SuffT: Tense is expressed through the use of a special suffix.

PerifT: Tense is expressed periphrastically.

(1) bence tanulmány-t ír.

Bence article-acc write.prs.3sg

‘Bence is writing an article.’

(2) bence ma este tanulmány-t ír. / fog ír-ni.

Bence today evening article-acc write.prs.3sg fut.3sg write-inf

‘Bence is going to write an article today evening.’

(3) bence tanulmány-t ír-t.

Bence article-acc write-pst.3sg

‘Bence wrote an article./Bence was writing an article.’

In Hungarian, the present tense is coded by a zero morpheme, which also serves as a future tense marker (1), (2). The past tense is marked by the ­t, ­tt morphemes (3). The future tense can also be expressed by the present tense form of the auxiliary fog and the infinitive of the main verb (cf. Kugler 2000a: 104‒123, Kiefer 2003: 212‒222).