-jen
Hungarian
Etymology
From -j (subjunctive/imperative suffix) + -en (personal suffix).
Pronunciation
Suffix
-jen
- (personal suffix) Forms the third-person singular subjunctive/imperative of verbs (indefinite conjugation).
- énekel (“to sing”) → Mit énekeljen? ― What should he/she sing?
- Énekeljen valamit! (formal) ― Sing something!
Usage notes
- See the harmonic variants in the table below.
Subjunctive/imperative indefinite – personal endings
| Person | Back vowel |
Front vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | ||||
| én | 1st person singular | -jak | -jek | ||
| te | 2nd person singular | -j | |||
| long form | -jál | -jél | |||
| ő maga / ön |
3rd person singular | -jon | -jen | -jön | |
| -ik verbs (optional) | -jék | ||||
| mi | 1st person plural | -junk | -jünk | ||
| ti | 2nd person plural | -jatok | -jetek | ||
| ők maguk / önök |
3rd person plural | -janak | -jenek | ||
| See also: present-tense definite-object suffixes and second-person-object suffixes for informal addressing. | |||||
| Verb ending | Assimilation rules of -j | ||||
| -s -sz -z -dz |
The -j assimilates to the verb ending: keres → keress metsz → metssz hoz → hozz edz → eddz | ||||
| -st -szt |
The -t is removed; the -j assimilates to the -s, -sz: fest → fess fáraszt → fárassz | ||||
| long vowel + t or consonant + t |
The -j becomes -s: segít → segíts bont → bonts Exceptions: bocsát → bocsáss, lát → láss | ||||
| short vowel + t | Both the stem-final -t and the -j become -s: mutat → mutass, szeret → szeress | ||||