Expressing Time
Many expressions of time use the case endings and postpositions which are also used for position, e.g.:
- -tól/-től - when from
- -ig - until when
- -ra/-re - by (before) a certain time
- között (postposition) - between; among
- előtt (postposition) - before
- után (postposition) - after
- -n belül (postposition with suffix) - within
There are also some which are used only for time, e.g.:
- -kor - at what time, e.g. kilenckor ("at nine"), karácsonykor ("at Christmas")
- -onta/-ente/-önte - every ..., e.g. naponta ("daily")
- múlva (postposition) - in ... time, e.g. 2 hét múlva ("in 2 weeks' time")
There are 2 ways of expressing how long ago something happened:
- 3rd singular possessive suffix with past tense, e.g. 10 éve költözött el. ("He moved away 10 years ago.")
- -val/-vel + ezelőtt with past tense, e.g. 10 évvel ezelőtt költözött el. ("He moved away 10 years ago.")
Read more about this topic: Hungarian Grammar
Famous quotes containing the words expressing and/or time:
“Poetry is the most direct and simple means of expressing oneself in words: the most primitive nations have poetry, but only quite well developed civilizations can produce good prose. So don’t think of poetry as a perverse and unnatural way of distorting ordinary prose statements: prose is a much less natural way of speaking than poetry is. If you listen to small children, and to the amount of chanting and singsong in their speech, you’ll see what I mean.”
—Northrop Frye (1912–1991)
“God will take care of you for me. I am my God’s. I belong to him, I go a short time before you, and I want to meet all in heaven, both white and black.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)