Adjective Usage in Hungarian

In Brief

Before a noun, a Hungarian adjective normally stays in its basic form: szép ház “beautiful house,” szép házak “beautiful houses,” and szép házakat “beautiful houses” as objects. When the adjective is the predicate—when it says what the subject is like—it is plural with a plural subject: A házak szépek “The houses are beautiful.”

Overview

An adjective is a describing word such as “big,” “green,” or “interesting.” Hungarian adjectives often come before a noun (a word for a person, place, thing, or idea), much as they do in English: egy érdekes könyv means “an interesting book.” The important difference is that Hungarian puts grammatical endings on the noun, not on an adjective directly before it.

At A2, the useful distinction is between attributive use (an adjective placed directly before and describing a noun) and predicative use (an adjective forming the statement made about the subject). Compare szép házak “beautiful houses” with A házak szépek “The houses are beautiful.” The first szép does not change; the second becomes szépek because the subject is plural.

English adjectives usually stay unchanged in both positions, so an English-speaking learner has to develop one new habit: look for a plural ending on a predicate adjective, but do not copy the noun’s endings onto an adjective before that noun. Hungarian has no grammatical gender, so there is no masculine–feminine adjective agreement to learn.

How It Works

The beginner rule

Ask where the adjective is and what job it is doing.

Pattern	Hungarian	What happens
adjective + singular noun	szép ház	The adjective stays basic.
adjective + plural noun	szép házak	Only the noun marks the plural.
adjective + noun with a case ending	szép házban	The ending goes on the noun.
singular subject + predicate adjective	A ház szép.	The adjective is singular.
plural subject + predicate adjective	A házak szépek.	The adjective takes a plural ending.

A case ending is a suffix that shows a noun’s role or relation, often expressing meanings covered by English prepositions: házban “in the house,” házból “out of the house,” or házat “house” as the direct object (the person or thing directly affected by the action).

Before a noun: one unchanged adjective

An adjective directly before a noun does not agree with that noun in number or case. It remains in the dictionary form, while the noun carries the necessary endings.

Meaning	Hungarian	Ending carrier
a big dog	egy nagy kutya	none needed
big dogs	nagy kutyák	plural -k on kutya
I see a big dog	nagy kutyát látok	object ending -t on kutya
with big dogs	nagy kutyákkal	plural and “with” endings on kutya
in the old houses	a régi házakban	plural and “in” endings on ház

This is true even when several adjectives describe the same noun:

• egy szép, régi ház — a beautiful old house
• szép, régi házak — beautiful old houses
• a szép, régi házakban — in the beautiful old houses

Neither szép nor régi copies the noun’s suffixes.

Hungarian normally places a neutral descriptive adjective before its noun: hideg víz “cold water,” magas lány “tall girl.” The definite or indefinite article comes first: a magas lány “the tall girl,” egy magas lány “a tall girl.”

After the subject: the adjective is a predicate

A predicate tells us something about the subject (the person or thing the sentence is about). In present-tense third-person sentences, Hungarian normally omits van/vannak “is/are” when the predicate is an adjective or noun:

• A ház szép. — The house is beautiful.
• A házak szépek. — The houses are beautiful.

The adjective is singular with a singular subject and plural with a plural subject.

Basic adjective	Singular predicate	Plural predicate
szép — beautiful	A ház szép.	A házak szépek.
magas — tall	A lány magas.	A lányok magasak.
nagy — big	A szoba nagy.	A szobák nagyok.
jó — good	A film jó.	A filmek jók.
boldog — happy	A gyerek boldog.	A gyerekek boldogok.

Plural forms follow Hungarian vowel harmony and normal stem patterns, so the ending appears in forms such as -ak, -ek, or -ok. It is best to learn frequent plural predicates in complete pairs—magas → magasak, szép → szépek, nagy → nagyok—rather than choosing an ending from spelling alone.

Person also affects the verb “to be”

With first- and second-person subjects, the appropriate form of lenni “to be” is present. The adjective itself remains singular or plural according to the subject:

Hungarian	English
Én fáradt vagyok.	I am tired.
Te kedves vagy.	You are kind.
Mi fáradtak vagyunk.	We are tired.
Ti kedvesek vagytok.	You are kind.

Do not generalize the omission in A ház szép to every person. It is specifically the present-tense third-person copula (the linking verb meaning “is/are”) that disappears in this type of sentence.

Examples in Context

Hungarian	English	Note
Egy új telefont vettem.	I bought a new phone.	Új stays basic before the object telefont.
Olcsó éttermeket keresünk.	We are looking for inexpensive restaurants.	Only the noun marks plural and object case.
A kis parkban találkozunk.	We are meeting in the small park.	The “in” ending is on parkban.
Friss kenyeret kérek.	I would like fresh bread.	Attributive adjective; object ending on kenyeret.
A kávé forró.	The coffee is hot.	Singular predicate.
A levesek forrók.	The soups are hot.	Plural predicate forrók.
Ez a feladat könnyű.	This exercise is easy.	Singular subject and predicate.
Ezek a feladatok könnyűek.	These exercises are easy.	Plural predicate könnyűek.
A lányok magasak.	The girls are tall.	Plural subject requires magasak.
A házak szépek, de drágák.	The houses are beautiful but expensive.	Both predicate adjectives are plural.
Mi ma nagyon fáradtak vagyunk.	We are very tired today.	Plural adjective plus vagyunk.
A gyerek beteg volt.	The child was ill.	Past volt is expressed; adjective is singular.
A gyerekek betegek voltak.	The children were ill.	Both predicate adjective and past verb are plural.
A piros almákat választom.	I am choosing the red apples.	Piros stays unchanged before almákat.

Notice that words such as nagyon “very” can modify a predicate adjective without changing the agreement pattern: A szoba nagyon világos “The room is very bright,” but A szobák nagyon világosak “The rooms are very bright.”

Common Mistakes

Making an attributive adjective plural

• Wrong: szépek házak
• Right: szép házak
• Why: Before a noun, the adjective does not copy the noun’s plural ending. Szépek belongs in a predicate such as A házak szépek.

Putting the case ending on both words

• Wrong: nagyot kutyát látok
• Right: nagy kutyát látok
• Why: Here “big” directly describes kutya, so only the noun takes the object ending -t. The phrase means “I see a big dog.”

Leaving a plural predicate singular

• Wrong: A lányok magas.
• Right: A lányok magasak.
• Why: The adjective is the predicate of the plural subject a lányok, so it must be plural.

Using vannak in a simple present description

• Wrong: A házak szépek vannak.
• Right: A házak szépek.
• Why: Present third-person van/vannak is omitted when an adjective simply identifies a quality of the subject. Hungarian does use van/vannak for location or existence, as in A házak a folyó mellett vannak “The houses are beside the river.”

Omitting “to be” with every person or tense

• Wrong: Mi fáradtak.
• Right: Mi fáradtak vagyunk.
• Why: With mi “we,” use vagyunk. Past and future descriptions also express the verb: fáradtak voltunk “we were tired,” fáradtak leszünk “we will be tired.”

Usage Notes

Hungarian often uses an adjective before a noun for a neutral description: egy érdekes könyv “an interesting book.” A full predicate sentence makes an assertion and can sound more contrastive: A könyv érdekes “The book is interesting.” The difference is not merely word order; the two structures do different jobs.

Adverbs such as nagyon “very,” elég “quite/enough,” and túl “too” normally stand before the adjective: nagyon szép ház “a very beautiful house,” A ház túl drága “The house is too expensive.” In the attributive phrase, the whole description still remains before the noun.

Hungarian adjective agreement marks number in the predicate, but not gender. The same magas can describe a man, woman, building, or tree. This makes Hungarian simpler than languages with masculine and feminine adjective forms, although the plural predicate is a feature English does not have.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all of the following at A2, but these patterns explain forms you will meet later.

Adjectives used as nouns take endings

An adjective can stand on its own when the omitted noun is understood. It then behaves more like a noun and can take plural and case endings:

• A pirosat kérem. — I would like the red one.
• A nagyobbakat választottuk. — We chose the bigger ones.
• A fiatalok gyakran itt találkoznak. — Young people often meet here.

This does not contradict the basic rule. In piros almát, piros is attached to the following noun and stays unchanged. In a pirosat, there is no spoken noun, so piros itself carries the object ending.

Predicate adjectives in other tenses

In past and future descriptions, forms of lenni are stated. Number is visible on both the adjective and the verb with plural subjects:

Time	Singular	Plural
present	A feladat nehéz.	A feladatok nehezek.
past	A feladat nehéz volt.	A feladatok nehezek voltak.
future	A feladat nehéz lesz.	A feladatok nehezek lesznek.

Participles before nouns

Hungarian also places participles—verb-based describing forms—before nouns: az olvasó nő “the woman who is reading,” a tegnap vásárolt könyv “the book bought yesterday.” Like ordinary attributive adjectives, these forms do not copy the noun’s plural or case endings: a tegnap vásárolt könyveket “the books bought yesterday.” Their formation belongs to a later stage, but their position follows a familiar pattern.

Comparison builds on the same contrast

Comparative adjectives in -bb follow the same broad distinction: nagyobb házak “bigger houses,” but A házak nagyobbak “The houses are bigger.” Superlatives similarly appear as a legnagyobb ház “the biggest house.” The details of comparison form the next major adjective topic.

Practice Tips

1. Transform phrases into sentences. Start with szép ház, make it plural as szép házak, then turn it into A házak szépek. Repeat with nagy, magas, drága, and érdekes.
2. Highlight the ending carrier. In phrases such as a régi házakban, underline only házakban. This trains you not to add the noun’s plural or case endings to régi.
3. Learn predicate forms in sentence pairs. Record A film jó / A filmek jók and A feladat könnyű / A feladatok könnyűek. Complete sentences make vowel harmony and irregular-looking forms easier to remember.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Adjectives — introduces common Hungarian adjectives and their usual position before nouns.
• Next step: Comparison — adds comparative -bb and superlative leg- forms while keeping the attributive–predicative contrast.