Elöljárószót

Elöljárószót is a Hungarian grammatical term that translates to "preposition" in English. Prepositions are words that typically precede a noun or pronoun to show its relationship to another word in the sentence. This relationship can be spatial, temporal, directional, or indicate manner or cause.

In Hungarian, the grammatical category equivalent to prepositions is called elöljárószó. However, unlike in many Indo-European languages where prepositions are distinct words placed before their object, Hungarian often expresses these relationships through suffixes attached to the noun or pronoun, or by using postpositions which come after their object.

Some words that function similarly to prepositions in English might appear as separate words in Hungarian, often preceding the noun, and are then classified as elöljárószók. Examples include words indicating location or direction. However, the most common way to express prepositional meaning in Hungarian is through case suffixes. For instance, the suffix -ban/-ben indicates "in," -ra/-re indicates "on" or "to," and -hoz/-hez/-höz indicates "to" (a person or specific destination). Therefore, while the term elöljárószót exists, its function is often fulfilled by other grammatical mechanisms within Hungarian. Understanding this distinction is key to grasping Hungarian grammar.