A termoszban tea van.

to be

Breakdown of A termoszban tea van.

• az: the
• tea: the tea
• termosz: a thermos flask

Questions & Answers about A termoszban tea van.

What does -ban mean in termoszban?

-ban means in or inside. It is a case ending added directly to the noun.

So:

• termosz = thermos
• termoszban = in the thermos

This is called the inessive case in Hungarian.

Hungarian usually expresses meanings like in, on, to, from, etc. with suffixes rather than separate words.

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Why is it -ban and not -ben?

Hungarian has vowel harmony, which means the form of many endings depends on the vowels in the word.

• -ban is used with words containing mostly back vowels
• -ben is used with words containing mostly front vowels

termosz has the back vowel o, so it takes -ban:

• termoszban

Compare:

• házban = in the house
• kertben = in the garden

So the ending changes to match the word’s vowel pattern.

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Why is there a before termoszban?