élete

Élete is the third-person singular possessive form of the Hungarian noun élet, meaning "his/her/its life." As a grammatical form, it indicates that the life in question belongs to a third-person singular possessor and appears frequently in everyday speech, literature and formal writing.

Formation and grammar: élet (life) + possessive suffix for third person singular yields élete. It is one member of the paradigm of Hungarian possessive forms: életem (my life), életed (your life), élete (his/her/its life), életünk (our life), életetek (your plural life), életük (their life). Possessive suffixes precede case endings (for example, élete + accusative -t = életét).

Usage and phraseology: élete appears in common collocations and idioms such as élete veszélyben van ("his/her life is in danger"), élete során ("during his/her life"), or élete és munkássága ("his/her life and work"). It is used in biographies, news reports and artistic contexts to express possession of the concept of life without grammatical gender.

Etymology and pronunciation: the base word élet is a native Hungarian term with Uralic roots. Élete is pronounced with a long initial é and a final unstressed vowel, approximately "AY-let-eh" in English-oriented transcription.