The rule that runs the language
Vowel harmony
Suffixes come in two or three outfits. The last classifying vowel of the word chooses the outfit. Get this, and cases stop looking random.
Harmony bench
Type a word
Last classifying vowel wins. i/í sit out in mixed words; alone, the stem decides.
- inessive-ban
- dative-nak
- allative-hoz
- plural-ok
- 1sg indef.-ok
Two words hold the whole rule
Hungarian classrooms teach the split with two words that each carry their camp’s vowels. Learn the pair and you can classify almost any word on sight.
autó
car · a á o ó u ú
Takes the back endings.
teniszütő
tennis racket · e é i í ö ő ü ű
Takes the front and rounded endings.
teniszütő is itself front rounded — ö/ő and ü/ű are rounded vowels. So in a three-column table it reads the rounded column, the same column as könyv or ül. Only where a two-column table collapses front rounded and front unrounded into one front bucket does teniszütő read front. Hungarian calls the two main camps mély (deep) and magas (high); English grammars say back and front — same split, different name.
The three camps
- Back — a á o ó u ú. Deep in the mouth. ház, három, autó
- Front unrounded — e é. ember, kér, szép
- Front rounded — ö ő ü ű. Purse. könyv, ül, tűz
- Neutral — i í sit out of mixed words. The i in teniszütő rides along with the front camp. Alone they split, which is why this page will not say “they act back”: ír takes back endings (írok), víz takes front (vizet, vízben). In segít the e decides (front).
Two-fold vs three-fold
Two-fold endings only care about back vs front: -ban/-ben, -nak/-nek, -val/-vel. Rounded and unrounded front collapse together.
Three-fold endings split the front camp: látok, szeretek, ülök. Same split on -hoz/-hez/-höz and -on/-en/-ön.
Mixed stems
Last classifying vowel usually wins: béka (frog) takes back endings because of the a. kettő is rounded because of ő. Loans sometimes freeze an unexpected suffix — learn those as words, not as rebellions.