olvastak

Olvastak is a Hungarian verb form meaning “they read,” used in the past tense. It is the third-person plural form of the verb olvasni (to read). In standard Hungarian orthography the form is written as olvasták, with the acute accent on the a in the suffix -ták. When diacritics are omitted, as in plain ASCII text, it is commonly written as olvastak.

Morphology and usage: Olvastak combines the verb stem olvas- with the past tense marker -t- and the third-person plural ending -ák (in standard orthography, -ák becomes -ák with the accented a: olvasták). It describes a past action performed by multiple subjects. The form appears with or without a definite direct object, depending on sentence structure and scope.

Examples: A diákok olvasták a könyvet. (The students read the book.) Ez a csoport olvastak korábbi cikkeket. (Note: correct standard form would be olvasták for a plural subject; some ASCII texts might render it as olvastak in non-diacritic contexts.)

Etymology and related forms: Olvastak derives from olvas- (root of olvasni, “to read”) with the past tense suffix -t- and the plural ending -ák. Related conjugations include: olvastam (I read), olvastad (you read), olvasott (he/she read), olvastuk (we read), olvastátok (you all read), and olvasták (they read). The non-diacritic variant olvastak is commonly seen where diacritics are not used, but the standard form in Hungarian is olvasták.