Participial Voice

Understanding argument realization is crucial for building complex participial relative constructions. Note that for all participle types, the choice between front and back suffix variants (e.g., -ó/-ő, -andó/-endő) is dictated by vowel harmony.

1. Present Participles (-ó/-ő)
These attach to the present stem and describe an ongoing or habitual action. If the verb is transitive, its patient is realized as an accusative object that must precede the participle, though not necessarily immediately, as other modifiers can intervene (e.g., levelet gyorsan író nő = the woman writing a letter quickly). Intransitive verbs freely form present participles that modify their subjects (e.g., az alvó gyerek = the sleeping child). Note that some verbs ending in -szik use their v-stem here (e.g., alszik → alvó, eszik → evő).

2. Past Participles (-t/-tt/-ott/-ett/-ött)
These are often morphologically identical to the 3rd-person singular indefinite past tense. Both short (-t) and long (-ott/-ett/-ött) forms can function as past participles (e.g., írt is a fully productive past participle). When a verb has both forms (e.g., tört vs. törött), the choice is heavily dictated by the presence of modifiers. The long form (törött) is the regular past participle used on its own, while the short form (tört) is used when modified by an adverbial phrase or verbal prefix (e.g., törött üveg = broken glass vs. darabokra tört üveg = glass broken into pieces). Their voice splits based on transitivity. For transitive verbs, they form a passive modifier. The original agent can be expressed using the postposition által (by) preceding the participle (e.g., a diák által írt levél = the letter written by the student). Alternatively, the agent can be expressed in the nominative case with the participle taking a past-tense definite personal suffix (e.g., a diák írta levél = the letter written by the student). Additionally, past participles used without arguments strongly tend to pair with perfective verbal prefixes to sound natural (e.g., a megírt levél instead of just az írt levél). For intransitive verbs of motion or change of state (unaccusative verbs), they remain active (e.g., a megérkezett vonat = the arrived train). Unergative verbs like táncol or alszik generally do not form active past participles.

3. Future Participles (-andó/-endő)
For transitive verbs, these function similarly to a Latin gerundive, indicating that the modified noun is the target of a future action that must or is to be done (e.g., megoldandó probléma = problem to be solved). Note that the future participle sounds quite formal, bureaucratic, or literary. In everyday spoken Hungarian, native speakers usually prefer a finite relative clause (e.g., a probléma, amit meg kell oldani). For intransitive verbs, this suffix is not productive in modern Hungarian, though a closed set of lexicalized adjectives retains an active meaning (e.g., maradandó = lasting, mulandó = fleeting). Highly common irregular forms include leendő (future/to-be, from lesz) and teendő (to be done, from tesz).

Substantivization: All three types of participles are frequently used as standalone nouns. For example: az író (the writer - present), a vádlott (the accused - past), and a jövendő (the future - future).

Crucial Syntactic Rule: Unlike English relative clauses, all arguments (objects, agents, adverbs) must strictly precede the Hungarian participle. Furthermore, do not confuse these adjectival participles with the adverbial participle, which modifies verbs or forms stative predicates.