6 Comments
Can someone tell me why ujak is uj+A+k, while lanyok is lany+O+k, when both have back vowels?
Adjectives usually use -a- as a linking vowel. But some adjectives use -o- and some short nouns use -a- as well. To sum up, you'll have to learn this for every word. It's usually listed in dictionaries.
So, in a dictionary, if it gives the plural form, can we work out all the other suffixes from it? For example ház has házak so we have házam for "my house" and lány has lányok so we have lányom for "my girl" ... is it always consistent like this?
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In most cases this logic is pretty reliable.
Good dictionaries (especially online ones) give you for each noun: base form, accusative, plural, and 3rd person possessive form, so it'll look something like:
- ház, -at, -ak, -a (house)
- bor, -t, -ok, -a (wine)
- tenger, -t, -ek, -e (sea)
- hajó, -t, -k, -ja (ship)
- csésze, -´t, -´k, -´je (cup)
- öcs, -öt, -ök, öccse (younger brother; this is one of the weirder exceptions)
- kéz, kezet, kezek, keze (hand)
- tükör, tükröt, tükrök, tükre (mirror)
As you can see with bor and tükör, the connecting vowel rule you guessed doesn't always apply. Usually they say the connecting vowel is mostly the same for accusative and the possessive forms. But that doesn't help much with words like bor or tenger, and some possessive forms can only come with certain vowels. It's complicated, all in all. For the examples above you have these possessive forms (after the respective accusative form). See if you find a system:
- házat - házam - házad - háza - házunk - házatok - házuk
- bort - borom - borod - bora - borunk - borotok - boruk
- tengert - tengerem - tengered - tengere - tengerünk - tengeretek - tengerük
- hajót - hajóm - hajód - hajója - hajónk - hajótok - hajójuk
- csészét - csészém - csészéd - csészéje - csészénk - csészétek - csészéjük
- öcsöt - öcsém - öcséd - öccse - öcsénk - öcsétek - öccsük
- kezet - kezem- kezed - keze - kezük - kezetek - kezejük
- tükröt - tükröm - tükröd - tükre - tükrünk - tükrötök - tükrük
