Time Expressions in Hungarian

In Brief

Hungarian time expressions often use a suffix where English uses a preposition: háromkor means “at three,” hétfőn means “on Monday,” and januárban means “in January.” Other patterns distinguish frequency (minden nap, every day), duration (egész nap, all day), starting points (óta, since), endpoints (-ig, until), and ranges (-tól/-től ... -ig, from ... to).

Overview

At A1, you learn the names of days and months and how to tell the time. At B1, the important step is combining those basics into precise answers to questions such as mikor? (when?), mióta? (since when?), meddig? (until when?/for how long?), and milyen gyakran? (how often?). Hungarian does this with suffixes attached directly to time words, with postpositions (words placed after a noun), and with standalone adverbs such as tavaly “last year.”

This differs from English in two useful ways. First, there is no single equivalent of English at, on, or in: the form depends on the kind of time reference. Second, Hungarian often leaves the tense to the verb while the time expression supplies the exact perspective. For example, Két éve itt lakom literally uses a present-tense verb and means “I have lived here for two years.”

Learning these expressions as patterns—not as isolated translations—will help you arrange meetings, describe routines, tell stories, and explain how long a situation has continued.

How It Works

A point in time: -kor

Attach -kor to a clock time or another clearly defined occasion. It does not change for vowel harmony (the tendency of Hungarian suffix vowels to match the vowels in the word).

Hungarian	English	Note
háromkor	at three	Common compact clock-time form
három órakor	at three o’clock	More explicit
fél nyolckor	at half past seven	Hungarian fél nyolc is “half toward eight”
délben	at noon	Fixed form; not délkor in ordinary use
éjfélkor	at midnight	-kor is normal here
karácsonykor	at Christmas	An occasion or period treated as a time point

With a full numerical date, -án/-én commonly marks “on”: május 3-án “on May 3.” The ordinal ending and the day suffix are visible in writing. With a year, -ban/-ben means “in”: 2026-ban “in 2026.”

Days, dates, months, and parts of the day

The form is partly conventional, so memorize the question and answer together.

Time category	Typical form	Example	Meaning
Day of the week	-n/-on/-en/-ön	hétfőn	on Monday
Month	-ban/-ben	januárban	in January
Year	-ban/-ben	2026-ban	in 2026
Numerical date	-án/-én	július 12-én	on July 12
Morning	fixed form	reggel	in the morning
Afternoon	fixed form	délután	in the afternoon
Evening	fixed form	este	in the evening
Night	fixed form	éjjel	at night

Hungarian names of days and months normally begin with a lowercase letter: kedden, októberben. Do not automatically copy English capitalization.

Repetition and frequency

Use minden plus a singular time noun for “every”: minden nap, minden héten, minden évben. Although English also uses a singular noun after every, the Hungarian suffix still depends on the expression: nap needs no suffix in minden nap, while hét and év commonly appear as héten and évben.

Hungarian also has compact frequency adverbs ending in -nta/-nte or related forms:

Expression	Meaning	Typical nuance
naponta	daily, per day	neutral; also used for rates
hetente	weekly, every week	repeated frequency
havonta	monthly, every month	repeated frequency
évente	annually, every year	repeated frequency
kétnaponta	every two days	interval between repetitions

Minden nap futok and Naponta futok can both mean “I run every day.” Naponta háromszor is especially natural for a rate: “three times a day.”

Whole periods and measured duration

Use egész “whole/all” for an uninterrupted or complete period: egész nap “all day,” egész héten “all week,” egész évben “all year.” This is not the same as minden, which refers to repeated individual periods.

A measured duration often takes the accusative case (a noun form that commonly marks what an action affects), shown here by -t/-at/-et:

• Két órát vártam. — I waited for two hours.
• Egy hetet maradunk. — We are staying for one week.
• Egész nap dolgozott. — He/She worked all day.

English normally adds for; Hungarian often marks the duration directly on the noun or uses a fixed expression without a visible ending.

Starting points, endpoints, and ranges

Use óta after a starting point when the situation continues from then until the relevant “now”: hétfő óta “since Monday.” Use -ig for an endpoint: ötig “until five,” péntekig “until Friday.” A complete range uses -tól/-től ... -ig; vowel harmony chooses -tól or -től.

Pattern	Hungarian	English
since + starting point	tegnap óta	since yesterday
for + continuing period	két éve	for two years
until + endpoint	este nyolcig	until eight in the evening
from ... to ...	hétfőtől péntekig	from Monday to Friday
from ... to ...	reggeltől estig	from morning to evening

The compact construction két éve literally resembles “two years [ago/in duration]”; with a present-tense state it means the state began two years ago and still holds: Két éve Budapesten élek. “I have been living in Budapest for two years.” Két évig Budapesten éltem, by contrast, presents a two-year period as bounded and normally completed: “I lived in Budapest for two years.”

Relative time: last, next, ago, and from now

Several very common time words are standalone adverbs and take no preposition:

Hungarian	English
tegnap	yesterday
ma	today
holnap	tomorrow
tavaly	last year
idén	this year
jövőre	next year

For a measured distance from the present, use ezelőtt “ago/before this” after the quantity, and múlva “in/from now” after it:

• két nappal ezelőtt — two days ago
• három héttel ezelőtt — three weeks ago
• tíz perc múlva — in ten minutes
• egy év múlva — in a year

Notice nappal and héttel before ezelőtt. These use the instrumental suffix -val/-vel (a form often meaning “with” or expressing an amount of difference); its initial v merges with the preceding consonant. With múlva, the plain time quantity is used.

Examples in Context

Hungarian	English	Note
Három órakor jövök.	I’ll come at three o’clock.	Exact clock time with -kor
A találkozó kedden fél tízkor kezdődik.	The meeting starts at half past nine on Tuesday.	Day plus Hungarian-style half hour
Május 3-án vizsgázom.	I’m taking an exam on May 3.	Numerical date
Minden nap tanulok egy órát.	I study for an hour every day.	Frequency plus measured duration
Naponta kétszer iszom kávét.	I drink coffee twice a day.	Rate with naponta
Egész nap esett az eső.	It rained all day.	Complete period
Tavaly voltam ott először.	I was there for the first time last year.	Standalone past-time adverb
Jövőre új munkát keresek.	I’ll look for a new job next year.	jövőre plus present-form verb with future meaning
Hétfő óta nem működik a lift.	The lift hasn’t worked since Monday.	Continuing state with óta
Két éve magyarul tanulok.	I have been studying Hungarian for two years.	Continuing duration, present tense
Reggeltől estig dolgoztak.	They worked from morning to evening.	Full range
Az üzlet hatig van nyitva.	The shop is open until six.	Endpoint with -ig
Két órát vártam a buszra.	I waited for the bus for two hours.	Accusative duration
Tíz perc múlva visszahívlak.	I’ll call you back in ten minutes.	Time measured forward
Három nappal ezelőtt érkezett.	He/She arrived three days ago.	Time measured backward

Common Mistakes

Using -kor for every kind of “at” or “on”

• Wrong: hétfőkor találkozunk
• Right: hétfőn találkozunk
• Why: -kor is used with clock times and occasions, but ordinary weekdays take -n/-on/-en/-ön.

Applying vowel harmony to -kor

• Wrong: ötkör
• Right: ötkor
• Why: -kor is an invariant suffix; it always keeps o.

Confusing repetition with one complete period

• Wrong: Egész nap járok edzőterembe when you mean “I go to the gym every day.”
• Right: Minden nap járok edzőterembe.
• Why: minden nap describes a repeated routine. egész nap means throughout one whole day.

Translating English “for” with one fixed Hungarian word

• Wrong: Két év óta éltem ott when describing a completed two-year stay.
• Right: Két évig éltem ott.
• Why: óta looks back from a continuing situation; -ig can mark the extent of a bounded period. For an action lasting a measured amount, an accusative duration is also common: két órát vártam.

Using past tense for a situation that still continues

• Wrong: Két éve tanultam magyarul for “I have been studying Hungarian for two years.”
• Right: Két éve tanulok magyarul.
• Why: Hungarian normally uses present tense when the activity began in the past and is still true now. The time expression carries the “for two years” meaning.

Misreading fél nyolc

• Wrong interpretation: 8:30
• Right interpretation: 7:30
• Why: Hungarian counts toward the coming hour: fél nyolc is halfway to eight. Accordingly, fél nyolckor means “at half past seven.”

Usage Notes

Time expressions are flexible in sentence order, but they often appear before the verb or near the beginning when they set the scene: Tavaly sokat utaztam “Last year I travelled a lot.” Moving an expression can change emphasis rather than basic truth: Háromkor indulunk neutrally states the departure time, while Mi háromkor indulunk may contrast our departure with someone else’s.

In timetables and announcements, the 24-hour clock is common: A vonat 18 óra 25 perckor indul “The train departs at 18:25.” In everyday speech, speakers often use negyed, fél, and háromnegyed relative to the next hour: negyed nyolc is 7:15, fél nyolc is 7:30, and háromnegyed nyolc is 7:45. These forms are worth learning as complete units because English organizes quarter-hour expressions differently.

A present-form Hungarian verb can refer to a scheduled or clearly indicated future event: Holnap indulok “I’m leaving tomorrow,” Jövőre költözünk “We’re moving next year.” The time word makes the future reading clear, so fog plus an infinitive is not required.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

amikor, mielőtt, miután, and amíg

Time can also be expressed by a clause (a group of words containing its own verb), not just a noun phrase:

• Amikor hazaértem, már sötét volt. — When I got home, it was already dark.
• Mielőtt elindulsz, hívj fel. — Before you leave, call me.
• Miután befejezte a munkát, hazament. — After he/she finished the work, he/she went home.
• Várj itt, amíg visszajövök. — Wait here until I come back.

Do not confuse amíg “while/until” with the suffix -ig. Both involve a boundary, but amíg introduces a whole clause, whereas -ig attaches to a time noun or number.

Endpoint versus duration

The same -ig suffix can mark either an endpoint or a bounded extent, depending on context:

• Ötig dolgozom. — I work until five.
• Két évig dolgoztam ott. — I worked there for two years.

This is why translating suffixes one word at a time is unreliable. Ask whether the phrase names the finishing point (ötig) or measures the whole bounded span (két évig).

Useful idiomatic extensions

Mostanában means “lately/these days,” nemrég means “recently,” and egyelőre means “for the time being.” Időnként and néha both mean “sometimes,” while ritkán means “rarely.” These do not follow one productive beginner formula, so learn them in short sentences and pay attention to the verb tense around them.

Practice Tips

1. Build a four-column timeline. Write one event with a starting point, an endpoint, a repeated frequency, and a measured duration: hétfő óta, péntekig, naponta, két órát. This prevents English since/for/until from collapsing into one Hungarian pattern.
2. Say clock times aloud in two styles. Practice both hét óra harminckor and fél nyolckor for 7:30. Include appointment sentences rather than memorizing bare numbers.
3. Contrast pairs. Make pairs with minden and egész (minden nap / egész nap), then with continuing and completed duration (két éve tanulok / két évig tanultam). The contrast is easier to retain than either form alone.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Days, Months, and Time — reviews weekday and month names, basic clock time, and the most common calendar forms.