Participles in Hungarian

In Brief

Hungarian participles are verb forms used mainly like adjectives: olvasó ember “a person who is reading,” írt levél “a written letter,” and megoldandó feladat “a task to be solved.” The main endings are -ó/-ő for an active or characteristic action, -t/-tt for a completed action or its result, and -andó/-endő for something expected, required, or still to be done.

Overview

A participle is a form built from a verb but used to describe a noun (a word for a person, thing, place, or idea). English has comparable forms in phrases such as “a sleeping child,” “a written agreement,” and “work to be completed.” Hungarian uses participles for the same broad purpose, but it often packs an entire English relative clause—“who is reading” or “that was signed”—into the words placed before a noun.

Participles are introduced here at B2 because they are especially important in newspapers, instructions, formal correspondence, and academic or administrative writing. They also occur in ordinary vocabulary: repülőgép “airplane,” mosógép “washing machine,” író “writer,” and vezető “leader or driver.” Recognizing them helps you unpack long Hungarian noun phrases from right to left.

Hungarian calls these adjective-like forms melléknévi igenevek. A relative clause (a clause that identifies or describes a noun) can often be replaced by one of them: az ember, aki olvas becomes az olvasó ember. This compression is useful, but it is not always the most natural option in conversation. A full clause is often clearer when the description is long, highly specific, or needs an explicit tense.

How It Works

The three main forms

Form	Ending	Basic viewpoint	Typical English rendering
Present participle	-ó/-ő	active, ongoing, repeated, or functional	doing; who/that does
Past participle	-t/-tt	completed action or resulting state	done; that was done
Future or necessive participle	-andó/-endő	pending, intended, required, or expected action	to be done; that must be done

The labels “present,” “past,” and “future” are convenient, but they do not function exactly like three ordinary tenses. The noun phrase and the surrounding sentence establish the actual time. For example, a tegnap érkező vendég means “the guest who arrived yesterday,” although érkező is called a present participle. Think primarily in terms of the action’s relationship to the noun: active or characteristic, completed, or pending.

Present participle: -ó/-ő

Add -ó or -ő according to vowel harmony. In broad terms, back-vowel stems take -ó, while front-vowel stems take -ő.

Verb	Participle	Example	Meaning
olvas “read”	olvasó	olvasó ember	person who is reading / reads
érkezik “arrive”	érkező	érkező vonat	arriving train
repül “fly”	repülő	repülő gép	flying machine
dolgozik “work”	dolgozó	dolgozó emberek	people who work / working people
vezet “lead, drive”	vezető	vezető szerep	leading role

This form can describe an action happening at a particular time, but it also expresses a habitual activity, purpose, or function. Thus mosógép is not necessarily a machine washing at this moment; it is a machine whose function is to wash. Many -ó/-ő forms have become established nouns: író “writer,” olvasó “reader,” tanuló “pupil,” and eladó “sales assistant” or “for sale,” depending on context.

Several common verbs have stem changes that must be learned as complete forms:

Verb	Participle	Meaning
megy	menő	going; fashionable (lexical meaning)
jön	jövő	coming; future
eszik	evő	eating; eater
iszik	ivó	drinking; drinking place
tesz	tevő	doing, placing
vesz	vevő	buying; buyer, customer

A verbal prefix normally remains attached when there is no grammatical reason to separate it: belépő vendég “guest entering,” elinduló vonat “train departing,” megérkező csomag “parcel arriving.” Because prefixes can add completion or direction, író and megíró do not mean exactly the same thing: the latter presents the writing as reaching completion.

Past participle: -t/-tt

The past participle normally has the same shape as the third-person singular indefinite past form: ír → írt, olvas → olvasott, zár → zárt, készít → készített. If you already know the Hungarian past tense, that knowledge gives you the form; its position before a noun tells you that it is functioning as a participle.

Verb	Past participle	Example	Meaning
ír “write”	írt	írt levél	written letter
megír “write, complete”	megírt	megírt levél	letter that has been written
bezár “close”	bezárt	bezárt üzlet	closed shop
elolvas “read through”	elolvasott	elolvasott könyv	book that has been read
készít “make”	készített	kézzel készített tárgy	handmade object

The described noun is usually the participant affected by a transitive action: someone writes the letter, and the letter is what gets written. With some intransitive verbs (verbs that do not take a direct object), the form describes a completed event or resulting state: a megérkezett vendégek “the guests who have arrived,” a lehullott levelek “the fallen leaves.”

Prefixes are particularly common because they present the event as completed: megírt, elolvasott, bezárt, elkészített. The unprefixed írt levél is possible, but megírt levél more clearly means a completed letter; the best choice depends on the verb and intended viewpoint.

Do not assume that every English “-ed” adjective is freely created from a Hungarian verb. Some states have an established adjective or another construction. Learn frequent combinations as phrases, and use a relative clause when a newly coined participle feels forced.

Future or necessive participle: -andó/-endő

Add -andó after a back-vowel stem and -endő after a front-vowel stem. This form marks an action as pending, intended, expected, or necessary. It often corresponds to English “to be …,” “that needs to be …,” or “that must be ….”

Verb	Form	Example	Natural translation
megold “solve”	megoldandó	megoldandó feladat	task to be solved
elintéz “deal with”	elintézendő	elintézendő ügy	matter to deal with
fizet “pay”	fizetendő	fizetendő összeg	amount payable
követ “follow”	követendő	követendő példa	example to follow
kerül “be placed”	kerülendő	kerülendő kifejezés	expression to be avoided

This is not the ordinary way to say that something simply will happen. A vonat indulni fog means “the train will leave”; az indítandó vonat would describe a train that is to be dispatched and belongs to a formal, planned context. The participle frequently has a passive-like meaning, even though Hungarian generally prefers other strategies to a full passive construction.

Some frequent forms are partly lexicalized and may not be fully predictable from an English gloss: teendő means “task, thing to be done,” mondandó means “what someone has to say,” and jövendő is a literary or elevated word meaning “future” or “future, forthcoming.”

Position, plural, and case

Before a noun, a participle behaves like an attributive adjective (an adjective placed directly before its noun). It does not copy the noun’s plural or case ending:

• az érkező vendég — the arriving guest
• az érkező vendégek — the arriving guests
• az érkező vendégeket — the arriving guests as direct object

Only vendég changes. The participle remains érkező. This differs from English mainly in visibility: Hungarian can stack many suffixes on the noun, while the preceding modifier stays unchanged.

A participle can keep the complements required by its verb. A direct object (the person or thing directly affected by an action) normally keeps the accusative -t:

• a könyvet olvasó diák — the student reading the book
• a levelet megíró titkár — the secretary who writes/completes the letter

Other details also stand before the participle:

• a Budapesten dolgozó orvos — the doctor working in Budapest
• a tegnap megérkezett csomag — the parcel that arrived yesterday
• az Anna által írt cikk — the article written by Anna

The noun being described comes last. When such a phrase becomes long, first find that final noun, then identify the participle, and finally connect the words before the participle to its underlying verb.

Participle or relative clause?

Hungarian	English	Note
a könyvet olvasó lány	the girl reading the book	Compact participial phrase
a lány, aki a könyvet olvassa	the girl who is reading the book	Full relative clause; explicit and conversational
az Anna által írt cikk	the article written by Anna	Compact, relatively formal
a cikk, amelyet Anna írt	the article that Anna wrote	Full clause; often easier to process

Neither structure is automatically better. Participles make prose compact; relative clauses make grammatical relationships and time easier to state explicitly.

Examples in Context

Hungarian	English	Note
Az olvasó ember nem hallotta a kérdést.	The person who was reading did not hear the question.	-ó describes the active person.
A repülő gép hamarosan leszáll.	The flying machine will land soon.	Written separately to show the phrase; repülőgép is the normal compound “airplane.”
A Budapesten dolgozó barátom meglátogatott.	My friend who works in Budapest visited me.	A location belongs to the participial phrase.
A tegnap érkező vendég már elutazott.	The guest who arrived yesterday has already left.	The “present” participle can receive past time from tegnap.
A könyvet olvasó diák jegyzetelt.	The student reading the book took notes.	könyvet remains accusative.
Megtaláltam az elveszett kulcsot.	I found the lost key.	Completed event/result.
Ez az Anna által írt levél.	This is the letter written by Anna.	The agent is expressed with által.
A bezárt üzlet előtt várakoztunk.	We waited in front of the closed shop.	bezárt describes the resulting state.
Az elolvasott könyveket visszavittem.	I returned the books I had read.	Number and case are marked on könyveket.
Még sok megoldandó feladatunk van.	We still have many tasks to solve.	Pending necessity.
A fizetendő összeg a számla alján található.	The amount payable is shown at the bottom of the invoice.	Typical administrative use.
Írd össze az elintézendő ügyeket!	Make a list of the matters that need dealing with.	Formal but common office vocabulary.
Ez követendő példa lehet.	This may be an example worth following.	Recommendation, not merely future time.
Nincs több mondandóm.	I have nothing more to say.	mondandó used as a noun with a possessive suffix.

Common Mistakes

Treating -ó/-ő as a literal English progressive

• Wrong idea: érkező must always mean “is arriving right now.”
• Better analysis: a tegnap érkező vendég can mean “the guest who arrived yesterday.”
• Why: The traditional name “present participle” does not fix calendar time. Time expressions and the main verb supply the time frame.

Making the participle agree with the noun

• Wrong: az érkezők vendégek
• Right: az érkező vendégek
• Why: Before a noun, the participle does not take the plural ending. The noun carries -k and any case suffix. Az érkezők is different: it means “those who are arriving,” with the noun omitted.

Dropping the object’s accusative ending

• Wrong: a könyv olvasó diák
• Right: a könyvet olvasó diák
• Why: The underlying relationship is still könyvet olvas “reads a book.” Turning olvas into olvasó does not remove the object marker -t.

Using -andó/-endő for every future event

• Wrong for a neutral prediction: a holnap esendő eső
• Right: a holnap várható eső “the rain expected tomorrow,” or Holnap esni fog. “It will rain tomorrow.”
• Why: -andó/-endő usually conveys obligation, intention, expectation, or a pending task. It is not a general future tense.

Assuming every -t/-tt word is a passive adjective

• Misleading analysis: a megérkezett vendég means “the guest who was arrived.”
• Right: a megérkezett vendég means “the guest who has arrived.”
• Why: With an intransitive verb, the participle can describe the participant that completed the action, not a passive recipient.

Ignoring stem changes

• Wrong: jönő emberek, esző gyerek
• Right: jövő emberek, evő gyerek
• Why: Several frequent verbs use changed stems. Memorize jövő, menő, evő, ivó, tevő, vevő as high-frequency forms.

Usage Notes

The -ó/-ő form is common in every register, especially in compounds, job titles, labels, and ordinary descriptions. Its exact English translation varies: dolgozó can be “working,” “worker,” or “employee”; vezető can mean “leading,” “leader,” or “driver.” Context tells you whether the form still feels verbal or has become a regular noun or adjective.

Past participles are frequent with verbal prefixes because the prefix often makes the completed result clear: megírt, elkészített, bezárt, elromlott. English speakers may expect a neat active/passive split based only on the ending, but Hungarian interpretation also depends on whether the original verb is transitive and on the meaning of its prefix.

The -andó/-endő form is markedly more common in written, official, technical, and instructional language than in casual speech. A kitöltendő mezők “the fields to be completed” is natural in a form; in conversation, someone may instead say a mezők, amelyeket ki kell tölteni “the fields that must be filled in.” Use the participle when compactness suits the register, not merely because it is shorter.

English often puts a long participial phrase after its noun: “the documents submitted yesterday.” Hungarian normally places the whole modifier before the noun: a tegnap benyújtott dokumentumok. This left-heavy structure is one of the main reading challenges. Do not translate word by word from the beginning; locate dokumentumok first and work backward.

Beyond the Basics: Advanced Use

Participles used without a noun

A participle can be substantivized, meaning that it functions as a noun because the understood noun is omitted. It can then take plural, case, and possessive suffixes:

• az érkezők — those arriving / the arrivals
• a jelentkezőknek — to the applicants
• az elítélt — the convicted person
• a teendőim — my tasks, the things I have to do
• a mondandója — what he or she has to say

This explains why érkező remains unchanged in érkező vendégek, while érkezők is correct when it stands alone.

Negation inside a compressed phrase

Hungarian can place nem inside a participial phrase, especially in careful writing:

• a még el nem olvasott könyv — the book not yet read
• a meg nem oldott probléma — the unresolved problem
• a be nem fizetett számla — the unpaid bill

Notice the frequent separation of a verbal prefix: elolvasott becomes el nem olvasott, and megoldott becomes meg nem oldott. This follows the wider Hungarian pattern in which negation can separate a prefix from its verb. Such constructions are concise but can become dense; a relative clause may be clearer in speech.

Expressing the performer of the action

With a past participle, the performer can be added with által “by,” often in formal prose: a bizottság által elfogadott javaslat “the proposal adopted by the committee.” A personal form such as általam means “by me”: az általam készített fénykép “the photograph taken by me.”

Hungarian often avoids naming the agent when it is obvious or unimportant. If the agent is central, a full active relative clause can sound more direct: a fénykép, amelyet Anna készített “the photograph that Anna took.”

Lexicalization and compounds

Many participles have developed meanings that cannot be recovered by simply adding “-ing” or “-ed”: jövő is “future,” menő can mean “cool, fashionable,” eladó can mean “sales assistant” or “for sale,” and ismerős is not a participle despite a superficially adjective-like role. Compounds may also become standard dictionary words: repülőgép, mosógép, hálószoba. Check spelling because Hungarian compounds are not always written as free adjective–noun phrases.

A neighboring form: -ható/-hető

Do not confuse -andó/-endő with -ható/-hető. The latter usually expresses possibility or suitability:

Hungarian	Meaning	Contrast
olvasható könyv	a readable book / a book that can be read	possibility or quality
elolvasandó könyv	a book to be read	assignment, intention, or necessity
fizethető összeg	an affordable/payable amount	it can be paid
fizetendő összeg	the amount due	it is required to be paid

That contrast is highly useful in instructions and administrative text: possibility is not the same as obligation.

Practice Tips

1. Expand and compress pairs. Rewrite a könyvet olvasó fiú as a fiú, aki a könyvet olvassa, then reverse the process. This trains you to preserve objects and other complements.
2. Sort examples by viewpoint. When reading, label each participle “active/characteristic,” “completed/result,” or “pending/required.” Do not begin with the English tense label.
3. Read long noun phrases from the end. In a bizottság által tegnap elfogadott javaslat, identify javaslat first, then elfogadott, then the agent and time. Build your interpretation outward from that core.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Past Tense — the -t/-tt past forms provide the shape of many completed participles.
• Next step: Adverbial Participle — covers -va/-ve and literary -ván/-vén, which describe manner, simultaneous action, or a resulting state.