Appendix:Hungarian verbal prefixes

Hungarian verbal prefixes often function as bound morphemes. They are more precisely referred to as verb particles or co-verbs which change the meaning or aspect of a verb.

Introduction with examples

 * When is used with, it produces.

In several syntactical settings related to focus and emphasis, co-verbs get separated from the verb and are placed either before or after it within the sentence. Some examples of grammatical setting of co-verb displacement are:


 * The verb is preceded by an interrogative:


 * Simple negation of the verb:


 * In the use of the imperative:


 * In some infinitive constructions:

Theoretically it is possible to wedge in more than a dozen words between them, e.g., but the result may sound increasingly unnatural.

A special case among prefixes is, which is not used on its own as an adverb, and which adds a perfective aspect to the verb, modifying its meaning to indicate that the action of the verb has proceeded or will proceed until its ultimate conclusion. Sometimes their difference can be conveyed by the comparative and positive degree of an adjective: vs..

List
Bold letters indicate those 29 verbal prefixes that occur in 20 or more verbs in Magyar értelmező kéziszótár.

From the perspective of the Hungarian language, is not a verbal prefix as such (even if it is added to a verb) because it can never separate from the verb.

Prefixes from adverbs retaining adverbial features
Some prefixes, such as ' and ', only behave as actual prefixes if they refer to a third-person argument. If their argument is first or second person (supposing it makes sense for the given verb and its particular argument), they will get personal suffixes (just like the original adverbs) and they will be separated from the verb in writing. For example, ránézett Péterre (“s/he looked at Peter”) but rám nézett (“s/he looked at me”). Or: beleszeretett Gabiba (“s/he fell in love with Gabi”) but beléd szeretett (“s/he fell in love with you”). The verbs are not stressed in these cases. However, the meaning of the structure will still be determined by the original prefixed verbs, such as ránéz or beleszeret, even if their prefix is supplemented with a personal suffix (rám, beléd). If the verb is transitive, it can retain its object, so its form will reflect both of its arguments: hozzám vágta a könyvet (“s/he threw the book at me”) from hozzávág, the prefix reflecting the target (me) and the verb form proper referring to the definite object (the book).

The phrases, (“to fetch, to pick up”),  behave the same way (taking suffixes like  etc.), so  is analyzed as an adverb rather than a verbal prefix, as well as  in  (taking suffixes like  etc.).

Other adverbs that cannot have personal endings behave similarly, i.e., like verbal prefixes, although they are written in separate words: (but see  above),.

Some of these constructions used to be written like prefixed verbs (in one word) but they are written in two words since 2015. The expressions formed with them are verb-final set phrases:
 * (in )
 * (in )
 * (in ; were written in two words beforehand as well)
 * (in )

Compound prefixes
The following compound prefixes are written separately from verbs, although their function is similar to those listed above. They do not form fixed lexical units.
 * összevissza (össze + vissza)
 * szerteszéjjel (szerte + széjjel)
 * szerteszét (szerte + szét)

The other compound prefixes with opposite senses are written with a hyphen (and separately from the verb): ide-oda, oda-vissza, fel-le, előre-hátra (e.g. fel-le sétál) etc.

On the other hand, repeated suffixes are written next to the verb as one word: be-benéz etc. (’drop in every now and then’), compare benéz.

Verbs starting with letters coinciding with a verbal prefix
The following verbs have no prefix (sometimes their root has, which is irrelevant here), so no part can be separated from them. Forms that might occasionally confuse native speakers of Hungarian (because the remaining part looks meaningful) are bolded. . (Also, some forms of and  like  etc.)

The following verbs contain rather than  as their prefix:.

The following verbs contain rather than  as their prefix:.