életnek

életnek is the dative singular form of the Hungarian noun élet, meaning life. It is formed by adding the suffix -nek to the stem élet, following the rules of Hungarian vowel harmony and case endings. In Hungarian grammar, the dative case marks an indirect object or a referent related to an action, and it is used with certain verbs and in specific constructions.

In practice, életnek appears most often in expressions where life is the referent of a property or relation expressed by another element, frequently with the existential verb van or in idiomatic phrases. For example, az életnek van értelme means “life has meaning,” and az életnek vége van translates roughly to “there is an end to life.” These uses show how the dative form links life to a predicate or described state. In everyday spoken Hungarian, this form is less common and a non-dative construction (for instance, az élet értelme van) may be preferred, but the dative appears in literary, formal, or fixed expressions.

Because ötlettan and nuance matter in grammar, the exact choice between dative and other cases depends on the syntactic role of life in the sentence and the governing verb or expression. As a grammatical form rather than a lexical item, életnek does not carry a separate meaning beyond indicating a dative relation to life.

See also: Hungarian grammar, cases, dative construction.