Purpose Cases: -ért and -hoz/-hez/-höz
Purpose suffixes: -ért (for) and -hoz/-hez/-höz (to a person/place)
Can express purpose with -ért and direction towards people/objects with -hoz/-hez/-höz
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Orvoshoz megyek, mert beteg vagyok.
I'm going to the doctor because I'm sick.
Tejért és kenyérért mentem a boltba.
I went to the shop for milk and bread.
Gyere ide az asztalhoz!
Come here to the table!
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
-ért = for (purpose): tejért (for milk). -hoz/-hez/-höz = to (person/object contact): orvoshoz (to the doctor), emberhez (to the person), öccshöz (to the younger brother).
Common Error Patterns
Uses -ba/-be when -hoz/-hez/-höz is needed or vice versa
-ba/-be = entering (into a container/room); -hoz/-hez/-höz = approaching/touching (to a person, to the edge of something). Iskolába megyek (I enter school) vs. tanárhoz megyek (I go to the teacher).
Confuses -ért (purpose) with -hoz (direction)
-ért answers 'what for?' (kenyérért = for bread); -hoz answers 'to whom/what?' (orvoshoz = to the doctor).
Orvoshoz megyek, mert beteg vagyok.
I'm going to the doctor because I'm sick.
orvos+hoz: back vowel → -hoz. Going to a person (contact, not entering).
Tejért és kenyérért mentem a boltba.
I went to the shop for milk and bread.
tej+ért, kenyér+ért: -ért marks purpose (what you are fetching/going for).
Gyere ide az asztalhoz!
Come here to the table!
asztal+hoz: back vowel → -hoz. Movement towards an object (not entering it).
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises