Prefixed Participles

Prefixed participles (igekötős melléknévi és határozói igenevek) turn a verb with a prefix into an adjective or adverb. They are highly common in everyday Hungarian.

1. The Prefix Stays Attached
In a normal sentence, putting focus on a word forces the prefix to detach and move behind the verb (e.g., PÉTER írta meg a levelet.). However, participles lack the structure for this. Even with strong emphasis, the prefix stays attached: a PÉTER által megírt levél (the letter written by PÉTER). These exact same rules apply to present and future participles as well: a levelet megíró fiú (the boy writing the letter) and a megírandó levél (the letter to be written).

2. Negation
Traditionally, to negate a prefixed participle, you insert nem between the prefix and the stem: meg nem értett zseni (misunderstood genius), meg nem alkuvó ember (uncompromising person), or vissza nem térítendő támogatás (non-refundable grant). In modern Hungarian, speakers sometimes put nem before the whole word (e.g., nem megoldott), but this unsplit form for non-lexicalized participles is frowned upon by traditional grammar and often penalized in language exams, so it is safer to stick to the split form (meg nem oldott) in formal contexts. However, this rule does not apply to lexicalized present participles that function as standard adjectives (e.g., meglepő [surprising], megfelelő [appropriate]). For these, the unsplit form is the only correct option: nem meglepő (not surprising), and splitting them (meg nem lepő) is ungrammatical.

3. Adverbial Participles and Resultant States
The adverbial participle can be used on its own to describe an action accompanying the main verb, keeping its prefix attached: A levelet megírva elment otthonról. (Having written the letter, he left home). Note that negating a standalone adverbial participle is very rare and often sounds awkward (e.g., A levelet meg nem írva...). Instead, Hungarians usually rephrase this using anélkül, hogy (without doing). It is also frequently used with van to describe a state resulting from an action: Az ablak be van csukva. (The window is closed). Here, the prefix be- separates to occupy the preverbal slot before the auxiliary verb van. The auxiliary can also change tense (e.g., be volt csukva [was closed], be lesz csukva [will be closed]), and the prefix separation rules remain identical. However, if the sentence is negated (e.g., with nincs) or has a focused element, that element takes over the preverbal slot. This forces the prefix to reattach to the participle: Az ablak nincs becsukva. (The window is not closed) and A levél MAGYARUL van megírva. (The letter is written IN HUNGARIAN). When negating past and future resultant states, the negator nem acts exactly like nincs by taking the preverbal slot before the auxiliary, forcing the prefix to reattach: Az ablak nem volt becsukva. (The window was not closed) and Az ablak nem lesz becsukva. (The window will not be closed).