Participial Relatives

Participial relative constructions are a hallmark of advanced, cohesive Hungarian. They allow you to pack complex information into a single noun phrase without needing a subordinate clause.

1. The Three Types of Participles

• Present (-ó/-ő): Relativizes the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs. The noun performs an ongoing or habitual action (e.g., a síró fiú = the crying boy).
• Past (-t/-tt): Relativizes the object of transitive verbs (acting like a passive: a megírt levél = the written letter) OR the subject of unaccusative verbs (indicating a change of state: a megérkezett vendég = the arrived guest). Warning: You cannot use past participles for regular, ongoing intransitive actions (atelic/unergative verbs). For example, *az aludt fiú is incorrect; you must use a full relative clause instead.
• Future (-andó/-endő): Relativizes the object with a modal nuance of obligation or destiny (e.g., a megoldandó feladat = the task to be solved). Note that there are common lexicalized exceptions that relativize the subject of intransitive verbs (e.g., halandó = mortal, jövendő = future, állandó = constant). This is more formal.

2. Strict Left-Branching Syntax
Hungarian noun phrases are strictly head-final. This means the participle must immediately precede the noun it modifies. If the verb has objects or adverbs, they must stack to the left of the participle, while verbal prefixes generally remain attached to the participle itself. When a participle is negated, the grammatically correct standard requires separating the prefix and placing nem between the prefix and the verb (e.g., a meg nem írt levél = the unwritten letter). While keeping the prefix attached (e.g., a nem megírt levél) is common in modern colloquial speech, it is considered substandard in prescriptive grammar.
For example, instead of saying "the woman who is writing the letter", you say "the [letter-ACC writing] woman": a levelet író nő.

3. Expressing the Agent
When using past participial relatives of transitive verbs, there are two ways to express the agent. First, you can use the passive-like construction with the postposition által (by): az Anna által megírt levél (the letter written by Anna). Second, you can use the active-like possessive construction, where the agent is in the nominative case and the participle takes a possessive suffix: az Anna írta levél (the letter Anna wrote). Crucially, the participle's suffix remains singular even if the agent is plural (e.g., a lányok írta levél, NOT *a lányok írták levél). Note major syntactic restrictions on this possessive construction: it is generally restricted to third-person agents (first- and second-person agents are marginal or ungrammatical), it explicitly cannot take verbal prefixes (e.g., megírta is incorrect here), and it cannot take any other verbal complements or adjuncts. Adding an adverb, indirect object, or prefix makes it ungrammatical, requiring the által construction or a finite relative clause instead.

To become proficient in reading formal Hungarian or literature, recognizing these dense, "heavy" participial clauses is essential. In casual speech, however, native speakers often prefer finite relative clauses to avoid overly long prenominal modifiers.