Nominalized Subjects

When you transform a verb into an action noun using the Action Nouns suffix, the resulting word is a true noun. Because it is no longer a verb, it cannot assign the nominative case to a subject or the accusative case to an object.

Instead, Hungarian uses possessive structures to express who is doing the action or what the action is being done to. Crucially, the action noun itself must take a possessive suffix (such as -a/-e or -ja/-je for third person) to agree with the possessor. This creates a distinct pattern depending on whether the base verb is transitive or intransitive:

• Intransitive Verbs (Subject = Possessor): If the verb has no direct object (like érkezik 'arrives' or fut 'runs'), the logical subject becomes the possessor. For example, 'the train's arrival' is a vonat érkezése (notice the -e suffix on érkezés).
• Transitive Verbs (Object = Possessor): If the verb takes a direct object (like megír 'writes' or megold 'solves'), the logical object becomes the possessor. For example, 'the writing of the letter' is a levél megírása (notice the -a suffix on megírás).
• Transitive Verbs without an Object: If a transitive verb is used without a specific object, the logical subject takes the possessor slot, just like with an intransitive verb. For example, 'Peter's reading' is Péter olvasása.
• Oblique Arguments: Arguments in other cases (such as instrumental, sublative, illative, etc.) do not become possessors. They retain their original case suffixes. While they can follow the noun in isolation (e.g., találkozás Péterrel 'meeting with Peter'), in a full sentence Hungarian strongly prefers pre-nominal modifiers. To place the oblique argument before the action noun, the participle való is used as a bridge. For example, 'The meeting with Peter went well' is A Péterrel való találkozás jól sikerült.
• Pronouns as Possessors: When the logical subject or object is a pronoun, the action noun simply takes the corresponding personal possessive suffix. For example, 'my arrival' is (az én) érkezésem, and 'writing it' is a megírása.
• Transitive Verbs with an Agent: If you need to express both the object and the subject of a transitive action noun, the object remains the possessor, and the subject is demoted to an oblique adjective phrase using általi (by). For example, 'the writing of the letter by Peter' becomes a levél Péter általi megírása. This sounds quite formal or academic. In everyday conversation, Hungarians usually avoid this structure and use a regular finite clause instead (e.g., az, hogy Péter megírta a levelet).

The possessor itself typically takes the unmarked nominative case, following standard Unmarked Possessor rules, though it can take the Marked Possessor suffix (-nak/-nek) if emphasized or separated from the noun.