Welcome to the wonderful world of verbal prefixes!
In Hungarian, pretty much
every verb can be used without a verbal prefix:
"Vak tyúk is
talál szemet."
"Even a blind hen might find a grain of cereal every once in a while."
Meaning:
"Anyone may be lucky sometimes."
It's a general statement like "The sun rises in the easts" or "The sun rises every day."
"Nem
enged a 48-ból."
"He's not willing to compromise." "He insists on his position."
(This may be a reference to the Revolution of 1848.)
The verbal prefix
meg-, as a rule, adds
an aspect to the verb; it may in fact be considered as
a perfective aspect. However,
it is not a tense and it is not restricted to any tense.
Megtaláltam a kulcsom.
(I have found my key [and now have it].)
Megtalálod a címet?
(Will you be able to find the address?)
Meg fogják találni a megoldást.
(They will find the solution.)
In comparison,
talál without
meg- is mostly used in general statements:
"Ősszel a vaddisznó könnyen
talál élelmet."
"In the fall, the wild boar finds food easily."
It is a general rule; a habitual action (just like the example with the lucky hen above).
With the verbal prefix
meg-, you add the
perfective aspect to the verb
talál. It is not a general, habitual action anymore; instead, it is this thing:
"search--search--search--find it--have it".
"
Megtalálták a rák ellenszerét."
"They have found the cure for cancer [and now they have it]."
It implies that for a long time they have been searching or looking for it; the new piece of information is that
they have (just) found it and now they have it.
Now, this is not a strict rule, but
you often find that the verb is used without meg- when it is used with an indefinite object:
-
Találtak egy kismacskát.
(They have found a kitten; any old kitten.)
-
Megtalálták a kismacskát.
(They have found the kitten that has been missing for two days.)
--
Törjek diót?
-- Shall I crack
some nuts?
But when you already have the nuts on the table and you're about to make
bejgli for Christmas, you might say (using the definite):
--
Megtörjem a diót?
-- Shall I crack the nuts (that we have bought for the
bejgli)?
Számol is just
to count.
Megszámol is
to count and then to have the final result.
-- Meddig
számolod még a pénzed?
-- How much longer are you going to keep counting your money?
<an activity without a result>
--
Megszámolod a gyerekeket?
-- Can you count the children (and tell me how many are on the bus already)?
<an activity with a result>
--
Vágok kolbászt. [present, indefinite]
-- I'll slice some sausage.
-- Jujj,
megvágtam a kezem. [past, definite]
-- Ouch, I (have just) cut my hand.
Eszik is simply
to eat.
Megeszik is
to eat it all.
Magyaráz is simply to explain something.
Megmagyaráz is to explain something with the result that the explanation is accepted.
-- A tanár sokáig
magyarázott, de nem tudta
megmagyarázni, miért kaptam kettest.
-- The teacher kept on explaining things at length but has not been able to explain (give an explanation) as to why I only scored a D.
* * *
In addition to adding a perfective aspect, the verbal prefix
meg- sometimes also acts as a prefix of word formation; that is,
a verb without the prefix may have meanings other than the form with the prefix and vice versa.
So,
enged may be
yield to (as in
enged az erőszaknak =
yieald or concede to force):
-- Nem akarta ideadni a kulcsot, de végül
engedett az erőszaknak.
-- She did not want to give me the key but finally she yielded to brute force.
In this case (in this meaning), you
cannot use
meg-:
-- Nem akarta ideadni a kulcsot, de végül
*megengedett az erőszaknak.
Megenged is more
to permit.
-- Megengedte, hogy bemenjek.
This second meaning may also be used without
meg-, but then it does not have the perfective aspect:
-- Általában
engedi a gyerekeket késő estig tévézni.
-- Usually she allows the kids to watch TV until late in the evening.
Here, once again, it's a general rule or habitual action.
* * *
The perfective aspect works
in all tenses and not only in the past:
Not perfective:
- Soha nem eszem nyulat.
I never eat rabbit. (A habitual thing.)
- Régen sem ettem nyulat.
I never ate rabbit in the past either. (A habitual thing.)
- A jövőben sem fogok nyulat enni.
I will not eat rabbit in the future either. (A habitual thing.)
Perfective:
- Tegnap megettem a reggelimet.
I ate (all) my breakfast yesterday.
- Ma megeszem a reggelimet.
I eat (all) my breakfast today.
- Holnap is meg fogom enni a reggelimet.
I will eat (all) my breakfast tomorrow as well.
Short answers:
(1) Basically,
all verbs may be used without the verbal prefix meg-; in these cases, they simply don't have the added
perfective aspect.
(2) The
perfective aspect added by the verbal prefix
meg- does in fact
work in all tenses.
(3) The verbal prefix
meg- sometimes creates a verb form that has
slightly different meanings as compared to the verb without it. These meanings must be learned as separate lexical entries (like
enged valaminek =
yield to sg as opposed to
enged, megenged =
allow or
permit).
A.