Number marking on nouns (Hungarian)

NumSuffAn: Grammatical number is marked morphologically using analytic suffixes, (monoexponential; i.e., the prefix expresses only the number).


Singular, nominative

Plural, nominative

Singular, dative

Plural, dative

anya ‘mother’

anyá-k

anyá-nak

anyá-k-nak

eladó ‘shop assistant’

eladó-k

eladó-nak

eladó-k-nak

gyík ‘lizard’

gyík-ok

gyík-nak

gyík-ok-nak

fa ‘tree’

fá-k

fá-nak

fá-k-nak

papír ‘paper’

papír-ok

papír-nak

papír-ok-nak


In Hungarian, the plural is marked by the -k suffix, which can be attached to every noun, irrespective of its rank in the animacy hierarchy (cf. Balogh 2000a: 185‒186, Kiefer 2003: 205). The case endings are analytical both in the singular and the plural, thus the same case suffixes are used.

Author: 

Nikolett F. Gulyás