These are the wh- words in English - what, who, which, etc.
In Hungarian they have two forms, one when used as a question, one when referring back
to a noun already mentioned.
Thse are known as interrogative and relative.
They are interrogative, meaning they ask a question.
There MUST be a ? in
the sentence, otherwise there is an error (i.e. if you're using an interrogative
pronoun and you are not asking a question, you have made a mistake).
See the section on
relative pronouns.
*** milyen
This also means "how" when used like this:
milyen volt a hétvéged? How was your weekend?
milyen a leves? How is the soup?
** hány
This can further take many endings to do with numbers,
the questions must then be answered with the same ending.
hányas busz? Which (number) bus?
nyolcas. The number eight.
hányadik emeleten? Which (ordinal) storey?
nylocdik. The eigth.
hányadik emeleten lak? On which (ordinal) storey does he live?
nylocdikan. On the eigth.
For words like how? and where?, please see the
relative and interrogative Hungarian adverbs
page.
Where appropriate, these question words can take endings. A simple example is
mit, as we have seen above.
- Mit láttál? What did you see? Note the use of the
indefinite.
- Kit
szeret? Whom does he love?
- Melyikben?
In which?
- Miért?
For what purpose? Why?
- hánykor?
At what time?
- mennyibe kerül?
How much does it cost?
When used alone they may take endings.
When used to qualify a noun or adjective they do not take endings (the noun does, though):
- melyik kutyát etetted meg?
Which
dog have you fed?
- mennyi vízben fürödtél? In how much
water did you bathe?
- milyen emberekkel látták? With what kind of
peoploe was he seen? (lit. with what kind of people did they see (him)?)
Agreeing in number
These words, as is implied above by mi/mik and ki/kik,
must agree in number with the word they're asking about (they must agree with their antecedent).
- Melyik
kutyát láttad? Which dog did you see?
- Melyek
kutyákat láttad? Which dogs did you see?
- Ki ül itt? Who (he) sits here?
- Kik
ülnek itt? Who (they) sits here?
- Kit láttál?
Whom
did you see (one person was observed)?
- Kiket láttál?
Whom
did you see (several people observed)?