HUNGARIAN VERB TENSES

Present (Definite)
Present (Indefinite)
Past (Definite & Indefinite)
Conditional (Definite & Indefinite)
Conditional Tense: Usage
※ Subjunctive/Imperative (Definite & Indefinite) – YOU ARE HERE
Subjunctive Tense: Usage
Imperative Tense: Usage

Both the Subjunctive and the Imperative conjugate the same way, so I will only be doing one set of charts. I will be going over the different uses in a more detailed post for each, but basically subjunctive is used to express a possibility/desire, and imperative is used to express a command.

---

The subjunctive/imperative is marked by ‘j‘, accompanied by the appropriate subject ending (mostly the same endings as past tense conjugation, but with a couple differences).

INDEFINITE CONJUGATION

	Back Vowel	Front Vowel	-ik verb (back vowel)2	-ik verb (front vowel)2
Én	-ak	-ek	-am	-em
Te1	-ál	-él
Ő/maga/Ön	-on	-en/-ön (rounded)	-ék	-ék
Mi	-unk	-ünk
Ti	-atok	-etek
Ők/maguk/Önök	-anak	-enek
Én + téged/titeket3	-(a)lak	-(e)lek

DEFINITE CONJUGATION

	Back Vowel	Front Vowel
Én	-am	-em
Te1	-ad	-ed
Ő/maga/Ön	-a	-e
Mi	-uk	-ük
Ti	-átok	-étek
Ők/maguk/Önök	-ák	-ék
Én + téged	-(a)lak	-(e)lek

---

Verb Stems and Adding the ‘-j’

Now of course, there are some rules for how to apply the ‘j‘, depending on how the verb stem ends. I will try to explain this as simply as possible.

1. Ending in -s, -sz, -z, -dz OR -st, -szt (same rules as definite present tense)

leading -j in the ending turns into the last letter of the verb stem (with -sz, you just double the s)

Examples:
mos + -jak = mossak
választ + -jak = válasszak
fest + -jak = fessek
tervez + -jak = tervezzek

2. Ending in Long Vowel + t OR Consonant + t (except verbs that end in the patterns listed above ^)

leading -j becomes ‘s‘

Examples:
tanít + -jak = tanítsak
tart + -jak = tartsak

3. Ending in Short Vowel + t

both the ‘t‘ and ‘j‘ turn into ‘s‘ (so -ss instead of -tj)

*Note: verbs ending in -át will take the double -ss also, even though á is a long vowel.

Examples:
fut + -jak = fussak
fogat + -jak = fogassak
lát + -jak = lássak

---

2nd Person Singular: Long vs Short Conjugation

The imperative/subjunctive has two different versions when it comes to 2nd person singular informal. But fret not! The long version really isn’t used much, except in some rural areas or if you want to be very forceful with your request. I’ll give examples of both versions here, but don’t worry too much about the long form, as the short one is what you’ll use/come across the most.

Indefinite Conjugation

You can simply omit the endings for te and leave only the verb stem + j (or whatever -j turns into, if it’s one of those cases)

Examples:
long: játszik + -jál = játsszál
short: játsszál + remove -ál = játssz

long: énekel + -jél = énekeljél
short: énekeljél + remove -él = énekelj

Definite Conjugation

verb stem + -d (no -j or assimilated consonants)*

*Exception: if the verb stem ends in a long vowel + t or consonant + t (besides -st/-szt), you keep the assimilated consonant (see 3rd example below)

Examples:
long: játszik + -jad = játsszad
short: játszik + remove -ik + add -d = játszd

long: énekel + -jed = énekeljed
short: énekel + -d = énekeld

long: tart + -jad = tartsad
short: tartsad + remove vowel (a) = tartsd