elírhatják

Elírhatják is a term that appears primarily in discussions of Hungarian grammar rather than as a common vocabulary item. It is notable for illustrating how Hungarian forms can accumulate multiple affixes on a single verb stem. The form is built from the prefix el-, the verb stem ír (to write), the conditional mood suffix -hat/-het, and the definite third-person plural suffix -ják. This combination yields a finite verb form that encodes subject number, mood, aspect, and definiteness within one word.

Morphologically, el- is a separable prefix that can modify the meaning of a verb in various ways, often related to completion, removal, or a figurative sense of taking something away. The -hat/-het suffix expresses possibility or potential, while -ják marks the third-person plural with a definite object. Therefore, Elírhatják can be analyzed as “they may write it” or, depending on the contextual sense of el-, as a nuanced form indicating a potential or hypothetical action affecting an object.

In practice, Elírhatják is not a common headword in dictionaries and is more typically encountered as an example in grammar explanations of prefixation, mood, and definiteness in Hungarian. It is also a potential source of ambiguity for learners, since the exact shade of meaning depends on the dictionary sense of el- with the verb ír as well as the surrounding syntactic context.

See also: Hungarian prefix verbs, conditional mood, definite conjugation, Hungarian verb conjugation.