Fontosnak

Fontosnak is a Hungarian grammatical form derived from the adjective fontos, meaning “important.” It functions as a predicative complement in clauses that express evaluation or judgement, and it also appears in the infinitive phrase fontosnak lenni, meaning “to be important.”

In finite clauses, the form -nak/-nek marks the complement as “being important” and is used after verbs of appraisal or designation, such as tartom (I consider), találom (I find), or tekintek (I regard). Common constructions include:

- Ezt fontosnak tartom. (I consider this important.)

- Ez fontosnak számít. (This counts as important.)

The suffix follows vowel harmony rules, yielding a form like fontosnak, where -nak is used after back vowels.

The infinitive phrase fontosnak lenni is the standard way to express the concept “to be important.” It appears in dictionaries and grammatical descriptions to refer to the abstract notion of importance, rather than a specific instance of importance in a clause.

Usage notes include that fontosnak is most common in formal or written Hungarian and in contexts where subtle judgment or assessment is being communicated. In everyday speech, speakers may simply use the bare adjective fontos or more direct verb constructions like ezt fontos, that is, “this is important,” without the -nak form in some cases.

See also Hungarian grammar, predicative phrases, infinitives with adjectives.