[Part of this post is taken from the Duolingo Hungarian Tips & Notes ]
Superessive case (on/en/ön/n ending)
The superessive case is one that expresses a spatial relation. As with the inessive , the superessive usually conforms to an English preposition and has forms based on vowel harmony.
It's easy for English speakers, as it sounds like the preposition ‘on’! -n/-on/-en/ön
| English | Hungarian |
|---|---|
| the ship | a hajó |
| on the ship | a hajón |
| the sidewalk | a járda |
| on the sidewalk | a járdán |
| the table | az asztal |
| on the table | az asztalon |
| the airplane | a repülőgép |
| on the airplane | a repülőgépen |
| the ground | a föld |
| on the ground | a földön |
Using the suffixes -n/-on/-en/ön is like using the English preposition on, but after the word.
If a word ends in a vowel (except for “a” and “e”) you can add the ending “-n” directly .
If the word ends in “-a” or “-e” it gets the “-n” but “-a” becomes “-á” and “-e” becomes “-é”.
For words ending in a consonant you also have to consider vowel harmony. Words containing only back vowels (or dominantly back vowels), like asztal, we add “-on”asztal-on. You will meet an exceptional vowel, the ”back -i”, like we had in “iszik”. The ‘-í’ in ‘híd’ (= bridge) behaves as a back vowel, so we will say ‘a hídon’ (= on the bridge). Memorization is our only recourse .
However, for words with only front vowels, the suffix is sometimes -en and sometimes -ön. As in verb conjugations, “-ön” is used if the last syllable contains -ö/-ő/-ü/-ű, like föld meaning ‘floor, ground, Earth’, it becomes földön ‘on the ground’.
For other front vowels (-e/-é/-i/-í) add “-en”, like szék, which becomes széken.
When to use it?
1: Express that “something is ON something”:
The cat sits on the car. = A macska az autón ül.
The coat is on the bag. = A kabát a táskán van.
The apple is on the table. = Az alma az asztalon van.
I live on a hill. = Egy hegyen élek.
The book is on the floor. = A könyv a földön van.
Compare with -ban/-ben: doboz = box
The pen is in the box. = A toll a dobozban van.
The pen is on the box. = A toll a dobozon van.
2: Express being somewhere, regardless of the preposition used in English, if that place is:
any means of transport: busz (bus), villamos (tram), vonat (train), hajó (ship) (but not a car!)
an open space: piac (market), utca (street), tér (square), pályaudvar (train station), repülőtér (airport), járda (sidewalk), udvar (yard)
an event: kiállítás (exhibition), megbeszélés (meeting)
or an exception… see this list: posta (post office), folyosó (corridor), menza (canteen), egyetem (university)
I am on the bus. = A buszon vagyok.
Are you at the market? = A piacon vagy?
We are not running on the sidewalk. = Nem a járdán futunk.
3: Do you remember the days of the week? We added this same suffix to them (except for vasárnap, which doesn’t get any suffix).
- hétfő-n ‘on Monday’
- kedd-en ‘on Tuesday’
- szerdá-n ‘on Wednesday’
- csütörtök-ön ‘on Thursday’
- péntek-en ‘on Friday’
- szombat-on ‘on Saturday’
- vasárnap ‘on Sunday’
Also two seasons nyár ( = summer) and tél (= winter) get the same suffix:
nyáron = in summer
télen = in winter
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See this forum comment here:
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/39019042?comment_id=39020061
https://archive.ph/UjfBP
"The children in the railway station are going to the big clock."
Translation:A gyerekek a pályaudvaron a nagy órához mennek.
Question: Why not pályaudvarban?
Answer:
There are some places that take -on. Usually if it is big flat area.
tér, téren (square)
repülőtér, repülőtéren (airport)
piac, piacon (market)
állomás, állomáson (station)
pályaudvar, pályaudvaron
udvar, udvaron (udvar is yard/court/courtyard)
plus some institutions
egyetem, egyetemen (university)
bíróság, bíróságon (court, the kind of court with judges)
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