Postpositions in Hungarian

Overview

While English uses prepositions (words placed before nouns: under the table, behind the house), Hungarian uses postpositions — words placed after the noun they modify. This is consistent with Hungarian's general pattern of placing modifiers after the head word, as seen with case suffixes.

At the CEFR A2 level, learners should master the most common postpositions for spatial relations that cannot be expressed with case suffixes alone: alatt (under), mögött (behind), előtt (before/in front of), között (between), mellett (beside), fölött/felett (above).

Many postpositions come in three-way sets (static, toward, away from), mirroring the case suffix system. The noun before a postposition stays in the nominative (base) form — no case suffix is added.

How It Works

Common Spatial Postpositions (Three-way Sets)

Static (where?)	Toward (where to?)	Away (where from?)	English
alatt	alá	alól	under
mögött	mögé	mögül	behind
előtt	elé	elől	in front of / before
között	közé	közül	between / among
mellett	mellé	mellől	beside / next to
fölött/felett	fölé/felé	fölül/felül	above / over

Noun + Postposition (Nominative!)

Hungarian	English	Note
az asztal alatt	under the table	noun in nominative
a ház mögött	behind the house	noun in nominative
a fák között	between the trees	noun in nominative
az iskola mellett	beside the school	noun in nominative

Time Postpositions

Hungarian	English	Example
előtt	before	ebéd előtt (before lunch)
után	after	ebéd után (after lunch)
alatt	during	a nyár alatt (during the summer)
óta	since	hétfő óta (since Monday)

Examples in Context

Hungarian	English	Note
az asztal alatt	under the table	static
a ház mögött	behind the house	static
a fák között	between the trees	static
az iskola mellett	beside the school	static
az asztal alá	(to) under the table	directional
a ház mögé	(to) behind the house	directional
az asztal alól	from under the table	away
ebéd előtt	before lunch	temporal
ebéd után	after lunch	temporal
a háború óta	since the war	temporal
a híd fölött	above the bridge	spatial
az emberek között	among the people	spatial

Common Mistakes

Adding case suffixes with postpositions

• Wrong: az asztal*on alatt* (on-the-table under)
• Right: az asztal alatt
• Why: Postpositions require the nominative form. Do not combine case suffixes with postpositions.

Placing postpositions before the noun

• Wrong: alatt az asztal
• Right: az asztal alatt
• Why: Hungarian uses postpositions (after the noun), not prepositions. The word order is reversed from English.

Confusing static and directional postpositions

• Wrong: Az asztal alatt teszem. (I put it under the table — static form with motion verb)
• Right: Az asztal alá teszem.
• Why: Motion verbs require directional postpositions (alá = to under), not static ones (alatt = at under).

Not knowing the three-way sets

• Wrong: Using only alatt for all "under" situations
• Right: alatt (at), alá (to), alól (from)
• Why: Like case suffixes, postpositions distinguish static position, motion toward, and motion away.

Usage Notes

Postpositions and case suffixes are complementary systems. Case suffixes handle "in/on/at" and their directional counterparts. Postpositions handle spatial relations not covered by cases: under, behind, beside, between, above.

Some postpositions can be used both spatially and temporally: előtt means "in front of" (spatial) and "before" (temporal). Context makes the meaning clear.

Practice Tips

• Learn postpositions in three-way sets: alatt/alá/alól, mögött/mögé/mögül. Practice each with a motion verb and a static verb.
• Describe the spatial layout of a room using postpositions: A kutya az asztal alatt van. A szék az asztal mellett van.
• Mix case suffixes and postpositions in descriptions: A könyv az asztalon van, a toll az asztal mellett.

Related Concepts

• Next steps: Personal Postpositions — postpositions with personal suffixes (mögöttem, előtted)