ként

-ként is a Hungarian postpositional suffix that marks the role, function, or status of the subject, roughly corresponding to the English word as. It is attached to a base noun (or a nominalized form) to express “in the capacity of” or “as.”

The suffix is productive in everyday and formal language. When added to a noun, it creates a phrase meaning “in the role of X.” Examples include tanárként (as a teacher), vezetőként (as a leader), or orvosi szakértőként (as a medical expert). These forms are common in sentences like: Ő tanárként dolgozik. (He works as a teacher.) A vállalatnál vezetőként tevékenykedik. (He operates as a manager at the company.)

-ként also appears in numerically influenced forms to convey distribution or per-unit meaning. The most familiar is egyenként (one by one, each). In this use, the suffix helps indicate separation or individuation within a sequence, as in Egyenként ellenőrizték a résztvevőket. (The participants were checked one by one.)

Notes on usage: -ként is a derivational, not a stand-alone word; it attaches to stems and may follow vowels or consonants without changing the base meaning beyond indicating function or distribution. It is commonly used in written and formal Hungarian, but it also appears in spoken language when specifying role or manner.

See also: Hungarian grammar suffixes; -ként in morphology.