Aludtunk

Aludtunk is the first-person plural past tense form of the Hungarian verb aludni, meaning to sleep. It is used to express that “we slept” in a past event and often functions as the finite verb in a sentence, with the subject implied by the verb ending.

Morphology and usage: The form consists of the stem alud- plus the past tense suffix -tunk (or -tünk, depending on round of vowel harmony). This suffix marks the plural subject and the past tense in the indefinite past. In actual sentences, aludtunk can stand as the main predicate without an explicit subject, though the subject mi (we) can be present or inferred from context. Hungarian also distinguishes definite and indefinite past forms in other verbs; aludtunk is the common form used to state a past sleeping event for “we.”

Etymology and relation to other forms: Aludtunk derives from aludni (to sleep). The main form aludtunk is part of standard Hungarian conjugation and contrasts with other past forms such as aludtam (I slept) or aludtunk (we slept) in contexts where the subject is clear. The construction exemplifies how Hungarian marks person and tense directly on the verb.

Examples:

- Tegnap aludtunk tíz órát. (Yesterday we slept for ten hours.)

- Amikor hazaértünk, már aludtunk. (When we got home, we were already asleep.)

- Ha fáradtak voltunk, aludtunk, mielőtt továbbmentünk. (If we had been tired, we would have slept before we continued.)

See also: Hungarian verb conjugation, aludni, past tense in Hungarian.