Modal and Causative Suffixes
Hungarian has 2 forms which can be added to the verb stem to modify the meaning. These are sometimes referred to as infixes, but they are not true infixes because they are not inserted inside another morpheme.
-hat-/-het- has a modal meaning of permission or opportunity, e.g. beszélek "I speak", beszélhetek "I may speak" or "I am allowed to speak".
Note: Ability ("I can speak") is usually expressed with "tud". See Auxiliary verbs (modal and temporal).
-at-/-et- and -tat-/-tet- have a causative meaning. It can express "having something done" or "having/making someone do something". For example: beszélek "I speak", beszéltetek "I make sb speak". (Incidentally, it is the same form as "you spoke", analysed beszél|t|etek, see Past tense.)
-tat/-tet is used if the word ends in vowel + -t or if the stem ends in a consonant different from -t, but it has two or more syllables (excluding the verbal particle). In other cases, -at/-et is used: that is, with words ending in a consonant + t and with one-syllable words ending in a consonant different from -t.
| Ending | -t | not -t | |
|---|---|---|---|
| vowel + -t | consonant + -t | ||
| One syllable | süttet "to have sth baked", láttat "to make sth seen" | gyűjtet "to have sth collected", festet "to have sth painted" | írat "to have sth written", mosat "to have sth washed", fürdet "to give sb a bath" Also: ki+dobat "to have sb. thrown out", el+fogat "to have sb caught" |
| Several syllables | taníttat "to have sb taught", felszólíttat "to have sb warned" | felébresztet "to have sb woken up", halasztat "to have sth postponed" | beszéltet "to have sb speak", dolgoztat "to make sb work", olvastat "to have sb read" |
The monosyllabic words which don't end in vowel + -t, but have -tat/-tet in the causative are áz|ik (áztat), buk|ik (buktat), kop|ik (koptat), szop|ik (szoptat), hány (hánytat), él (éltet), kel (keltet), lép (léptet), szűn|ik (szüntet ), jár (jártat), szök|ik (szöktet).
Read more about this topic: Hungarian Verbs