évvel

évvel is the instrumental case form of the Hungarian noun év, which means year. It is created by adding the suffix -vel to év and is used to express lengths of time or to indicate a difference in age in a manner that centers on years.

In practice, évvel occurs most often after numerals. It is used to form age and time comparisons, such as egy évvel fiatalabb (one year younger) or öt évvel idősebb (five years older). It also appears in phrases that specify how long ago something happened, for example öt évvel ezelőtt (five years ago). These uses show that évvel functions as a measure word for years, rather than as an independent noun in these contexts.

Grammatically, évvel is a fixed form that attaches to év whenever a numeral or temporal sense requires a stated number of years. It is common in both spoken and written Hungarian and can be found in everyday conversation as well as in more formal prose. The construction relies on the numeral-adjective combination rather than on any separate lexical item.

See also: év, the basic noun meaning year, and the suffix -val/-vel used to form instrumental and associative meanings in Hungarian. The évvel form represents a standard way to quantify time in years and to express age differences in sentences.