egymásra

Egymásra is a Hungarian adverbial form combining the reciprocal pronoun egymás ("each other") with the directional suffix -ra/-re, conveying the sense "onto each other", "to one another" or "at each other". It is used to mark mutual actions, orientations, or effects that are directed between members of a group.

Grammatical role and usage

Egymásra functions as an adverbial modifier in a sentence and commonly appears with verbs of perception, motion, contact or reciprocal interaction: egymásra néznek ("they look at each other"), egymásra mosolyogtak ("they smiled at one another"), egymásra támaszkodtak ("they leaned on each other"). It contrasts with related forms that use different case endings on egymás to express other syntactic relations, such as egymást (accusative) and egymásnak (dative).

Formation and etymology

The base egymás is a compound built from egy ("one") and más ("other"), historically grammaticalized as a reciprocal pronoun. The addition of the -ra/-re suffix, indicating direction or contact, yields egymásra. Like other postpositional case markers in Hungarian, the vowel harmonizes with the stem (ra/re).

Semantics and nuance

Egymásra can express both literal physical direction and figurative relations of dependence or reference (e.g., "egymásra számítanak" — they count on one another). Its use is widespread in colloquial and literary Hungarian.