Letartóztattam

Letartóztattam is the first-person singular past tense of the Hungarian verb letartóztatni, meaning to detain or arrest someone by lawful authority. The action is transitive, with the person detained as the direct object, as in egy gyanúsítottat letartóztattam (I detained/arrested a suspect).

Grammatically, letartóztatni is a regular transitive verb. Its present tense form is letartóztatom (I detain), the past tense is letartóztattam (I detained), and the past participle is letartóztatott, which can be used as an adjective or in compound tenses (a letartóztatott személy – the detained person). The noun form for the act is letartóztatás (detention/arrest). Common related phrases include előzetes letartóztatás (pre-trial detention) and a letartóztatás alá vonni (to place under detention).

Usage context is typically legal, police, or journalistic. Letartóztatni conveys a concrete action performed by an authority figure against a person suspected of wrongdoing. Distinct from passive constructions, letartóztattam explicitly states the speaker’s agency in performing the detention.

Example sentences:

- Ma reggel letartóztattam egy gyanúsítottat. (This morning I detained/arrested a suspect.)

- A rendőrség tegnap letartóztatta a gyanúsítottat. (The police detained/arrested the suspect yesterday.)

Etymology notes: letartóztat on a root related to detention, combining the prefix le- with tartóztat (detention) to form a verb meaning to detain or arrest.

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