Граматична тема

Where? (Hol?) - Location in One Place

When an action or object stays in one place, with no change of location, Hungarian answers Hol? (“Where?”) with a separate set of suffixes.

Meaning	Ending by vowel harmony	Examples	English
Inside	-ban / -ben	házban, egyetemben	in the house, at/in the university
On a surface	-n / -on / -en / -ön	asztalon, széken	on the table, on the chair
At / by / with someone	-nál / -nél	orvosnál, ajtónál	at the doctor’s, by the door

Important exception: As with motion, most Hungarian city names use the “surface” ending -n/-on/-en/-ön.

• Budapesten lakom. - I live in Budapest.
• Moszkvában lakom. - I live in Moscow.

Reading Practice

• A ruhák a szekrényben vannak. [The clothes are in the closet.]
• A telefon az asztalon van. [The phone is on the table.]
• Anna most a fodrásznál ül. [Anna is now sitting at the hairdresser’s.]
• Sok külföldi diák él Budapesten. [Many foreign students live in Budapest.]
• A buszmegálló a szállodánál van. [The bus stop is by the hotel.]