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Adverbal prefixes in Hungarian


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In Hungarian, just like in English, we have several ways to change the degree to which a noun is specified. For example,

  • something
  • anything
  • everything
  • nothing

The corresponding Hungarian prefixes are

  • vala- some-
  • bár- any-
  • minden- every-
  • se- no-

The table below simply lists all the combinations.



Word Some Any Every No
Word Meaning vala- vala- bár- bár- minden- minden- se- se-
ki who valaki someone bárki whoever, anyone, anybody mindenki everyone, everybody senki no one, no body
mi what valami something bármi whatever, anything minden, mind all, everything semmi nothing
milyen what kind valamilyen some kind of bármilyen whatever kind of, of any kind     semilyen of no kind, no kind of
féle what sort valami féle some sort of bárféle of any sort mindenféle of every sort seféle of no sort, no sort of
minő what sort valaminő some sort of bárminő       seminő of no sort, no sort of
mekkora what size valamekkora some size of bármekkora whatever size of, of any size N/A (but c.f. minden méretben)   every size semekkora (of) no size
hány how many/much valahány however many/much bárhány whatever amount, any amount, however many     sehány (of, to) no number
hol where valahol somewhere bárhol whereever, anywhere mindenhol everywhere sehol nowhere
honnan from where valahonnan from somewhere bárhonnan from anywhere, whencesoever, from whereever mindenhonnan from everywhere sehonnan from nowhere
hová to where valahová to somewhere bárhová to wheverever, whithersoever, to anywhere mindenhová to everywhere sehová to nowhere
meddig until when valameddig until sometime bármeddig until whenever, however long, however far     semeddig no distance at all, for no time at all
merre in which direction valamerre in some direction bármerre in whatever direction, in any direction semerre in no direction
mikor when valamikor at some time bármikor whenever, ay any time mindenkor *** at all times semmikor at no time
hogy how valahogy somehow bárhogy however, in any way mindenhogy everyhow sehogy, sehogyan in no way, in no wise
mennyi how much valamennyi some cost/amount bármennyi however much     semennyi (of, by, in) no amount


NB  "some/any/every  sort/size/amount of" is interchangable with "of some/any/every sort/size/amount", etc

Note how se+ki=senki and that se+mi=semmi


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