Verb Stem Classes and Principal Parts: Forms and Core Pattern

Most Hungarian verbs take a highly regular set of person endings, but “the stem” is not always one unchanging string. A stem-final sibilant can absorb a following j; a t-final verb selects one of several imperative patterns; a medial vowel can disappear in particular cells; a short citation stem can alternate with a fuller form elsewhere. A small group uses multiple or suppletive stems.

Hungarian dictionaries cite the third-person singular indefinite present, not the infinitive. Useful principal parts therefore reveal what the citation form hides. This page maps the formal classes; the usage page applies them, and the contrast page diagnoses boundaries. Unless labeled otherwise, forms belong to neutral modern standard Hungarian.

A practical principal-parts set

There is no single official list of principal parts that every dictionary prints in the same order. For learning, record at least these forms:

1. third-person singular indefinite present, the citation form;
2. first-person singular present, which reveals harmony, vowel loss, and -ik behavior;
3. infinitive, which exposes many expanded or irregular stems;
4. third-person singular past;
5. third-person singular conditional;
6. second- or third-person imperative-subjunctive.

This table is a retrieval map, not a promise that every class has only one alternation. Object definiteness adds a second set of person endings, and verbal prefixes can move without altering the stored stem.

Regular stems

A regular consonant-final stem remains recognizable before present, past, conditional, imperative, and infinitive markers. Vowel harmony chooses the endings.

The sequence is vár-t-am “I waited” and vár-né-k “I would wait.” The long á stays intact. In Várjon itt! “Wait here!”, imperative -j- remains visible.

Front-vowel kér- selects front endings in kérek. The subordinate válaszoljak is another regular stem plus imperative-subjunctive -j- and first-person -ak.

Sibilant-final stems

Verbs ending in s, sz, z, zs, or dz interact strongly with j-initial morphology. In the imperative-subjunctive, the result is a long sibilant written according to Hungarian multigraph rules: olvas + j + on → olvasson, néz + j → nézz, edz + j → eddz. Some present definite endings also expose the assimilation: olvas + ja → olvassa, olvas + juk → olvassuk.

This can be a polite/formal singular instruction (formal) or a third-person subjunctive in context. It is not the ordinary indicative statement “he/she reads it,” although olvassa can also have that indicative value; sentence type and context disambiguate the syncretism.

Nézze contains the imperative-subjunctive required for the requested action. Its written zz reflects the z + j boundary. Morphology still cannot replace lexical mood selection: neutral Remélem, hogy az orvos megnézi a leletet “I hope the doctor examines the result” uses the indicative megnézi.

T-final stems

T-final verbs divide into subpatterns. With a short vowel before t, imperative j commonly yields ss: szeret → szeressen, fut → fusson. Long-vowel-plus-t and many consonant-plus-t stems generally yield ts in second-person short imperatives and tson/tsen elsewhere: taníts, tanítson; ments, mentsen. Common lát is exceptional: láss, lásson.

Past and conditional formation also depend on class. Szeretett and tanított have past -tt with a linking vowel; tanítana contains a linking a before the conditional marker. Látott is past, but conditional látna has no linking vowel. These divisions are partly phonological and partly lexical.

Vowel-final v-stems

The small native class fő, lő, nő, nyű, ró, sző ends in a long vowel in the citation form. Before certain vowel-initial endings, a v-stem appears and the preceding vowel usually shortens: lő → lövök, lövünk, lövöm; sző → szövök; ró → rovok. Before consonant-initial markers, the long-vowel form often remains: lősz, lőtök, lőnek, lőtt, lőne, lőjön, lőni.

Compare lövök “I shoot” with conditional lőnék. The v is not a general tense marker; it belongs to one stem alternant selected before particular endings.

Shortened or vowel-loss stems

A small lexical class loses a medial vowel in some forms. Common patterns include érez → érzek, érzel, érzünk, mozog → mozgok, mozgunk, and énekel → éneklek, éneklünk. Other cells keep the fuller citation shape: érez, éreztek, éreznek; mozogsz, mozogtok, mozognak; énekelsz, énekeltek, énekelnek.

Érzem is definite because its object is the following content clause; it also uses shortened érz-. Mozog retains the full citation form in third-person singular.

The first-person singular énekelek retains the vowel, while first-person plural éneklünk loses it. This is why “remove the infinitive ending and attach endings” is not a sufficient algorithm.

Expanded and alternating -szik stems

Some citation forms show a shorter or different present stem while infinitives and nonpresent forms use a fuller alternant. Fürdik has fürd- beside füröd-: fürdöm, fürdik, fürdünk, but fürödni, fürödtem, fürödnék, fürödj. Modern usage also permits some parallel variants, so dictionaries may list more than one form.

Other high-frequency -szik verbs replace -sz- with an expanded stem outside much of the present: alszik → aludni, aludt, aludna, aludjon; fekszik → feküdni, feküdt, feküdne, feküdjön; emlékszik → emlékezni, emlékezett, emlékezne, emlékezzen.

Multiple and suppletive stems

The frequent set lesz, tesz, vesz, visz, hisz, eszik, iszik combines present sz with other principal parts: tenni–tett–tenne–tegyen, venni–vett–venne–vegyen, vinni–vitt–vinne–vigyen, hinni–hitt–hinne–higgyen, enni–evett–enne–egyen, inni–ivott–inna–igyon. These share historical patterns, but learners should memorize the modern forms.

Van is more radically suppletive: vagyok/van in the present, volt in the past, lenni in the infinitive, lenne in the conditional, and legyen in the imperative-subjunctive. Megy uses megy, menni, ment, menne, and menjen. These are not productive sound changes that should be extended to new verbs.

Segmentation exercise

Identify the stored stem alternant and the grammatical material.

1. olvasson
2. tanított
3. lövök
4. érzünk
5. fürödnék
6. legyen

Answers: (1) olvas + j + on → olvasson, with sibilant assimilation; (2) tanít + ott → tanított, a t-final past with linking o and tt; (3) löv- + -ök, the shortened-vowel v-stem; (4) érz- + -ünk, the vowel-loss stem; (5) füröd- + -nék, the fuller stem plus conditional first-person singular; (6) legy- + -en, the stored suppletive imperative-subjunctive stem of van plus the third-person singular ending. The initial le- is not the verbal prefix le- “down.”

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Principal parts reveal stem alternants that the Hungarian citation form hides.
• Regular stems remain stable, while sibilant and t-final stems interact systematically with j and past morphology.
• Vowel-final verbs form a small v-stem class; shortened and expanded stems have lexically distributed alternants.
• The most frequent irregular verbs require infinitive, past, conditional, and imperative forms to be learned explicitly.
• Stem selection does not determine object definiteness or prefix position. A complete finite form jointly expresses subject, object reference, tense, mood, and discourse-sensitive prefix placement.