toroknak

Toroknak is a Hungarian inflected form meaning “to the throat.” It is the dative singular form of the noun torok, which means throat. In everyday language, torok is used to refer to part of the body, while diacritics can change meaning: töröknek (with ö) means “to the Turks,” whereas toroknak (with o) means “to the throat.” This distinction highlights how Hungarian spelling and meaning can diverge when diacritics are removed.

Grammatical note: Hungarian marks indirect objects with the suffix -nak or -nek, chosen by vowel harmony. For a stem ending in back vowels (such as torok, with the last vowel o), the dative suffix is -nak, giving toroknak. If the stem ends with a front vowel (as in török), the dative would be -nek, giving töröknek. The plural form for “to the throats” is torkoknak, while “to the Turks” is törököknek. These forms illustrate how closely Hungarian morphology ties form to pronunciation and meaning.

Usage examples:

- Adj gyógyszert a toroknak. (Give medicine to the throat.)

See also:

- Hungarian dative case

- Vowel harmony in Hungarian

- Distinction between torok and török in Hungarian spelling and meaning