Hungarian Noun Phrase - Numerals

Numerals

Hungarian numbers follow an extremely regular, decimal format. There are distinct words for 1 to 9, 10, 20, 30, 100, 1000 and 1000000. The tens from 40 to 90 are formed by adding -van/-ven to the digit. When the numbers 10 and 20 are followed by a digit, they are suffixed with -on/-en/-ön/-n (on the oblique stem). Compound numbers are formed simply by joining the elements together. Examples:

• öt ("five")
• tíz ("ten")
• tizenöt ("fifteen")
• ötvenöt ("fifty-five")
• százötvenöt ("one hundred and fifty-five")

As in English, a number can function as a determiner or as a stand-alone noun. As a noun it can take all the usual suffixes.

Suffixes used only on numerals and hány ("how many?"):

• -odik/(-adik)/-edik/-ödik for ordinal numbers, e.g. ötödik ("the fifth")
• -od/(-ad)/-ed/-öd for fractional numbers, e.g. ötöd ("a fifth")
• -os/(-as)/-es/-ös for adjectival numbers (numeric adjectives), e.g. ötös

The numeric adjectives do not have an exact equivalent in English. They are used when English uses a construction such as "bus number 11": a tizenegyes busz, "room 303": a háromszázhármas szoba.