Irregular Pasts

Hungarian Grammar 3

Chapter 4 · Irregular and Changing Pasts

🔀 Stems That Change — A szabálytalan igék

Chapters 2 and 3 gave you the regular past. Some of the most frequent verbs do not follow it, because their stem changes before the past marker: megy becomes ment-, tesz becomes tett-, jön becomes jött-. They are only a few dozen verbs, but you will use them every day. This chapter sorts them into groups so that each group is one pattern to learn, not a list of surprises.

The rule in one box The irregular verbs still take the same past endings as the regular ones (-m, -l, nothing, -nk, -tok, -k after the marker), in both conjugations. What changes is the stem plus marker: megy → ment-, tesz → tett-, vesz → vett-, visz → vitt-, jön → jött-, lesz → lett-. Learn the 1st-person and 3rd-person singular together; the other persons follow.

1. The sz-verbs: tesz, vesz, visz, hisz, lesz

Seven common verbs have an unstable root with sz in the present. Five of them turn the sz into tt in the past: tesz (put), vesz (take, buy), visz (carry), hisz (believe) and lesz (become, will be). The other two, eszik and iszik, you met in Chapter 2.

Person	tesz (put)	vesz (take, buy)	visz (carry)	lesz (become)
I	tettem	vettem	vittem	lettem
you (sg)	tettél	vettél	vittél	lettél
he, she	tett	vett	vitt	lett
we	tettünk	vettünk	vittünk	lettünk
you (pl)	tettetek	vettetek	vittetek	lettetek
they	tettek	vettek	vittek	lettek

The definite past of the first three is the usual set, built on the same stem: tettem, tetted, tette, tettük, tettétek, tették; vettem, vetted, vette, vettük, vettétek, vették; vittem, vitted, vitte, vittük, vittétek, vitték. Lesz and hisz take a dative or a noun, not a direct object, so they use the indefinite set.

Hungarian	English	Conjugation
Vettem egy telefont.	I bought a phone.	indefinite object
Vettem a telefont.	I bought the phone.	definite object (same form in the 1st person)
A telefont az asztalra tettem.	I put the phone on the table.	definite
A kulcsot a táskába tetted?	Did you put the key in the bag?	definite, 2nd person: tetted
Vittem egy könyvet.	I took (carried) a book.	indefinite object
Nem hittem neki.	I didn't believe him/her.	dative, so indefinite
Orvos lett.	He/she became a doctor.	no object

Watch out: vett and vitt, tett and hitt vett (bought, took) and vitt (carried) differ by one vowel, and so do lett (became) and tett (put). Learn them with a verb you remember: vesz → vett (e), visz → vitt (i). The infinitives show the vowels too: venni (to take, buy), vinni (to carry), tenni (to put), lenni (to be, to become).

lenni is the infinitive of both van and lesz van (is) and lesz (will be, becomes) share the infinitive lenni, but their pasts differ: volt for "was" and lett for "became". Compare Hideg volt (It was cold) with Hideg lett (It got cold) and Mi lett belőle? (What became of it?).

2. megy and jön

Two basic verbs of motion change their stems completely. Megy uses ment- in the past and jön uses jött-, and neither takes an object, so only the indefinite set exists.

Person	megy (go)	jön (come)
I	mentem	jöttem
you (sg)	mentél	jöttél
he, she	ment	jött
we	mentünk	jöttünk
you (pl)	mentetek	jöttetek
they	mentek	jöttek

Hungarian	English
Tegnap moziba mentem.	I went to the cinema yesterday.
Honnan jöttél?	Where did you come from?
Jött egy levél.	A letter came.
Busszal mentek.	They went by bus.

Watch out: mentek means two things mentek is both the 3rd person plural past ("they went") and the 2nd person plural present ("you (pl) go"). The context and any time word tell you which: Tegnap mentek (they went yesterday) against Ti hova mentek? (Where are you going?).

3. fekszik, alszik and esik

Three -ik verbs with sz in the present change it in the past. Alszik (sleep) becomes aludt- (Chapter 2); fekszik (lie) becomes feküdt-; esik (fall, rain) takes est- before the endings and esett in the 3rd person singular.

Person	fekszik (lie)	esik (fall; rain)
I	feküdtem	estem
you (sg)	feküdtél	estél
he, she, it	feküdt	esett
we	feküdtünk	estünk
you (pl)	feküdtetek	estetek
they	feküdtek	estek

The 3rd person of esik is the one you hear most: Tegnap esett az eső (It rained yesterday). Another common -ik verb, tetszik (be pleasing), is regular in the past: A film tetszett nekem (I liked the film).

4. Vowel stems

A few short verbs end in a long vowel and double the marker: lő (shoot), nő (grow), fő (boil). They behave as in Chapter 2.

Person	lő	nő
I	lőttem	nőttem
he, she	lőtt	nőtt
they	lőttek	nőttek

5. Verbs with -ott- or -ett- in every person

Some regular-looking verbs insert -ott- / -ett- / -ött- in the whole paradigm, not only in the 3rd person. Chapter 3 introduced hall and the -ít verbs. The group also includes several short verbs.

Verb	I	he, she	English
hall	hallottam	hallott	hear
fut	futottam	futott	run
süt	sütöttem	sütött	bake; shine
nyit	nyitottam	nyitott	open
tanít	tanítottam	tanított	teach
segít	segítettem	segített	help

6. Modal verbs in the past

The verbs of wanting, being able and having to are among the most frequent in the past. Akar and tud follow the regular pattern; kell and lehet exist only in the 3rd person and take -ett, and szabad forms its past with volt. Chapter 5 returns to these with the infinitive.

Present	Past	Example
akar	akartam · akart	Nem akartam menni. · I didn't want to go.
tud	tudtam · tudott	Nem tudtam jönni. · I couldn't come.
kell	kellett	Dolgozni kellett. · I/we/he had to work.
lehet	lehetett	Lehetett parkolni? · Was it possible to park?
szabad	szabad volt	Szabad volt bemenni. · We were allowed to go in.

7. The most-used irregular verbs at a glance

Use this table as a reference: each row gives the dictionary entry, the infinitive, the 1st and 3rd person singular indefinite past, and the 3rd person singular definite past where the verb can take an object.

Verb	Infinitive	I	he, she	he, she (definite)	English
van	lenni	voltam	volt	—	be
lesz	lenni	lettem	lett	—	become
megy	menni	mentem	ment	—	go
jön	jönni	jöttem	jött	—	come
tesz	tenni	tettem	tett	tette	put
vesz	venni	vettem	vett	vette	take, buy
visz	vinni	vittem	vitt	vitte	carry
hisz	hinni	hittem	hitt	—	believe
eszik	enni	ettem	evett	ette	eat
iszik	inni	ittam	ivott	itta	drink
alszik	aludni	aludtam	aludt	—	sleep
fekszik	feküdni	feküdtem	feküdt	—	lie
esik	esni	estem	esett	—	fall; rain
lát	látni	láttam	látott	látta	see
mond	mondani	mondtam	mondott	mondta	say
ad	adni	adtam	adott	adta	give
tud	tudni	tudtam	tudott	tudta	know; can
hall	hallani	hallottam	hallott	hallotta	hear
fut	futni	futottam	futott	—	run
áll	állni	álltam	állt	—	stand
lő	lőni	lőttem	lőtt	lőtte	shoot
nő	nőni	nőttem	nőtt	—	grow

🗣️ In Use — Használatban

The irregular pasts in short exchanges.

① Shopping

A: Hova mentél tegnap? Where did you go yesterday?

B: A boltba mentem, és vettem egy telefont. I went to the shop and bought a phone.

A: Mit vettél még? What else did you buy?

B: Vettem kenyeret is, és hoztam kávét. I bought bread too, and I brought coffee.

② Where did you put it?

A: Hová tetted a kulcsot? Where did you put the key?

B: A táskámba tettem. I put it in my bag.

③ What became of him?

A: Mi lett belőle? What became of him?

B: Orvos lett. He became a doctor.

A: Én nem hittem, hogy sikerül neki. I didn't believe he'd manage it.

B: Én hittem benne. I believed in him.

📋 Quick Reference — Gyorstábla

Group	Pattern	Examples
sz-verbs	sz → tt	tesz → tett- · vesz → vett- · visz → vitt- · hisz → hitt- · lesz → lett-
eszik, iszik	et- / it- and ev- / iv- in the 3rd sg	ettem, evett · ittam, ivott
Motion	new stem	megy → ment- · jön → jött-
-szik / -ik verbs	sz → d, or est-	alszik → aludt- · fekszik → feküdt- · esik → est-, esett
Vowel stems	marker doubles	lő → lőtt- · nő → nőtt-
-ott- throughout	learn with the verb	hallottam · futottam · tanítottam
Modals	kell, lehet only 3rd person	kellett · lehetett · szabad volt

✏️ Try It Yourself — Gyakorlás

Say the answer first, then click to check.

1. "I went": megy, past.

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mentem.

2. "He came": jön, past.

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jött.

3. "You (sg) put": tesz, past.

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tettél.

4. "We bought": vesz, past.

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vettünk.

5. "They carried": visz, past.

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vittek.

6. "I became": lesz, past.

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lettem.

7. "I lay down": fekszik, past.

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feküdtem.

8. Translate: "I put the phone on the table."

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A telefont az asztalra tettem.

9. Translate: "She became a doctor."

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Orvos lett.

10. Fix the sentence: Tegnap jöttam (I came yesterday).

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Tegnap jöttem. The stem jött- is front, so the ending is -em.

Coming up in Chapter 5: The Future and Helper Verbs. fog + the infinitive, the present with a time word, the helper verbs akar, tud, szeretne, kell, lehet, szabad, and the personal infinitive (mennem kell).