By far the most challenging aspect of the Hungarian language is the verb system. The good news is that the language has only 3 verb tenses. The bad news is just about everything else.

Hungarian has a variety of prefixes that modify the meaning of verbs in various ways. Megyek means “I go”; felmegyek means “I go up”; elmegyek means “I go away.” The prefixes take on different connotations with different types of verbs. Olvasok means “I read”; felolvasok means “I read aloud”; elolvasok means “I read all the way through.”

Hungarian has a variety of infixes that modify the meaning of verbs in various ways. Beszelek means “I speak”; beszelgetek means “I chat.” Hallok means “I hear”; hallgatok means “I listen to.”

Hungarian has more than its share of verb suffixes. Many languages change endings according to whether the subject is first, second or third person, singular or plural. Hungarian has all of this plus an additional set of endings used only if the direct object of the verb is definite. Olvasok egy levelet means “I read a letter.” Olvasom a levelet means “I read the letter.” In addition, one ending is used only if the subject is “I” and the direct object is “you.”

Hungarian has several verb moods: indicative, conditional, subjunctive.

The word Atkarolhatlak? illustrates several of the features listed above. The basic root is kar, which means “arm.” At- is a prefix which means across. -ol is a suffix that changes a noun into a verb. -hat- is an infix that means possibility. -lak is the ending used only if the subject is “I” and the object is “you.” Since the direct object, “you,” is implied in the verb ending, one need not say it directly. The resulting meaning is, “May I put my arms around you?” One word equals a whole sentence.

One Hungarian scholar calculated that Hungarian verbs theoretically could have as many as 5,070 distinct forms. A few years later, another Hungarian scholar pointed out several forms that the first scholar had missed. Not even the Hungarians know how many forms their verbs have. I once made that observation in front of a Hungarian and he said, “We don’t know, and we don’t care, either.”