Tanúkkal

Tanúkkal is a Hungarian grammatical form meaning “with witnesses.” It is the instrumental plural form of the noun tanú, which denotes a witness, typically in legal or formal contexts. The corresponding singular instrumental form is tanúval, used to mean “with a witness.”

Formation and usage notes: In Hungarian, the instrumental case expresses accompaniment or the means by which something is done. For tanú, the singular instrumental is tanúval (with a witness), and the plural instrumental is tanúkkal (with witnesses). The word tanúkkal is formed from the plural stem tanúk plus the instrumental suffix -kkal, following vowel harmony rules. The form tanúkkal is commonly used when referring to more than one witness or when describing actions performed in the presence of multiple witnesses.

Typical uses: Tanúkkal is used to describe activities or situations involving witnesses, such as accompanying a process, testifying, or being present during an event. It is common in legal, administrative, and formal narrative contexts. For example: A tárgyaláson a tanúkkal együtt jelentek meg. (They appeared at the trial together with the witnesses.) In other constructions, phrases like “a tanúk szerint” (according to the witnesses) convey testimony or attribution, though this is a different syntactic construction.

Etymology: tanúkkal derives from tanú (witness) with the plural and instrumental affixes, reflecting Hungarian morphology for instrumental plural forms.