Cases in Use
Hungarian Grammar 2
Chapter 10 · Cases in Use
🧭 Putting the Cases to Work — Esetek használatban
Nine chapters have given you the parts: the plural, the accusative, the dative, the nine place cases, the other seven endings, the possessives and the postpositions. This last chapter joins them. It shows which case a verb demands, how time expressions choose their cases, what happens after numbers, and then gives you a single procedure for choosing any ending, followed by a clinic of ten typical mistakes and the course recap.
1. What the verb governs
Some verbs demand a particular case, and English often hides it behind a preposition (believe in, afraid of) or none at all (help, meet). Learn each verb with its case, as a pair.
| Case | Verbs | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Accusative | lát, olvas, keres, kér, szeret | Keresem a kulcsomat. · I'm looking for my key. |
| Dative | segít, köszön, válaszol, telefonál, hisz (believe someone) | Hiszek neked. · I believe you. |
| Inessive | hisz (believe in), bízik (trust), reménykedik (hope) | Hiszek benned. · I believe in you. |
| Instrumental | találkozik, beszél, foglalkozik, egyetért | Találkozom Péterrel. · I'm meeting Peter. |
| Sublative | gondol (think of), számít (count on), figyel (pay attention to), vigyáz (look after), emlékszik (remember) | Rád gondolok. · I'm thinking of you. |
| Delative | beszél (about), álmodik (dream about), hall (hear about), olvas (read about) | Beszélünk a filmről. · We're talking about the film. |
| Ablative | fél (be afraid of), függ (depend on), kap (receive from), kérdez (ask), tanul (learn from) | Félek a kutyától. · I'm afraid of the dog. |
| Elative | áll (consist of), él (live on), vizsgázik (take an exam in) | Magyarból vizsgázom. · I'm taking a Hungarian exam. |
| Causal-final | fizet (pay for), megy (go to fetch), harcol (fight for) | A kenyérért megyek. · I'm going to get the bread. |
2. Cases in time expressions
Time words use a mixture of cases. Learn them as set groups.
| Kind of time | Pattern | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Clock times | -kor (Chapter 7) | háromkor · fél háromkor · hétkor |
| Days | superessive -on / -en / -ön / -n | hétfőn · kedden · szerdán · csütörtökön · pénteken · szombaton |
| Sunday, parts of the day | no ending | vasárnap · reggel · délután · este |
| Seasons | mixed, learn each | tavasszal · nyáron · ősszel · télen |
| Months and years | inessive -ban / -ben | szeptemberben · májusban · 2026-ban |
| This, next, last | superessive for weeks, inessive for months | jövő héten · múlt héten · jövő hónapban · jövőre |
| By a deadline | sublative -ra / -re | szombatra · holnapra |
| How long | accusative · -ig · alatt · át | két órát · két óráig · két óra alatt · két órán át |
| Ago | possessed -e · instrumental | két hete · két héttel ezelőtt |
| Every | minden + singular | minden nap · minden hétfőn |
3. Cases after numbers and quantity words
After a number, sok (many), néhány (a few) or minden (every), the noun stays singular and takes the case normally.
| Hungarian | English |
|---|---|
| két házban | in two houses |
| három barátommal | with three of my friends |
| sok könyvet | many books (object) |
| minden házban | in every house |
| néhány kábellel | with a few cables |
A number can also describe a group of people with -an / -en: Hányan vagytok? (How many of you are there?) and Négyen vagyunk. (There are four of us.) Numbers take case endings too: háromra (by three o'clock, for three).
4. The decision procedure, worked through
Take the sentence "After lunch I go to my friends' place with my sister by bus." Each phrase answers one of the questions in the rule box.
| English | Job | Hungarian | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| after lunch | time, "after" | ebéd után | 9 |
| by bus | means of transport | busszal | 7 |
| to my friends' place | "to a person's place" | a barátaimhoz | 5, 8 |
| with my sister | accompaniment | a húgommal | 7, 8 |
Full sentence: Ebéd után busszal megyek a barátaimhoz a húgommal.
A second example with an object, a place and a verb of placing: "We put the cables from the box into the cupboard." The cables are definite (a kábeleket, Chapter 2), the box is an enclosed space ("out of"), the cupboard is an enclosed space ("into"), and the verb is definite because the object is: A kábeleket a dobozból a szekrénybe tesszük.
5. Error clinic: ten common mistakes
Each wrong sentence is a mistake that learners make. Try to fix it before you read the right column.
| Wrong | Right | Why | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Megyek a barátomnak. | Megyek a barátomhoz. | direction, not a receiver | 3, 5 |
| Az iskolába vagyok. | Az iskolában vagyok. | static, so "in" | 4 |
| a nagyban házban | a nagy házban | adjectives take no case | 1 |
| Kapok a barátomból. | Kapok a barátomtól. | a person is the source | 6 |
| három házak | három ház | singular after a number | 1 |
| Látok a házamat. | Látom a házamat. | possessed object is definite | 8 |
| Beszélek magyaron. | Beszélek magyarul. | languages take -ul / -ül | 7 |
| A vonatban vagyok. | A vonaton vagyok. | transport takes the surface case | 4 |
| az asztalon alatt | az asztal alatt | postposition follows a bare noun | 9 |
| házval | házzal | the v copies a final consonant | 7 |
6. A short text to read
Read the text, then look at the table underneath to see which case each phrase uses.
| Phrase | Case or postposition | Chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Hétfőn | superessive (day) | 4, 10 |
| busszal | instrumental | 7 |
| az egyetemre | sublative | 5 |
| az egyetemen | superessive | 4 |
| a barátommal | possessive + instrumental | 7, 8 |
| a könyvtárba | illative | 5 |
| a könyvtárban | inessive | 4 |
| három könyvet | accusative after a number | 2, 10 |
| a háborúról | delative (about) | 6 |
| Ebéd után | postposition | 9 |
| a szüleimnek | possessive + dative | 3, 8 |
| szombaton | superessive (day) | 10 |
| Szegedre | sublative (a town) | 5 |
| Péntekig | terminative | 7 |
| vonattal | instrumental | 7 |
🗣️ In Use — Használatban
Cases working together in short exchanges.
① How many of you?
② Arrival
③ The weekend
📋 Quick Reference — Gyorstábla
The whole case system in one table.
| Case | Suffix | Meaning | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | none | subject; dictionary form | 1 |
| Accusative | -t (with linking vowels) | object; duration; measure | 2 |
| Dative | -nak / -nek | to, for (a person); owner | 3 |
| Inessive · Superessive · Adessive | -ban/-ben · -on/-en/-ön/-n · -nál/-nél | in · on · at | 4 |
| Illative · Sublative · Allative | -ba/-be · -ra/-re · -hoz/-hez/-höz | into · onto · to | 5 |
| Elative · Delative · Ablative | -ból/-ből · -ról/-ről · -tól/-től | out of · off, about · from | 6 |
| Instrumental | -val / -vel | with, by means of | 7 |
| Translative | -vá / -vé | becoming | 7 |
| Causal-final | -ért | for, in exchange for, to fetch | 7 |
| Terminative | -ig | until, as far as, for (duration) | 7 |
| Essive | -ul / -ül · -ként | in a language · as | 7 |
| Temporal | -kor | at (a time) | 7 |
| Possessive endings | -m, -d, -a/-ja, -unk, -tok, -uk; plural -i- | my, your, his/her, our, your, their | 8 |
| Postpositions | noun + word | under, behind, before, after, without | 9 |
✏️ Try It Yourself — Gyakorlás
Mixed practice from the whole course. Say the answer first, then click to check.
1. "To school."
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iskolába.
2. "At university."
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az egyetemen.
3. "From my friend" (a gift from my friend).
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a barátomtól.
4. "With my sister" (younger sister, húg).
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a húgommal.
5. "In two houses."
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két házban. Singular after a number.
6. "There are four of us."
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Négyen vagyunk.
7. "On Saturday" and "in September".
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szombaton and szeptemberben.
8. "I believe you" and "I believe in you".
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Hiszek neked. and Hiszek benned.
9. "She is looking for her keys" (her = hers, kulcs keys as one object).
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Keresi a kulcsát. A possessed object is definite.
10. "I'll wait for you at the entrance."
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A bejáratnál várlak. -nál for "at", and várlak for "I … you".
🎓 Course Complete — Hungarian Grammar 2
| Chapter | Title | The key idea |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | How Cases Work | stem + plural + possessive + case; the map of all cases |
| 2 | The Accusative | -t, linking vowels, changing stems, pronouns |
| 3 | The Dative and "Of" | -nak / -nek, -é, "called", verbs that take the dative |
| 4 | Where? In, On, At | -ban, -on, -nál, and which place takes which |
| 5 | Where To? | -ba, -ra, -hoz, matched to Chapter 4 |
| 6 | Where From? | -ból, -ról, -tól, and the complete 3 × 3 grid |
| 7 | Instrumental, Translative and the Rest | -val, -vá, -ért, -ig, -ul, -ként, -kor |
| 8 | Possession and Cases Together | the possessive endings, -i-, cases after possessives, van / nincs |
| 9 | Postpositions | alatt, mögött, után, nélkül, and their personal forms |
| 10 | Cases in Use | verb government, time, numbers, a decision procedure |