Word order of adverbial subordinators within finite clauses (Hungarian)

InitAdvSb: An independent subordinator appears at the front of the subordinate clause.


(1) kati (azért) nem men-t ma iskolá-ba, mert beteg vol-t.

Kati in_order_to neg go-pst.3sg today school-ill because sick cop-pst.3sg

‘Kati did not go to school today because she was sick.’


(2) sokat rajzol-t-am (akkor), amikor kicsi vol-t-am.

    many draw-pst-1sg at_the_time when little cop -pst-1sg

    ‘I drew a lot when I was little.’


(3) adri örül-ne, ha nyer-ne a lottó-n.

Adri happy-cond.prs.3sg if win-cond.prs.3sg the lottery-sup

‘Adri would be happy if she won the lottery.’


In Hungarian finite subordinate constructions, the conjunction (e.g. mert ‘because’, amikor ‘when’, ha ‘if’) appears at the beginning of the subordinate clause (cf. É.  Kiss  2002:  248‒250,  Haader  2000a: 511‒517).

Author: 

Nikolett F. Gulyás