a háta mögött
Hungarian
Etymology
a (“the”) + hát (“back”) + -a (“his/her/its”, possessive suffix) + mögött (“behind”), literally “behind one’s back”
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ɒ ˈhaːtɒ ˈmøɡøtː]
Phrase
a háta mögött
- (idiomatic) behind someone's back (when someone is not present)[1]
- A munkatársam szemben hízeleg a főnöknek, de a háta mögött gúnyt űz belőle. ― My coworker is nice to the boss when he’s here, but makes fun of him when he’s not present.
- (idiomatic) behind someone's back (without somebody's knowledge, deliberately leaving someone out)[1]
- Kati háta mögött eladták mindenét. ― They’ve sold all Kati’s property behind her back.
Declension
- The noun hát (“back”) takes the appropriate possessive suffix according to the subject of the sentence: hátam (“my back”), hátad (“your back”, singular), háta (“his/her/its back”), hátunk (“our back”), hátatok (“your back”, plural), hátuk (“their back”).
- The postposition mögött remains unchanged.
See also
- az isten háta mögött
References
- mögött2 in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (’An Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.