This is the 2nd part of a 3-part explanation of interrogative and relative pronouns. This part specifically covers directional pronouns.

Interrogative pronouns are basically question words, like ‘who‘, ‘what‘, ‘where‘, etc. Relative pronouns are used to refer back to the question word or other subject (person, thing, etc – whatever you were talking about in the first clause) in the sentence (there’s more explanation here if you need).

It might be a bit confusing at first to tell the specific difference between the interrogative and relative, but just remember the general rule:

interrogative = asking a question, something you don’t have an answer to

relative = referring back to the question word in order to identify it or give more information/context.

In Hungarian, creating a relative pronoun just involves adding “a” to the beginning of the interrogative pronoun (i.e. ‘mi‘ (what) becomes ‘ami‘ (that which), ‘ki‘ (who) becomes ‘aki‘ (the one who)). Remember to add the correct case (accusative, dative, etc) to the relative pronoun if needed.

I’ll provide some charts here for reference. If they confuse you at first, don’t worry, as I will be providing more explanations and examples below.

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Directions

Interrogative	English	Relative	English
hol	where (static location)	ahol	the place (static location) where
hová	to where	ahová	the place to where
honnan	from where	ahonnan	the place from where
merre	to/toward which way/direction	amerre	(the way/direction) to/toward where
merről	from which way/direction	amerről	(the way/direction) from where

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~(a)hol, (a)hová, (a)honnan ~

hol / ahol : WHERE

Interrogative

Hol laksz? (Where do you live?)

Tudod, hogy hol van a pénztárcám? (Do you know where my wallet is?)
literally: do you know, that where is my wallet?

Hol alszik a macska? (Where is the cat sleeping?)

Relative

A pénztárcád ott van, ahol a múltkor felejtetted (Your wallet is where you forgot it last time)
literally: your wallet is there, (at the place) where you last time forgot it

A macska ott alszik, ahol az ablakon át süt a nap (The cat is sleeping where the sun shines through the window)
literally: the cat is sleeping there, (at the spot) where through the window shines the sun

Olyan országban szeretnék lakni, ahol szabadon tudok élni (I would like to live in a country where I can live freely)

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hová / ahová : TO WHERE

(a)hol is static, meaning that there is no movement. It only refers to where something/someone currently is.

(a)hová is directional, and is used to indicate movement TOWARD a place.

Interrogative

Hová¹ mész? (Where are you going?)
literally: TO where are you going?

¹This sentence can also work with merre, but it would be more like you were just asking the general direction the person was going in. Hová asks for a specific destination (i.e. the post office, the bank, etc)

Hová¹ szeretnél menni nyaralni? (Where would you like to go for our vacation?)
literally: TO where would you like to go on/for our vacation?

¹Hová is more appropriate here, because with vacations you typically go to a specific place (Hawaii, San Francisco, etc). Merre wouldn’t fit, as it just indicates direction without a specific destination.

Hová¹ futott a fiú? (Where did the boy run (to)?)
literally: TO where (toward what specific place) ran the boy?

¹This sentence can also work with merre, but that is only if the answer to “where” is directional (i.e. toward the city center). Hová indicates a destination (i.e. the shop, the theater, etc)

Relative

A ház, ahová sétaltak, komornak tűnt (The house (where) they were walking to seemed gloomy)
literally: the house, TO where they were walking, seemed gloomy

Én is oda megyek, ahová a bátyám ment (I am also going to (the place) where my brother went)
literally: I also am going there, to(ward) the place (where) my brother went

A lányt ott találhatod, ahová a macska futott (The girl is there (at the place) where the cat ran to)
literally: You can find the girl there, (at the place) to(ward) which the cat ran

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honnan / ahonnan : FROM WHERE

(a)honnan is also a pronoun of direction, but in this case refers to movement AWAY FROM a place.

Honnan jöttél¹? (Where did you come from?)
literally: FROM where did you come?

¹This phrase is a little casual, but it can be used in a general sense to ask where someone comes from (i.e. what country). The present tense “honnan jösz” still has the meaning of “where do you come from?”, but it is usually understood to be more literal.

Alex notes: Hearing “honnan jöttél?”, I would immediately think to say “Hungary”. If I heard “honnan jössz?”, I would be a bit confused and think they were asking where I had just walked in from (“like…I’m coming from the bathroom? What do you mean?”)

Honnan¹ tűnt fel ez a macska? (Where (from what place) did this cat appear from?)

¹Merről could work here also, but then we would be asking which direction the cat came from. Honnan is asking what specific place the cat came from.

Note: “honnan” is also used when expressing how you know something, or where you got information from (i.e. your ‘source’)

Honnan tudod a nevemet? (How do you know my name?)
literally: FROM where do you know my name?

Relative

ahonnan is not super common, but it does have some uses.

Ez az a város, ahonnan¹ jöttem (This is the city (where) I came from)
literally: this is the city, from which I came

¹ahonnan is needed here, as we are referring to a specific place (in this case, a city).

Ahonnan¹ én jöttem, (ott) nem illik ilyesmit kérdezni (Where I come from, it’s impolite to ask such questions (there))

¹Same case as above (we are talking about a specific place such as a city or country)

Abba a boltba menj, ahonnan¹ a múltkor azt a finom kiflit² hoztad! (Go to the shop that you brought those yummy rolls from last time!)
literally: go to that shop, from which last time you brought those yummy rolls

¹amerről would not work here, as we are talking about the specific place from which the rolls were bought. You cannot substitute it with “from the direction of”.

²A “kifli” is a traditional yeast bread roll that is rolled and formed into a crescent before baking. It is a common type of bread throughout much of central Europe and nearby countries.

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Note

hová mész/honnan jöttél can also be used, for example, if you show up somewhere dressed inappropriately for the occasion (either under or overdressed), and your friends might ask “hová mész?” – as in “where are you going (to) (dressed like that)?” or “honnan jöttél?” – “where did you come from (dressed like that)?” It also sounds like something my mom would say if I tried to walk out of the house with booty shorts on.

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~(a)merre, (a)merről ~

There is no static version of these – only toward and away from.

(a)merre/(a)merről and (a)hová/(a)honnan can sometimes be used interchangeably, but they both have a slightly different meaning.

(a)hová/(a)honnan refer more to specific places (toward or away from a destination).

(a)merre/(a)merről refer more to general direction (toward or away from something, without necessarily having a destination).

If the direction is what matters, you’ll likely want to go with (a)merre/(a)merről. Otherwise, you can play it safe with (a)hova/(a)honnan. You will be understood either way.

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merre / amerre: TO(WARD) WHERE/WHICH DIRECTION

Interrogative

Person A: Vége a bulinak. Kocsival jöttél, ugye? Haza tudnál vinni? (The party is over. You came by car, right? Could you drive me home?)
Person B: Talán. Merre mész? (Maybe. Which way/direction are you going (toward)?)

Szia! A postát keresem. Merre menjek? (Hi! I’m looking for the post office. Which direction/way should I go (toward)?

Most nem látlak. Merre mentél? (I can’t see you right now. Which way/direction did you go (toward)?)

Relative

Megyek oda, amerre¹ elfutottak a szarvasok (I am going (in the direction toward) where the deer ran away)
literally: I am going there, TOWARD (the direction) where ran away the deer

¹amerre is more suitable than ahová in this case, because we are talking about the general direction that the deer went, and not a specific place they were heading.

A tanár is elindult arra, amerre¹ a fiú ment (The teacher also left (in the direction toward) where the boy went)

¹ahová would only work here if talking about a specific destination the boy went (i.e. the school). With amerre, the teacher is just heading in the direction the boy went (without necessarily knowing where he plans to go)

Megyek oda, amerre a cicát láttam (I’m going (in the direction toward) where I saw the cat)
literally: I am going there, TO(WARD) the direction I saw the cat

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merről / amerről: FROM WHERE/WHICH DIRECTION

Interrogative

Húsz perce meg kellett volna érkezned. Merről¹ jöttél? (You should have arrived twenty minutes ago. Where did you come from?)

¹In this case, with merről, we are asking what direction the person came from (i.e. which way they took to get there, which would possibly explain the delay). Honnan would be asking for the specific place (church, school) that they came from.

Merről¹ jött ez a sok madár? (Where (from which direction) did all these birds come from?)

¹Here, we are just asking about the general direction the birds came from. If we wanted to ask what specific place they originated from, then we would use honnan.

Merről¹ jön ez a füst? (Where (from which direction) is this smoke coming from?)

¹Same as above. If we wanted to ask what specific place the smoke was originating from, then we would use honnan.

Relative

Like ahonnan, amerről isn’t super common, but you will find it in certain sentence constructions.

Nézz oda, amerről a kutya jött (Look over there, (in the direction) where the dog came from)

Amerről jöttem, szép virágok vannak (There are pretty flowers the way/direction I came (from))
literally: in the direction from which I came, there are pretty flowers

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In Summary

This might seem like a ton of information, but it all essentially boils down to this:

(a)hol – static location, where something currently is. no movement.

(a)merre/(a)merről indicate a general direction to or from something.

(a)hová/(a)honnan indicate movement to or from a specific place.

If you mix them up, you will still be understood, so don’t fret too much about getting it perfectly right. There are situations where both are equally appropriate, and they just have slightly different nuances.