-lak/-lek for First-Person Subjects and Second-Person Objects: Forms and Core Pattern

Hungarian has a special verbal ending for one precise relationship: the subject is first-person singular “I,” and the direct object is second person “you,” either singular or plural. Szeretlek means “I love you,” and várlak means “I am waiting for you.” With a singular object, the ending identifies both participants, so a neutral sentence needs neither én nor téged. A plural object, however, must normally be made explicit with titeket. The traditional label -lak/-lek names the two main harmonic shapes, though some stems require a linking vowel and surface as -alak/-elek. The companion usage page develops discourse settings, while the contrast guide handles difficult person and case choices.

One ending, two participants

Compare the three object configurations available to a first-person singular subject:

The form itself says “I → you.” Te is not the subject of várlak, even though English learners may notice “you” more strongly. The final -k is historically and synchronically connected with first-person singular marking, while the -l- indexes a second-person object. For learning purposes, however, storing the whole portmanteau ending is more reliable than trying to assemble it from two independent pronoun suffixes.

Harmony and linking vowels

Back-harmony verbs generally use the -lak family; front-harmony verbs use -lek. The familiar forms várlak and kérlek show the simple attachment. Some stem classes insert a/e: tanítalak “I teach you,” értelek “I understand you,” and küldelek “I send you.” Harmony predicts a versus e, but stem shape determines whether a linking vowel appears.

The common form hívlak “I call/invite you” is a reminder that í can be a neutral vowel in harmony. Despite its visible front vowel, hív belongs to the back-harmony pattern in its suffixes: hívok, hívlak. There is no dependable shortcut from the final printed vowel for every neutral-vowel stem; learn the ordinary first-person form with the verb.

Consonant length must remain visible at morpheme boundaries. Ölel + lek gives ölellek “I hug you,” with a long ll. Szeretlek has one l because the stem ends in t, not l.

Present, past, conditional, and imperative-subjunctive

The special participant relation survives tense and mood changes. The following paradigm uses vár because its stem remains transparent.

With front-harmony kér, the corresponding forms are kérlek, kértelek, kérnélek, kérjelek. With szeret, they are szeretlek, szerettelek, szeretnélek, szeresselek; the imperative-subjunctive stem shows the same t + j → ss change seen elsewhere in Hungarian verb morphology.

Optional téged and required titeket

The special ending itself does not distinguish singular from plural “you,” but Hungarian does not leave the plural object to context. Singular téged is normally omitted unless it is contrasted or emphasized; plural titeket must normally be overt.

Én hívlak fel contrasts the caller, while téged hívlak fel contrasts the singular person called. Titeket both supplies the required plural object and can receive contrastive focus. The suffix remains because changing information structure does not change the participants.

Direct objects only

The second person must be the accusative direct object. A case-marked complement does not trigger -lak/-lek: beszélek veled “I speak with you,” gondolok rád “I think of you,” segítek neked “I help you.” English treats “you” as an object in all three translations, but Hungarian lexical government distinguishes them.

Some verbs permit more than one construction with a meaning difference. Segítek neked is the ordinary “I help you”; direct-object támogatlak means “I support you.” The suffix is selected by the actual Hungarian argument structure, not by an English gloss.

Polite you is grammatically third person

Formal Ön/Önök and their accusatives Önt/Önöket take third-person grammar. A first-person subject therefore uses the definite paradigm: várom Önt, meghívom Önöket, not várlak Önt. The special ending belongs to grammatical second person te/ti, regardless of whom the speaker is addressing socially.

The second example is (formal written). In informal speech to one person, Meghívlak a buliba is natural; in a formal invitation, third-person Önöket requires meghívom.

Prefix placement

Prefixes follow the ordinary word-order rules. Neutral Meghívlak joins meg- to the verb; negation and corrective focus separate it: Nem hívlak meg, Téged hívlak meg. The -lak ending remains on the finite verb.

Segmentation exercise

Segment the form and identify tense or mood.

1. várlak → vár + lak: present, back-harmony form.
2. kérlek → kér + lek: present, front-harmony form.
3. vártalak → vár + t + a + lak: past marker plus linking vowel and 1sg→2 ending.
4. kértelek → kér + t + e + lek: front-vowel past counterpart.
5. várnálak → vár + ná + lak: conditional.
6. kérnélek → kér + né + lek: front-vowel conditional.
7. várjalak → vár + j + a + lak: imperative-subjunctive.
8. szeresselek → szeret + j + e + lek, with tj realized and written as ss.

These segmentations expose the pattern, but speakers store frequent forms as wholes. Morphophonological changes can make a purely mechanical cut misleading.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• -lak/-lek encodes the single direction 1st-person singular subject → 2nd-person direct object.
• The same suffix combines with singular and plural “you,” but singular téged is usually omitted while plural titeket must normally be stated.
• Harmony selects the back or front family, while stem class determines whether a/e appears as a linker.
• Tense and mood preserve the relation: várlak, vártalak, várnálak, várjalak.
• Only an accusative direct object triggers the form; veled, rád, and neked do not.
• Polite Önt/Önöket are grammatically third person and require definite forms such as várom, meghívom.