Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns: Forms and Core Pattern

Hungarian uses the magam series when an action returns to its subject and egymás when two or more participants act toward one another. The crucial formal difference is that the reflexive changes for person, whereas egymás has one base and takes whatever case its role requires.

This page establishes those forms, including emphatic “self,” postpositional phrases, and the ambiguity of maga. See the usage page for communicative meanings and the contrast page for difficult choices. Unless marked otherwise, the forms are neutral modern standard Hungarian.

The magam person paradigm

The reflexive must agree with the person and number of its antecedent. Its basic forms look like possessed forms of maga, historically “self.”

In everyday informal speech, first- and second-person magam, magad often occur without an audible accusative -t when the object role is already clear: megütöttem magam. The full forms magamat, magadat are always transparent and correct; the shorter variants should be recognized, not mechanically extended to third person. Megütötte maga does not neutrally replace megütötte magát.

Because reflexive objects are definite, the verb uses the definite conjugation: látom magamat, not látok magamat. The agreement inside the pronoun identifies its referent; an uncontrasted subject pronoun is usually unnecessary.

Adding cases to the reflexive stem

The basic person ending remains visible when a case suffix follows. Vowel harmony and consonant assimilation then apply normally.

The instrumental deserves attention. Underlying -val/-vel assimilates to a preceding consonant: magam + val → magammal, magunk + val → magunkkal. After vowel-final maga, the v remains: magával.

These are ordinary case-marked reflexives, not combinations of a nominative pronoun and a separate preposition. Compare the fused relational personal paradigms on the local-series forms page: velem “with me” is structurally different from magammal “with myself.”

Emphatic “self” and önmaga

An unsuffixed reflexive beside its antecedent can mean “personally” or “without help.” It still agrees with that antecedent.

Here the overt subject is licensed by contrastive emphasis. In a neutral answer, Megjavítottam a biciklit is enough. The compounded önmagam, önmagad, önmaga, önmagunk, önmagatok, önmaguk intensifies the reflexive, often in abstract or contrastive contexts: önmagában “in itself,” önmagáért “for its own sake.” These forms are neutral to formal, depending on the sentence.

Reflexives with postpositions

A postposition follows the appropriate reflexive form. Common combinations include magam előtt “in front of myself,” maga mögött “behind himself/herself,” and maguk között “among themselves.” The personal reference is carried by magam/maga/maguk, while the postposition expresses the relation.

Do not confuse magában “in himself/herself; to himself/herself” with the reinforced phrase önmagában “in itself/by itself.” Context and the antecedent determine the reading.

The reciprocal base egymás

Egymás means “each other/one another.” It does not agree for first, second, or third person. Instead, the case required by the verb or relation attaches to the one stable base.

The subject must contain at least two participants, explicitly or through context. Egymást látjuk means “we see each other”; the verb ending supplies “we.” With accusative egymást, use the definite conjugation.

Polite maga and maguk

Capitalization does not reliably remove the ambiguity. Maga can be the third-person singular reflexive “himself/herself,” or a polite second-person address pronoun. Polite maga/maguk takes third-person verbs.

In contemporary usage, maga can sound neutral in an established relationship but distancing or abrupt in the wrong setting. ön/önök is usually safer in formal service, business, and official address. Reflexive maga is not an address form: Péter magát hibáztatja means “Péter blames himself.” In direct correspondence, optional Ön/Önök can signal extra respect.

Segmentation exercise

Split each form into its reflexive or reciprocal base and following morphology.

1. magunknak → magunk + -nak: first-person plural reflexive plus dative.
2. magammal → magam + -val: instrumental v assimilates, yielding mm.
3. egymástól → egymás + -tól: reciprocal plus ablative.
4. önmagában → ön + maga + -ban: intensified third-person reflexive plus inessive; final a lengthens before the suffix.
5. magatokat → magatok + -at: second-person plural reflexive plus accusative.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Magam, magad, maga, magunk, magatok, maguk agree with their antecedent; further case endings attach to these forms.
• Egymás has no person paradigm, but takes cases and postpositions according to its role.
• Accusative reflexive and reciprocal objects trigger definite verb forms.
• Emphatic én magam contains a contrastive subject; neutral Hungarian normally omits the subject pronoun.
• Polite maga/maguk uses third-person verbs and must be distinguished from reflexive maga/maguk by syntax and context.