The instrumental case in Hungarian is quite simple. It is essentially used to mean “with“, and the two basic uses are to designate what you use to do something, or who you’re accompanying.

FORMING THE INSTRUMENTAL

• back-vowel word: -val
• front-vowel word (including rounded): -vel

There is a quirk to this case though. The above endings only apply if the word ends in a vowel (in which case you would also lengthen said vowel if it is a or e). If the word ends in a consonant, then the v changes to that consonant, therefore doubling it.

Examples

I am with my mother → Az | anyám + -val | vagyok

anyám (my mother) and -val (with) combine to form “anyámmal“, because the v changes to the last consonant (m).

egy szék + -vel → Egy székkel (with a chair)

a macskám + -val → A macskámmal (with my cat)

Still pretty simple!

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USES OF THE INSTRUMENTAL

As mentioned above, it basically functions as “with” in English. It is used primarily to:

• designate what you are using to do something (think “instrument” – instrumental)
• specify who is accompanying someone at a given time
• specify something accompanying something else

Egy villával eszik (Xe eats with a fork)

Az anyámmal vagyok  (I am with my mother)

Tegnap mentem oda a barátommal (I went there yesterday with my friend)

Csak citrommal iszik vizet (Xe only drinks water with lemon)

Travelling

A unique use of this case is that Hungarians use it to denote how they are travelling. Instead of saying someone “came by the bus”, for example, you would say they “came with the bus”.

Busszal¹ utazik (Xe travels by (lit. ‘with‘) bus)

¹When the noun ends in sz, only the s will double (ssz)

Miscellaneous Uses

Kiabál (to shout) – Kiabál a fiúkkal(xe shouts at the boys – lit. ‘with the boys’)

Beszél (to speak (to)) – Beszélek egy orvossal (I speak to (lit. ‘with‘) a doctor)

There are many verbs that take the instrumental case, so here is a list!

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Personal Pronouns in Instrumental

Pronoun	Instrumental	Pronoun	Instrumental
én	velem	mi	velünk
te	veled	ti	veletek
ő/Ön/maga	vele	ők/Önök/maguk	velük

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Demonstrative Pronouns in Instrumental

ez -> ezzel
az -> azzal
ezek -> ezekkel
azok -> azokkal