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Terminative case

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In morphology, the terminative case is a case to tell where something ends (i. e. answers "Until what point in space or time?").


Usage in Estonian

In the Estonian language, the terminative case is indicated by the '-ni' suffix:

  • jõeni: "to the river" / "as far as the river"
  • kella kuueni: "until six o'clock"

Usage in Hungarian

The Hungarian language uses the '-ig' suffix.

  • a házig: "as far as the house"
  • hat óráig / hatig: "until six o'clock"

If used for time, it can also show how long the action lasted.

  • hat óráig: "for six hours" / "six hours long"
  • száz évig: "for a hundred years"

It is not always clear whether the thing in terminative case belongs to the interval in question or not.

  • A koncertig maradtam.: "I stayed until the concert (ended or started?)" Here it is more likely that the person only stayed there until the concert began.
  • Mondj egy számot 1-től 10-ig!: "Say a number from 1 to (until) 10." However here you can say 10 as well!

The corresponding question word is Meddig?, which is simply the question word Mi? ("what?") in terminative case.