mint

The conjunction mint is the standard way to connect two things being compared. Unlike English, which uses 'than' for inequality and 'as' for equality or capacity, Hungarian uses mint for all three.

1. Inequality (Than)
When used with a comparative adjective (ending in -bb), mint translates to 'than'.
Example: A ház nagyobb, mint a lakás. (The house is bigger than the apartment.)

2. The Alternative: -nál/-nél
For simple comparisons, you can use the comparative suffix -nál/-nél instead of mint. While the compared object often comes before the adjective (A ház a lakásnál nagyobb), it is also perfectly correct to place it after (A ház nagyobb a lakásnál).

When using pronouns with this suffix, they take special pronominal forms:

• nálam (than me)
• nálad (than you)
• nála (than him/her/it)
• nálunk (than us)
• nálatok (than you [plural])
• náluk (than them)

Note that the -nál/-nél suffix can only be used for inequality, and never for equality. For example, you must say Olyan magas, mint én, not Olyan magas nálam. Furthermore, it can attach to any nominalized word (nouns, pronouns, numerals, demonstratives). If you are comparing to a conjugated verb or a clause (e.g., 'than I thought'), you must use mint (nagyobb, mint gondoltam).

3. Equality and Similes (As... as / Like)
When used with words like olyan (such/as) or annyi (as much), mint translates to 'as'.
Example: Olyan magas, mint én. (He is as tall as I [am].)
It is also used in similes to mean 'like': fehér, mint a hó (white as snow / white like snow).

4. Case Matching (Parallelism)
If you are comparing two objects, both must take the accusative case. If you are comparing two locations, both must have their appropriate locative suffix (which may differ depending on the noun). This case matching is crucial because it resolves ambiguity, unlike -nál/-nél which overwrites the original case.

• Subject comparison: Péter (Nom.) magasabb, mint János (Nom.).
• Object comparison: Jobban szeretem a kávét, mint a teát (Acc.).
• Location comparison: Jobban érzem magam Budapesten, mint Debrecenben.
• Resolving ambiguity: Péter jobban szereti a kávét, mint Pál (Peter likes coffee more than Paul likes coffee) vs. Péter jobban szereti a kávét, mint Pált (Peter likes coffee more than Peter likes Paul).

5. Capacity (As / In the role of)
When mint is used to express capacity or a role, it translates to 'as'. In this specific usage, no comma is placed before mint.
Example: Mint tanár dolgozik. (He works as a teacher.)

6. Punctuation
In Hungarian orthography, you must place a comma before mint when it introduces a comparison. However, there are two main exceptions where no comma is used: when mint means 'as' in the sense of capacity (as explained in section 5), and in the phrases több mint (more than) or kevesebb mint (less than) when they express an amount, degree, or quantity rather than a direct comparison (e.g., Több mint öt évig élt külföldön. - He lived abroad for more than five years).