elállhat

Elállhat is a Hungarian verb formed from the prefix el- and the verb áll, meaning “to stand.” The suffix -hat marks potential mood, giving the sense that something may stop or come to a standstill. In usage, elállhat appears mainly in two areas: a literal sense of ceasing movement or operation, and an idiomatic sense related to sudden reactions that affect speech or breathing.

In a literal sense, elállhat can describe a thing that might stop moving or functioning, especially when conditions could interrupt a process. For example, in a hypothetical statement one might say that a device or system elállhat the operation due to an overload or fault. In many contexts, however, speakers prefer verbs like megáll, leáll, or megakad to express stopping more directly.

In idiomatic use, elállhat occurs in fixed phrases indicating a sudden reaction, such as being speechless or breathless. Common examples include eláll a szava (one’s words fail) and elállhat a lélegzete (one’s breath may stop). These constructions use eláll intransitively with the affected element as the subject.

Grammatical notes: elállhat functions like a regular Hungarian verb when conjugated. The base eláll is used in the present tense with third-person singular eláll, while elállhat expresses potential or hypothetical meaning. The past tense and conditional forms are built from the same stem in standard Hungarian conjugation.

Etymology: The word combines the prefix el- (“away, off”) with áll (“to stand”), forming a verb that conveys coming to a stop or being halted, with the modal -hat suffix adding possibility.