"The criminal's trousers are spotted."

Translation: A bűnöző nadrágja foltos.

[Arcaeca]

Okay, I'm kind of confused about this 3rd person singular possessive ending. I thought that you added -a/-e if the noun ended in a consonant, and -ja/-je if it ended in a vowel. But I seem to be getting this wrong left and right. Is there an actual rule as to when you use each, or does it really just need to be memorized?

[jsiehler]

There are some rules of thumb for the 3rd person possessive ending for words that end in a consonant but in general you just have to memorize whether they take the j or not.

Maybe the most useful rule is that words that end in h, j, gy, ly, ny, ty, c, cs, sz, z, zs never take the j form (no j after h, j, palatalized consonants, or sibilants).

Some words like virág can be seen in both versions.

[jsiehler]

And let's not lose sight of the big picture here: You now know how to say "The criminal's trousers are spotted." (!)