Noun and Adjective Formation: Forms and Core Pattern | Hungarian Grammar

Hungarian forms nouns and adjectives by adding derivational suffixes to verbal, nominal, or adjectival bases. The most useful families name events (-ás/-és), participants or characteristic actions (-ó/-ő), conventional results (-at/-et), abstract qualities (-ság/-ség), possession or association (-s), relations (-i), absence (-tlan/-tlen), and measure (-nyi).

These suffixes differ in productivity. Olvasás “reading” is a regular formation a learner can interpret confidently; irat “document” is a lexicalized word whose exact form and meaning must be memorized. The safest architecture is base + derivation(s) + inflection. The companion usage page develops how context selects among these families.

Compact formation paradigm

Suffix	Typical input → output	Example	Core value
-ás/-és	verb → noun	olvas → olvasás	event, process, conventional result
-ó/-ő	verb → participle/noun	vezet → vezető	actor, device, characteristic action
-at/-et	verb → noun	ír → irat	lexicalized result/product
-ság/-ség	adjective/noun → noun	szép → szépség	quality, state, collective/institution
-s	noun → adjective	cukor → cukros	having, containing, associated with
-i	noun → adjective	város → városi	relation, origin, time association
-tlan/-tlen	noun/adjective → adjective	remény → reménytelen	without, lacking
-nyi	measure noun → adjective	óra → órányi	an amount or extent measured by

Harmony chooses paired vowels, but not every surface variant is predictable from a two-column chart. Linking vowels, stem alternations, consonant contact, and lexicalized forms matter.

Event nouns with -ás/-és

Productive -ás/-és turns a verb or prefixed verb into a noun denoting an activity, event, process, or established result. Back-vowel bases normally take -ás; front-vowel bases take -és.

A rendszeres úszás sokat javított a hátfájásomon.

Regular swimming greatly improved my back pain.

A költözés pontos időpontját csak jövő héten tudjuk meg.

We will only learn the exact date of the move next week.

The verbal prefix remains inside the new noun: ír → írás, megír → megírás, átír → átírás. Once derived, the noun can take possession and case: átírás-á-ról “about its rewriting.” Some event nouns develop additional meanings: fizetés can denote the act of paying, a payment, or “salary.” Such polysemy is lexical, not supplied by -és alone.

What happens to verbal arguments?

An event noun can preserve the semantic participants of its source verb, but it packages them with nominal syntax. Compare verbal accusative a jelentést with the possessor-like modifier a jelentés megírása.

A jelentés megírása a vártnál három nappal tovább tartott.

Writing the report took three days longer than expected.

A jelentés is understood as the thing written, although it does not carry accusative -t. Other complements can retain their characteristic cases or appear in analytic constructions. Dense nominal argument structure is common in (formal/academic) prose, but it can become ambiguous; a finite clause is often clearer in conversation.

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A deverbal noun inherits participant roles, not necessarily the source verb's surface syntax. Rebuild the Hungarian noun phrase; do not mechanically turn English “of” phrases into one fixed case.

Participles and participant nouns with -ó/-ő

Productive -ó/-ő forms a present participle describing an ongoing, habitual, or characteristic relation. Used independently, many such forms are lexical nouns naming people, devices, or roles.

A lépcsőházban telefonáló futár az ajtó mellett hagyta a csomagot.

The courier talking on the phone in the stairwell left the parcel by the door.

A jelentést író kolléga ma otthonról dolgozik.

The colleague writing the report is working from home today.

The participle remains verbally active: író licenses accusative a jelentést. Compare lexical író “writer,” which forms a nominal possessive relation in a regény írója “the novel's author.” Olvasó, vezető, nyomtató likewise have conventional meanings that context must supply.

Az új nyomtató kétoldalas módban is gyorsan dolgozik.

The new printer works quickly even in duplex mode.

The suffix does not say “person” by itself: nyomtató names a device, and váró may name a waiting room. Learn lexical nouns as whole entries while retaining the productive participial pattern.

Result nouns with -at/-et

The -at/-et family appears in established deverbal nouns such as irat “document,” mondat “sentence,” and gondolat “thought.” It often denotes a result, product, or conventional unit, but it is far less freely productive than -ás/-és.

A hiányzó irat pótlására harminc napot adtak.

They allowed thirty days for replacing the missing document.

A bekezdés utolsó mondata félreérthető volt.

The last sentence of the paragraph was open to misunderstanding.

There is no reliable procedure that generates a natural -at/-et noun from every verb. Stem shape may also be lexical: irat has short i, while írás has long í, and írat with long í is a causative verb form. This is a genuine memorization burden.

Abstract nouns with -ság/-ség

-ság/-ség commonly forms a noun naming a property or state: szép → szépség, gyors → gyorsaság, pontos → pontosság. At the boundary, consonants can meet or lengthen in spelling: pontos + -ság → pontosság.

Nagyra értékeltük a szerelő gyorsaságát és alaposságát.

We greatly appreciated the mechanic's speed and thoroughness.

The family is productive, especially in abstract (formal/academic) language, but not unlimited. Some results lexicalize: újság usually means “newspaper,” katonaság can mean “the military,” and társaság is “company/group/society,” not a mechanically predictable quality. A theoretically segmentable form may still be absent from actual usage.

Adjectives of characteristic or relation: -s and -i

Adjectival -s expresses a context-dependent association: “having,” “containing,” “equipped with,” or “characterized by.” The base may take a linking vowel or a stem change: cukor → cukros, szemüveg → szemüveges, alma → almás.

Reggel egy cukros kávét és egy sajtos kiflit kértem.

In the morning I ordered a coffee with sugar and a cheese crescent roll.

The exact relation is lexical: szemüveges nő is a woman wearing glasses, while üveges ajtó is a glazed/glass-paneled door. -s does not translate one English preposition.

Invariant -i forms relational adjectives, especially from places, institutions, and time expressions: városi, egyetemi, nyári, budapesti. These usually classify rather than describe a gradable quality.

A budapesti egyetemi könyvtár nyári nyitvatartása megváltozott.

The summer opening hours of the university library in Budapest have changed.

Hungarian normally lowercases budapesti, unlike English “Budapest” in attributive use. Not every final i is this suffix: the surname Petőfi must not be reanalyzed productively.

Absence with -tlan/-tlen

The privative family means “without, lacking, free of” and occurs as -tlan/-tlen, -atlan/-etlen, and in some lexical formations -talan/-telen. Harmony matters, but the choice of expanded shape also depends on the base and established word.

A magyarázat érthető volt, de a hozzá tartozó ábra teljesen haszontalan.

The explanation was understandable, but the accompanying diagram was completely useless.

A recepciós udvarias maradt a türelmetlen vendégekkel is.

The receptionist remained polite even with the impatient guests.

Reménytelen, barátságtalan, sótlan, érthetetlen illustrate different boundary shapes. Do not generate the allomorph solely by translating English -less. Several formations also acquire evaluative meanings: barátságtalan is “unfriendly/unwelcoming,” not just literally “friendship-less.”

Measure and extent with -nyi

Invariant -nyi forms an adjective meaning “an amount, size, or extent measured by the base”: órányi “an hour's worth,” maroknyi “a handful of,” tenyérnyi “palm-sized.” The ny is one Hungarian consonant letter (a multigraph) and must remain intact.

Másfél órányi várakozás után végre felszállhattunk a vonatra.

After an hour and a half of waiting, we were finally able to board the train.

A felhők között csak tenyérnyi kék ég látszott.

Only a palm-sized patch of blue sky was visible between the clouds.

-Nyi does not simply equal English “-ful.” Kanálnyi can mean a spoonful or an amount the size of a spoon, with context selecting the interpretation.

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Harmony predicts broad suffix families, but lexical productivity predicts whether speakers actually use the result. Check both before producing a new derived word.

Recursive derivation and outer inflection

Several derivational layers can precede possession and case:

A terv megvalósíthatatlanságáról a szakértők órákig vitatkoztak.

The experts debated the plan's infeasibility for hours.

One useful analysis is meg-valós-ít-hat-atlan-ság-a-ról: verbal prefix + base + causative/verb-forming material + possibility + privative adjective + abstract noun + possession + delative case. The surface word is long, but the outer -áról still does the ordinary work “about its.” Not every speaker actively constructs every historical layer during conversation; lexicalized chunks and productive grammar cooperate.

Segmentation exercise

olvasásunkról = olvas + -ás + -unk + -ról: event noun + first-person plural possession + delative.
nyomtatóinkkal = nyomtat + -ó + -i- + -nk + -val: participant/device noun + possessed plural + possessor + assimilated instrumental.
pontosságát = pontos + -ság + -a + -t: abstract noun + third-person possession + accusative; the boundary yields ss.
budapestiekkel = Budapest + -i + -ek + -vel: relational adjective used substantivally + plural + instrumental; ordinary spelling lowercases the derivative.
reménytelenségből = remény + -telen + -ség + -ből: privative adjective + abstract noun + elative.
kétórányi = két + óra + -nyi: compound measure base + extent adjective.

Common Mistakes

❌ A jelentést írás kolléga szabadságon van.

Incorrect: an event noun cannot directly replace the participle modifying kolléga.

✅ A jelentést író kolléga szabadságon van.

The colleague writing the report is on leave.

❌ Az írat másolatát elküldték az ügyvédnek.

Incorrect for ‘document’: long í produces a different causative verbal form.

✅ Az irat másolatát elküldték az ügyvédnek.

They sent a copy of the document to the lawyer.

❌ Egy Budapest-i kutató tartotta az előadást.

Incorrect ordinary spelling: the relational adjective from Budapest is lowercase and written without a hyphen.

✅ Egy budapesti kutató tartotta az előadást.

A researcher from Budapest gave the lecture.

❌ Két óra-nyi késéssel indult a járat.

Incorrect segmentation in ordinary spelling: -nyi attaches directly, and the measure compound is written together here.

✅ Kétórányi késéssel indult a járat.

The service departed with a two-hour delay.

Key Takeaways

-ás/-és productively names events; -ó/-ő forms participles and many lexical participant/device nouns.
-at/-et result nouns are substantially lexicalized, so learn forms such as irat, mondat, gondolat individually.
-ság/-ség forms abstract nouns; -s and -i form different kinds of relational adjectives.
-tlan/-tlen and its expanded allomorphs mark absence; -nyi marks amount or extent.
Deverbal forms can inherit argument roles, but event nouns use nominal syntax while participles can retain verbal case marking.
Derivation precedes plural, possession, and case; parsing does not guarantee that a theoretically possible formation is an established word.

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