Feltételinek

Feltételinek is a term used in some Hungarian linguistic discussions to denote a construction that functions as a condition within a sentence. The label roughly corresponds to the idea of “as a condition” and is applied to a clause or phrase that establishes a prerequisite for the main proposition. In this sense, feltételinek identifies the syntactic position and semantic role of elements that express conditional meaning.

Origin and terminology: Feltételinek is not a universally standardized label across all grammars. It appears in certain theoretical accounts of Hungarian conditionals as a way to discuss how a condition is encoded, whether in a dedicated nominal phrase, a subordinate clause, or other realizations. Because Hungarian expresses condition in multiple forms—through conjunctions, clause types, or predicate semantics—the exact realization of feltételinek can vary between analyses.

Usage and scope: The concept is used to analyze how conditional meaning is distributed across sentence structure. It helps linguists compare different configurations in which a condition interacts with modality, aspect, and the main clause. In some accounts, feltételinek elements are treated as separate arguments or as predicative modifiers that set the condition for the proposition.

Relation to other concepts: Feltételinek is related to general notions of conditional clauses, prerequisites, and the broader study of mood and modality in Hungarian. It is often contrasted with explicit conditional clauses introduced by conjunctions such as ha or amennyiben, or with phrases that express condition in other syntactic positions.

See also: Conditional clause, Hungarian grammar, mood and modality, complement clauses.