Szubsztantív

Szubsztantív is a traditional grammatical term used to designate the class of words that denote persons, places, things, or ideas and can function as the subject or object of a sentence. The term comes from the Latin substantivum and is used in some linguistic traditions to distinguish nouns from other word classes such as verbs, adjectives, or pronouns. In contemporary Hungarian grammar, the more common label for this word class is fõnév (noun); szubsztantív is often encountered in historical grammars, cross-linguistic descriptions, or older teaching materials.

In Hungarian, szubsztantívs include both common nouns and proper names. They are inflected for number and case through suffixes, and they can be modified by adjectives or determiners. Hungarian nouns generally possess no grammatical gender, but they form plurals, possessives, and various case forms (for example, in, to, or with the house; the dog’s tail, etc.). The noun phrase may be the subject, direct object, or other syntactic roles within a sentence, and it can be combined with determiners, demonstratives, or numerals.

Usage and notes: In modern usage, the term szubsztantív is largely supplanted by fõnév in standard Hungarian grammar. It may still appear in educational texts, comparative linguistics, or discussions that reference Latin-based terminology. The concept remains essential for understanding how nouns interact with verbs, adjectives, and other elements of the sentence, as well as for recognizing the morphological patterns that govern noun inflection in Hungarian.

See also: fõnév, melléknév, ige, szóosztályok.