Kezdték

Kezdték is a Hungarian verb form. It is the third-person plural past definite form of the verb kezdeni, meaning “they began” or “they started,” when the action is performed on a definite object.

In Hungarian, past tense forms can be marked for definite or indefinite objects. The ending -ék signals the third-person plural in the past definite conjugation, and the stem receives a past-tense infix, producing kezdték from kezdeni. This form is used when the object of starting is known or specified in the sentence.

The usual word order in sentences with kezdték is flexible regarding the object. A definite object often appears before the verb, or the verb phrase may be followed by the object with the sense of “they started [the object].” Common constructions include a definite object followed by kezdték meg (for example, “A megbeszélést kezdték meg” – “They began the meeting”) or simply “A projektet kezdték meg” (they started the project). The form is widely used in written and spoken Hungarian, including news reporting and formal narration.

Related forms include kezdeni (the infinitive), kezdet (the noun meaning beginning), and megkezdeni or megkezdetteni, which convey the act of beginning something with a prefix meg-; their past definite forms follow different paradigms but share the same semantic core of starting or initiating an action.