Munkatársának

Munkatársának is a Hungarian grammatical form that functions as a dative case of a possessive noun phrase meaning “to his/her colleague” or “for his/her colleague.” It illustrates how Hungarian builds indirect-object relationships by combining possession with case endings.

Morphology and formation: The base noun is munkatárs, meaning colleague or coworker. To express possession, Hungarian adds a possessive suffix -a/-e depending on vowel harmony, producing munkatársa, meaning “his/her colleague.” The dative case suffix -nak/-nek is then attached to the possessed form, yielding munkatársának. Because the stem of munkatársa ends with a back vowel, the dative suffix takes -nak, resulting in the form shown. The same logic applies with different possessors or numbers, for example, munkatársaiknak for “to their colleagues.”

Usage: Munkatársának is used when identifying the indirect recipient or beneficiary of an action. It typically appears with verbs that require an indirect object, such as to send, give, or inform. Examples include:

- Küldtem a dokumentumot a munkatársának. (I sent the document to his/her colleague.)

- Az üzenetet a munkatársának küldtem. (I sent the message to his/her colleague.)

- Megbeszéltünk egy találkozót a munkatársának. (We scheduled a meeting for his/her colleague.)

Notes: This form is gender-neutral, reflecting Hungarian’s agglutinative morphology. For plural possessors, the corresponding form would be munkatársaiknak (to their colleagues). Understanding munkatársnak forms offers insight into how Hungarian layers possessive and case endings to convey precise relationships within a sentence.