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:
“You say you are incapable of expressing your thought. How then do you explain the lucidity and brilliance with which you are expressing the thought that you are incapable of thought?”
—Jacques Rivière (1886–1925)
“[Tolstoy] discovered—and certainly never realized his discovery—he discovered a method of picturing life which most pleasingly and exactly corresponds to our idea of time. He is the only writer I know of whose watch keeps time with numberless watches of his readers.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)