This Hungarian lesson talks about the indefinite conjugation in Hungarian. You should read the section on [when to use the definite and when to use the infdefinite conjgations] so that you have some background on the matter; when you are comfortable with understanding when to apply this conjugation, this page will detail how to do so.

The indefinite conjugation is the most basic Hungarian conjugation conceptually, but its apparent irregularities and its non-conformance to the symmetry of the rest of the language make it slightly harder to learn that the [definite conjugation.]

See the page about [when to use the Hungarian definite conjugation and when to use the indefinite] for a discussion of which to use when.

There are three groups of verbs, each with a slightly different set of rules. Having categorised a verb thusly, one must then apply the appropriate rules to conjugate it.

In summary, the classes are as follows:

• Regular
• -ik verbs
• -s verbs
• Irregular

These are always conjugated in the same way. They are always written in the dictionary with just their stem. An example is:
ad - to give

Person	Endings
	back	front
		short	long
én	-ok	-ek	-ök
te	-sz
ő	(nothing)
mi	-unk	-ünk
ti	-tok	-tek
ők	-nak	-nek
én/téged	-lak	-lek

Here are some examples:

Person	Examples
	back vowels	front vowels
		short	long
én	maradok I remain	élek I live	ülök I sit
te	maradsz thou remain	élsz thou live	ülsz thou sit
ő	marad s/he remains	él s/he lives	ül s/he sits
mi	maradunk we remain	élünk we live	ülünk we sit
ti	maradtok ye remain	éltek ye live	ültek ye sit
ők	maradnak they remain	élnekk they live	ülnek they sit

These verbs take different conjugations for "I" and "he", but are generally the same as the above for the other 4 persons.

They are characterised by the fact that the take -ik in the "he" conjugation, and therefore are written in the dictionary with the -ik ending.

It's up to you whether you deem their stem to have, or have not, the -ik. I prefer to think of the stem as being without the -ik. This allows me to say, like below, "words whose stem ends in -z", which will include dolgozik work.

When applying endings, the -ik must be removed first.

The characteristic differences are -om for "I" and of course -ik for "he". This means that the "I" conjugation for -ik words is identical for definite and indefinite, be careful!

An example is lakik reside, live.

Conjugation table	Example
Person Endings back front short long én -om -em -öm te -sz ő -ik mi unk ünk ti tok tek tök ők nak nek	lakom I reside laksz thou reside lakik he resides lakunk we reside laktok ye reside laknak they reside

You'll notice in the regular indefinite conjugation, we add -sz for the "thou" conjugation. Well, if the stem of the verb already ends in an s-like letter, it'll be awkward to add another.

In this case, we do not add -sz but -ol/el, in the indefinite conjugation.

In the definite, we see a feature called assimilation, which is where the -j- in the ending turns into the last letter of the verb's stem.

If the stem ends in:

• -s
• -sz
• -z
• -dz

then apply the rule.

Here are some examples:

• mos (to) wash
• mosol ye wash

• néz (to) look
• nézel ye look

• olvas (to) read
• olvasol ye read

• vesz (to) take, (to) buy
• veszel ye buy

Irregular verbs must simply be learnt. As in most languages, the "ancient" verbs such as to be, to eat, to drink, etc, are irregular.
Note also that the rules of Hungarian are very complex and what may appear to us as an irregularity is simply the application of a very obscure, but real, rule.

Note that some words can fall into more than one category! This means that the rules for both apply!
For example, dolgozik work.
You can see from the way it's written in the dictionary, with the -ik, that it's an -ik category. But its root, dolgoz, ends in a -s type sound, and so it's ALSO in the -s category.

Its conjugation is

• dolgozom I work Ending due to it being an -ik verb
• dolgozol thou work Ending due to it being an -s verb
• dolgozik he works Ending due to it being an -ik verb
• dolgozunk we work Regular ending
• dolgoztok ye work Regular ending
• dolgoznak they work Regular ending