-andó/-endő

The future participle, or beálló melléknévi igenév, is formed by adding -andó or -endő to the verb stem.

1. Formation and Vowel Harmony:

• -andó: Used with back-vowel stems (e.g., olvas → olvasandó).
• -endő: Used with front-vowel stems (e.g., fizet → fizetendő).

2. Stem Changes:

• While most verbs, including -ik verbs, are regular and use their present-tense stem (dropping the -ik suffix) (e.g., játszik → játszandó), a small group of irregular verbs use special stems. Verbs like lesz, tesz, and vesz use a short vowel stem (leendő, teendő, veendő), while others use a v-stem variant (e.g., jön → jövendő). Note that for verbs like eszik ('eat') and iszik ('drink'), the forms evendő and ivandó are exceptionally rare (and variants like eendő or iandó are completely obsolete or strictly biblical), so learners do not need to produce them. The word leendő is highly frequent (e.g., a leendő feleségem - 'my future wife').

3. Transitive vs. Intransitive Meanings:
The meaning of the future participle depends heavily on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive:

• Transitive verbs: The participle takes on a passive, obligatory meaning. It describes the object of the action that must be done (e.g., olvasandó könyv - 'a book to be read', fizetendő összeg - 'amount to be paid'). This is the grammatical equivalent of a relative clause with kell (e.g., az olvasandó könyv means a könyv, amelyet el kell olvasni). This is highly common in formal, legal, or administrative contexts.
• Intransitive verbs: The participle takes on an active, future meaning. This is common in everyday language with words like születendő ('unborn/to be born'), maradandó ('lasting/permanent'), jövendő ('coming/future'), and halandó ('mortal'). It is also frequently used in formal or business contexts (e.g., felmerülendő - 'arising / upcoming').

4. Predicative Use:
In formal, legal, and administrative contexts, the future participle is often used as a predicate at the end of a sentence to state that something must be done (e.g., A számla fizetendő. - 'The bill is to be paid.').

5. Verbal Prefixes and Negation:
Because this participle often implies an action that must be completed, it is frequently used with perfective verbal prefixes (e.g., elolvasandó, megoldandó). However, many of the most common everyday participles are used without any prefix (e.g., fizetendő, olvasandó, teendő, leendő). Crucially, when these prefixed participles are negated, the negative word nem splits the prefix from the verb (e.g., be nem fizetendő számla - 'a bill not to be paid', meg nem térítendő - 'non-refundable'). Because participles act like adjectives, they are negated with nem, never with the imperative ne, even though the English translation ('must not be done') implies an obligation.

6. Contrast with Potential Participle:
It is important to distinguish the future participle of obligation (-andó/-endő) from the potential participle (-ható/-hető). While -andó/-endő means something must be done, -ható/-hető means something can be done. For example, a megoldandó probléma is a 'problem to be solved' (it must be solved), whereas a megoldható probléma is a 'solvable problem' (it can be solved).

7. Nominalization:
These participles are frequently used as nouns (nominalization), especially in everyday contexts. Common examples include teendő (task/thing to do) and beadandó (assignment/paper to be submitted). Because they function fully as standalone nouns, they can take plural and case markers, such as the accusative (e.g., teendők - 'tasks', beadandót - 'assignment [accusative]').

8. Everyday Spoken Alternative:
In everyday spoken Hungarian, the formal -andó/-endő is routinely replaced by the infinitive + való (often written as -nivaló) to express obligation or purpose. For example, instead of olvasandó, people say olvasnivaló ('something to read'), and instead of teendő, they often use tennivaló ('something to do'). This is why evendő and ivandó are rare in modern speech; learners should use ennivaló ('food/something to eat') and innivaló ('drink/something to drink') instead.