vidéken

Vidéken is a Hungarian adverbial locative form of the noun vidék, meaning the countryside or rural areas. It denotes location and is used to describe where something happens or where someone lives, typically in contrast to urban centers.

The word is formed by adding the locative suffix -en to vidék, yielding vidéken. It is used with verbs of state or activity, for example: "A család vidéken él" (The family lives in the countryside) or "Az iskola vidéken van" (The school is in the countryside). It answers the question where, rather than where to, and it is not used to indicate direction.

To express movement toward the countryside, Hungarian uses vidékre (to the countryside) rather than vidéken. In contrast, vidéken can also appear in phrases that describe rural settings or characteristics, such as "vidéki élet" (rural life) or "vidékei hagyományok" (rural traditions). The term is often employed in literature, journalism, and everyday speech to evoke a rural or regional context.

Relation to related terms: vidék means the countryside as a geographic or cultural region; vidéki is an adjective meaning rural or countryside-related. Distinctions between urban and rural contexts are common in Hungarian, and vidéken serves as a precise locative form within that system.