and movement away from it.
- Core Spatial Postpositions: Contrasts and Learner TrapsA2 — Choose among stationary, goal, and source postpositions and distinguish them from nearby cases, adverbs, and personal forms.
- Postposition Syntax and Personal Paradigms: Meanings and UsageA1 — Use Hungarian postpositions for spatial, temporal, causal, viewpoint, substitution, and absence relations in natural discourse.
- The Three Spatial Case Triples: Meanings and UsageA1 — Choose Hungarian spatial cases naturally across physical places, journeys, institutions, events, people, and abstract relationships.
- Case-Based Personal Pronoun Series: Meanings and UsageB1 — Use Hungarian fused relational pronouns for interior, contact, proximity, direction, source, companionship, and verb-governed abstract relations.