pohárba

Pohárba is the illative form of the Hungarian noun pohár, meaning a glass or cup. It denotes motion into a container or space and is used with verbs of pouring, putting, or placing something into the glass. It is part of the Hungarian system of cases, where illative forms express directional movement toward the inside of something, in contrast to the locative forms -ban/-ben which express being inside.

Formation and forms: The illative suffix -ba/-be attaches to the noun, with spelling determined by vowel harmony. For pohár, the illative is pohárba, reflecting the back-vowel harmony of the stem. The plural illative is formed on the plural stem, resulting in poharakba meaning “into the glasses.” Thus you have pohárba (singular) and poharakba (plural).

Usage and examples: Pohárba is typically used with verbs of motion or placement. Example: A szakács a pohárba töltötte a vizet. (The cook poured the water into the glass.) Öntsd a teát a pohárba. (Pour the tea into the glass.) The illative contrasts with pohárban, which means “in the glass” and marks a static location rather than a direction toward it. Pohárba can also appear with nouns describing actions involving multiple objects, by using the plural form poharakba.

Etymology and overview: Pohárba derives from pohár plus the illative suffix -ba, a standard Hungarian mechanism for indicating movement into a container. It is one of several directional cases, and its use is grammatical rather than lexical; it does not function as a standalone noun.

See also: Hungarian grammar, illative case, case endings, pohár.