Word order of negative morphemes (Hungarian)

NegV: The negative morpheme precedes the verb.


(1) ma nem megy-ek bolt-ba.

today neg go-prs.1sg shop-ill

‘I don’t go to the shop today.’


(2) ma nem vesz-ek tej-et.

today neg buy-prs.1sg milk-acc

‘I won’t buy milk today.’


(3) ne felesel-j velem!

imp.neg talk_back-imp.2sg I.com

‘Don’t talk back to me!’


In Hungarian, the negative particles (nem ‘not’, and the negative imperative ne ‘don’t!’) precede the verb (cf. Kenesei et al. 1998: 112‒114, Kugler 2000d).

Author: 

Nikolett F. Gulyás