Fekszik primarily means “lie” or “be lying,” but a one-word gloss conceals the information a learner actually needs. The verb is intransitive, it selects different location cases according to the ground, its stem changes across the paradigm, and the prefix le- creates the event “lie down/go to bed.” A reliable reference must keep morphology, valency, aspect, and prefix position together.
Principal parts and three stems
| Function | Form | Stem |
|---|---|---|
| dictionary form / present 3sg | fekszik | feksz- |
| past 3sg | feküdt | feküd- |
| conditional 3sg | feküdne | feküd- |
| imperative–subjunctive 2sg | feküdj | feküd- |
| infinitive | feküdni | feküd- |
| present participle | fekvő | fekv- |
| adverbial participle | fekve | fekv- |
The alternation is not predictable from ordinary productive rules. Learn fekszik – feküdt – feküdj – feküdni – fekvő as a set. The modern plural present forms used below are fekszetek and fekszenek. Feküsztök and feküdtök are also accepted variants; fekszetek is the most frequent, while feküdtök is the rarest. The stem-class overview places this alternation within the wider verb system.
Complete indefinite conjugation
The base verb does not take an accusative object, so its finite forms belong to the indefinite—or, more precisely here, subject-only—paradigm.
| Person | Present | Past | Conditional | Imperative–subjunctive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| én | fekszem | feküdtem | feküdnék | feküdjek |
| te | fekszel | feküdtél | feküdnél | feküdj / feküdjél |
| ő | fekszik | feküdt | feküdne | feküdjön |
| mi | fekszünk | feküdtünk | feküdnénk | feküdjünk |
| ti | fekszetek | feküdtetek | feküdnétek | feküdjetek |
| ők | fekszenek | feküdtek | feküdnének | feküdjenek |
Because fekszik is intransitive, strings such as fekszem a könyvet or fekszi az ágyat are not definite conjugations of “lie.” To cause somebody or something to lie down, Hungarian uses the separate transitive verb fektet “lay, put to bed.” Some lexicalized prefixed relatives can become transitive, but that does not give ordinary fekszik an object.
Location frames: the case follows the ground
English uses lie in/on/at; Hungarian encodes that relation on the location noun. An enclosed space normally takes -ban/-ben, a supporting surface takes -on/-en/-ön, and a reference point commonly takes -nál/-nél.
A gyerek lázasan fekszik a hálószobában.
The child is lying in the bedroom with a fever.
A macska egész délután a napos ablakpárkányon fekszik.
The cat has been lying on the sunny windowsill all afternoon.
A kutya az ajtó mellett fekszik, és minden zajra felkapja a fejét.
The dog is lying beside the door and raises its head at every sound.
The choice is semantic, not a memorized preposition after the verb. Ágyban fekszik conceptualizes the bed as the place occupied, while az ágyon fekszik emphasizes the surface. Both can be correct in different scenes.
Fekszik also describes geographic position without implying a human posture:
A vendégház egy csendes völgyben fekszik, távol a főúttól.
The guesthouse lies in a quiet valley, far from the main road.
This is neutral written or careful spoken Hungarian. For the temporary location of a small movable object, van is often more natural: A kulcs az asztalon van, not automatically fekszik, unless its lying orientation matters.
State versus change: fekszik and lefekszik
Unprefixed fekszik profiles a state. Lefekszik normally profiles entering that state: “lie down” or, in everyday use, “go to bed.”
Már fél órája fekszem, de még mindig fáj a derekam.
I’ve been lying down for half an hour, but my lower back still hurts.
Ma korán lefekszem, mert holnap hajnalban indulunk.
I’m going to bed early today because we’re leaving at dawn tomorrow.
The present tense lefekszem can refer to a planned future event because the prefix supplies a bounded change and the time phrase places it later. English requires “will” or a present progressive more often; Hungarian need not.
Under ordinary negation, in a wh-question, and when another constituent occupies the preverbal focus position, the prefix separates. A polar question such as Lefeküdt már? keeps the neutral prefix–verb order.
Tegnap éjfél előtt nem feküdtem le.
I didn’t go to bed before midnight yesterday.
Pontosan mikor feküdt le a beteg?
Exactly when did the patient lie down?
Csak a híradó után fekszünk le.
We aren’t going to bed until after the news.
In the last sentence, csak a híradó után is focused and the finite verb precedes le. Writing nem lefeküdtem as a neutral denial copies English constituent order. It is possible only as an explicit correction contrasting verbs, for example Nem lefeküdtem, csak leültem “I didn’t lie down; I only sat down.”
Participles and nonfinite forms
The personal infinitive forms are feküdnöm, feküdnöd, feküdnie, feküdnünk, feküdnötök, feküdniük.
A műtét után két napig kell feküdnöm.
I have to remain lying down for two days after the operation.
| Form | Typical use | Register |
|---|---|---|
| feküdni | szeretne feküdni “would like to lie down” | unmarked |
| fekvő | fekvő beteg “bedridden patient”; fekvő helyzet “lying position” | unmarked |
| feküdt | az órákig a földön feküdt csomag “the package that lay on the ground for hours” | mainly attributive written use |
| fekve | fekve olvas “reads while lying down” | unmarked |
| feküdendő | rare future-participial form | (archaic) or (literary) |
Az orvos azt kérte, hogy két napig fekve pihenjek.
The doctor asked me to rest lying down for two days.
The common adjective fekvő is not built from the visible feksz- or feküd- stem. This is exactly why a principal-parts approach is safer than treating the dictionary form as a detachable ending.
Common Mistakes
❌ A nagypapám a kanapéban fekszik.
Incorrect — a sofa is construed as a supporting surface here.
✅ A nagypapám a nappali kanapéján fekszik és rádiót hallgat.
My grandfather is lying on the living-room sofa and listening to the radio.
❌ Tegnap egész nap az ágyban fekszettem.
Incorrect — the past uses the feküd- stem, not a regularized present stem.
✅ Tegnap egész nap az ágyban feküdtem, mert belázasodtam.
I lay in bed all day yesterday because I developed a fever.
⚠️ Ma este nem lefekszem korán.
Possible only with explicit corrective contrast; neutral negation separates the prefix from the finite verb.
✅ Ma este nem fekszem le korán, mert sok dolgom van.
I’m not going to bed early tonight because I have a lot to do.
❌ A bőrönd fekszi a padlót.
Incorrect — the base verb cannot take an accusative object.
✅ A nehéz bőrönd a folyosó padlóján fekszik.
The heavy suitcase is lying on the hallway floor.
Key Takeaways
- Memorize the stem set fekszik – feküdt – feküdj – feküdni – fekvő.
- Base fekszik is intransitive and therefore has no ordinary definite-object paradigm.
- Choose -ban/-ben, -on/-en/-ön, or another location case according to the spatial relation, not an English preposition.
- Fekszik describes a lying state; lefekszik introduces the change into that state and commonly means “go to bed.”
- Negation, wh-focus, and contrastive focus normally separate le- from the verb.
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