Adjective Usage in Hungarian

Overview

Hungarian adjective usage has a clean but important rule: attributive adjectives (before a noun) do not agree in number or case, but predicative adjectives (after the subject, functioning as the sentence's main information) take the plural marker when the subject is plural. This A1 concept deepens at the CEFR A2 level as learners encounter more complex sentences.

The key principle is positional: where the adjective sits in the sentence determines whether it changes form. This is simpler than most European languages, where adjectives must agree in gender, number, and sometimes case.

Understanding this distinction also clarifies why Hungarian predicative adjectives take plural endings while attributive ones never do — and how this interacts with the zero-copula (dropped van) in third person.

How It Works

Attributive Position: No Agreement

When the adjective comes before the noun, it never changes:

Singular	Plural	Note
szép ház	szép házak	szép unchanged
nagy kutyát látok	nagy kutyákat látok	nagy unchanged, noun takes case
új autóval	új autókkal	új unchanged

Predicative Position: Plural Agreement

When the adjective is the predicate (after the subject, no noun following):

Singular subject	Plural subject
A ház szép.	A házak szépek.
A kutya nagy.	A kutyák nagyok.
A lány magas.	A lányok magasak.
Az alma piros.	Az almák pirosak.

Plural Suffixes Follow Vowel Harmony

Adjective	Plural	Vowel type
szép	szépek	front
nagy	nagyok	back
könnyű	könnyűek	front
piros	pirosak	back
kicsi	kicsik	front

Adjectives and Case

Attributive adjectives never take case suffixes — only the noun does:

• nagy házat (big house-ACC) — nagy stays unchanged
• szép kertben (beautiful garden-in) — szép stays unchanged
• új autóval (new car-with) — új stays unchanged

Examples in Context

Hungarian	English	Note
szép házak	beautiful houses	attributive, no change
nagy kutyát látok	I see a big dog	attributive, no change
A házak szépek.	The houses are beautiful.	predicative plural
A lányok magasak.	The girls are tall.	predicative plural
Régi könyveket olvasok.	I read old books.	attributive, no change
Az almák pirosak.	The apples are red.	predicative plural
Szép napot!	Have a nice day!	attributive, greeting
A feladatok nehezek.	The tasks are difficult.	predicative plural
Kis kutya.	Small dog.	attributive (kis = short form)
A szobák kicsik.	The rooms are small.	predicative plural

Common Mistakes

Adding plural to attributive adjectives

• Wrong: szépek házak
• Right: szép házak
• Why: Attributive adjectives (before the noun) never take plural or case markers.

Forgetting plural on predicative adjectives

• Wrong: A házak szép.
• Right: A házak szépek.
• Why: When the adjective is the predicate and the subject is plural, the adjective must be plural.

Adding case to the adjective

• Wrong: nagy*ot kutyát látok*
• Right: nagy kutyát látok
• Why: Case suffixes go on the noun only, not on the attributive adjective.

Usage Notes

Some adjectives have shortened attributive forms: kicsi → kis (before a noun: kis kutya), but A kutya kicsi. (predicative). Not all adjectives have short forms — this is limited to a few common ones.

When multiple adjectives precede a noun, none of them change: szép nagy piros ház (a beautiful big red house). All stay in base form.

Practice Tips

• Take five adjectives and create both attributive and predicative sentences: Szép ház. / A ház szép. Then make them plural: Szép házak. / A házak szépek.
• Focus on getting the predicative plural suffix right — check vowel harmony for each adjective.
• Read Hungarian texts and identify whether each adjective is attributive or predicative.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Adjectives — the foundational adjective concepts
• Next steps: Comparison — comparative and superlative forms