Ignácz Singer

“ THE VERB.
Words which express some action, motion, or suffering of the substantive, are called verbs.
The Hungarian language has two kinds of verbs: active and medial.
Active verbs express always some action of the substantive. ”

“ Words are formed in two ways: (a) by means of affixes called formatives; (b) by putting together of words. The first class are called derivatives; the latter compounds.
Formatives (Hungarian: képző) are particles or affixes which are joined to the word in order to give it another signification.
A distinction is to be made between the affixes used for declension and conjugation, and the formatives (affixes for forming new words) . Those modify only the meaning expressed in the crude (uninflected) form; while the latter create new ideas; as, ház, house; házaló, pedlar ”

“ The transitive verb is always in the definite form, if the substantive acted upon has the definite article, or the demonstrative pronouns azon, ezen, or is the name of a person.
In the definite there are also to be distinguished the person acting and the person acted upon.
If the first person acts upon the second person, the distinguishing termination of the verb will be, in all moods and tenses, -lak (for flat words) , or -lek (for sharps) ; as, verlek, I beat thee; várlak I expect thee. But when acting upon a substantive in the third person, the general rule is to be followed ”

“ Object possessed in the plural: enyéim, tieid, övéi; mieink, tiéitek, övéik.
As the personal pronoun is to supply the absent substantive, there must be forms to express all relations of the latter to other nouns or the verb. We have now learned the five cases of the pronoun, which answer exactly to the five cases of the substantives. It remains now to give the forms of the pronoun that would correspond to substantives inflected with the suffixes for place or direction or which are modified by postpositions. ”

“ All causal verbs—whether derived from active or neuter verbs—are transitive, and conjugated like these in the indefinite and definite form.
The Hungarian has, properly speaking, no passive voice for active verbs, but grammarians have introduced a so-called passive voice for transitive verbs which is, however, not generally used, but is restricted to a few verbs only. The root or the primitive of the passive is the same as the causal verb, but is conjugated like the neuter verbs; as, szeretni, to love ”

“ In the sentence—János szereti Marít, John loves Mary—the words might be placed in any order without altering the meaning of the sentence.
The emphasis rests chiefly on the first word; and accordingly as we want to impress upon the hearer the person who loves, or the person (object) that is loved, or the fact that the person we speak of is in love, the respective word would be put in the first place. ”

“ If a verb ends with a double consonant, or with a single hard consonant, that would not admit an easy pronunciation of the ending -ni, the infinitive ending will then be -ani or eni; instead of -ni; as, hallani, to hear. In such cases all inflections beginning with a consonant are joined to the verb with a vowel; for instance, hall-ott, not hall-t, &c.
These rules will be better explained by the following examples:—
All other moods and tenses are conjugated regularly. ”

“ Adverbs of number or quantity are all derivatives of numerals.
Interrogative, affirmative, and negative adverbs:—Interrogative are those which ask a question. They are direct, if their primitive meaning implies already a question; as, hogyan, how? hol, where? &c.; and indirect, if their meaning is made dependent upon the interrogative modulation of the voice but can be used as well as answer: itt? here? igen, itt, yes, here. To the interrogative adverbs must also be reckoned the interrogative suffix -e, which is joined to words in order to make a question ”

“ The Particles used to define the Nouns are: article, suffix, and postpositions.
Articles.
There are two articles: a definite and an indefinite. The definite article is a before words beginning with a consonant, and az before words beginning with a vowel.
The definite article is put before nouns when a certain and defined thing is referred to—i.e., before definite nouns, which it precedes then invariably, even in cases where in English it would be omitted, as, for instance, where a pronoun stands before it—e.g., a fiú, the boy; or az én fiam, my boy; az [1] a fiú, that boy, &c. ”

“ Here both adjective and substantive being absent, the pronoun has taken the suffix.
The adverbial forms of these pronouns—ilyetén, olyatén—are inflexible, and determine only the verb. Ilyetén fogom varni, I will sow it in this way or such a manner (as that to which it refers) .
IV. Relative Pronouns.
Pronouns which refer or "relate" to things gone before are called relative pronouns. They are:
1. Ki, who; mely, which; mi, what; for substantives. ”

“ This pronoun is in every respect of the same nature as the genitive case of the substantive, being, like this, a contraction of both possessor and object possessed. On examining them closer, we find that they are formed—with a very slight modification—of these two elements, viz., the personal pronoun as possessor; and the suffixes of the objective case as thing possessed. For instance:
Like the genitive case of the substantive, they stand always by themselves—ez enyém, this is mine ”

“ In the third person singular of the imperative and subjunctive (present tense) , the forms also differ in the indefinite; as, törjön (not törjen) . All other forms are the same as in the second conjugation.
Verbs ending with s, sz, or z, double their final letter in place of taking a j in the imperative and subjunctive mood; and in the present tense of the indicative mood of the definite form; for instance—
Verbs ending with t preceded by i or a liquid consonant take in the imperative and subjunctive mood an s instead of j ”

“ But the superlative is formed regularly.
Note.—The ending -ik of the ordinals is sometimes dropped if another word is joined to it. This is not universally done, however, and is almost exclusively used to express age; for instance, másodéves, in the second year; ("two years old" would be kétéves) .
Cardinals take—with the exception of the plural endings—all suffixes of the substantive, if this is not written out—i.e., they follow the same rules as the adjectives. They form also adverbs, which answer to the question, How many? and the respective verb; for instance, How many ran away? hárman. ”

“ These suffixes, divided into four categories, may be:—
1. Suffixes expressing number. 2. Suffixes„ expressing„ case. 3. Suffixes„ expressing„ person. 4. Suffixes„ expressing„ place and direction.
The Number of Nouns.
There are two numbers; a singular and a plural.
The plural is formed by adding -k to nouns ending with a, vowel; or -ak, -ok, -ek, -ök to nouns ending with a consonant. In forming the plural the following rules are to be observed:—
a and e at the end of a noun become lengthened in the plural; as fa (tree) , plural fák; eke (plough) , plural ekék. ”

“ Examples of class a are:
ez, this; emez, this here; ugyanez, this same; for things near; and az, [4] that; amaz, that there; ugyanaz, that same; for things at a distance. There are, further: ezen, ugyanezen; and azon, ugyanazon; which are in meaning the same as, ez, ugyanez; or az, ugyanaz, in so far as each points to a thing (near or distant) out of many. There is, however, a shade of distinction among these two forms: ez and az—whether alone or prefixed with ugyan—point to a certain thing among other homogeneous things; while ezen, azon, refer to a thing among other heterogeneous things ”

“ Egy szenvedő ember, a suffering man; 2. Egy szenvedő, ember a sufferer. Note.—The present participle may be used either as adjective or substantive. In the first case it is translated into English with the present participle (as shown above in sentence 1) : in the second by the substantive derived from the respective verb by inflecting it with -er; for instance, szenvedő, sufferer; iró, writer; látogató, visitor, &c.
Before other verbs can be conjugated, it is necessary to learn the irregular verb lenni, to be.
Indicative Mood. ”

“ Note.—Final a and e become lengthened at the end of a word, if the comparative suffix -bb is joined to it—e.g., drága, drágább; fekete, feketébb, &c.; ó shortens its sound only in jó; jobb, legjobb.
The superlative is invariably formed by prefixing leg- or legesleg- to the comparative. ”

“ Infinitive Mood.
Participles.
Potential Form.
lehet, may or can be.
In conjugating a verb, the same euphonic rules are to be observed as has been the case with the nouns. Verbs follow three classes of inflections. To the first class belong all flat-sounding verbs; to the second belong verbs whose vowel, or (if polysyllable) whose last vowel, is e; and to the third class belong verbs with ö or ü in the last syllable. Verbs with neuter vowels (é or í) belong to Class 1 or 2. For further particulars, see the following examples ”

“ They are declined throughout like substantives, with the exception of the personal suffixes; as, önnek, önt, önre, öntől, &c. They may also be determined by postpositions, like any substantive—ön után, ön előtt, &c.—and govern the verb or their object in the third person; as, önnek kalap-ja, your hat (here kalap-ja is in the third person) .
II. Reflexive Pronouns.
Reflexive pronouns are so called because they turn back or "reflect" their meaning to the subject of the sentence. They are:
Note.—Wen the relation is not reflective, but reciprocal, they are called reciprocals ”

“ Note.—This rule does not prevent, however, the formation of compound substantives of heterogeneous words, but applies only to etymological derivatives. So, for instance, selyemruha is a compound of selyem (silk) and ruha (a gown) .
The emphasis rests always on the first syllable. ”

“ The same as these suffixes are the independent postpositions inflected, if their respective substantive is not written out. They are inflected as follows:—
Courtesy, in addressing persons of distinction, or persons with whom we are not on familiar terms, has introduced, in place of the pronoun for the second person, some conventional words, which may also be regarded as personal pronouns. ”

“ But if the noun is already suffixed (with plural or personal suffixes) the accusative endings after consonants will be for all flat nouns -at, and for all sharp nouns -et. ↑ Lot is here in the attributive, the suffix -nak having been omitted. ↑ What are termed in Western languages prepositions stand in Hungarian after the noun, and are called postpositions. ↑ For instance, az egér fut a macska elől, the mouse runs from the cat— i.e., the mouse fears the cat, shuns it, and therefore takes to flight as soon as she finds herself before the cat. ”

“ Demonstrative pronouns for adjectives are: ily, ilyen, such as this; emily, emilyen, such as this other; for things near. The correspondings for things at a distance are: oly, olyan, amoly, amolyan. Ilyetén is the adverbial form of the first class ”

“ In the following the principal formatives only are given. To give all of them would exceed the limits of this book, and would be, moreover, quite superfluous, as most of the derivatives are to be found in the dictionaries.
I. Substantives are formed:
(a) by adding ság, ség to adjectives; as, szépség, beauty; jóság, goodness.
(b) by adding -ás, -és to verbs: alvás, sleeping; állás (from áll (ni) to stand) , position, standing;
(c) by adding -as, -es, -ös, or -ár, -ér to substantives, new substantives are formed ”

“ Egy=egyedül; and kettő=ketten form their adverbs irregularly. Három and ezer become contracted; hárman, ezren. The rest are regular.
Ordinals follow the same rules as cardinals—that is, they are adjectives and declinable. They form their adverbs by dropping the ending -ik and taking -szor or -szer instead. Első is irregular, and its adverb is először. The English rendering of the ordinals is as follows:—
Distributives are also adjectives, and therefore declinable, but form no adverbs. ”

“ It is in meaning the same as the Latin -ne, and can be put after any word with which a question is to be asked. It is written separately, but joined to the word by a hyphen; thus: szép-e?
Affirmatives are: igen, yes. ”

“ Sincs, sincsen—plural: sincsenek—are contractions oi sem, neither, and nincs, nincsen, or nincsenek; for instance, a bátyám nincs itthon, my elder brother is not at home; anyám sincs, nor (is) my mother (at home) . ”

“ Inward direction, -ba, -be; denotes motion into a thing; a ház-ba megyek, I go into the house.
5. Upward direction, -ra, -re; to direct something from a lower to a higher place or level; tedd az asztal-ra, put it on the table. ”