Page images
PDF
EPUB

5 3474090

PH 2111

561

1882

PREFACE.

MAIN

THE intention of the Author in the following pages is to supply the student of Hungarian with a handbook that will enable him to overcome the initial difficulties which have hitherto attended the study of this language.

To the English student Hungarian is accessible only through the medium of German; but the chief difficulty which the student has to contend with lies in the peculiarities of the language itself. With the exception of a few words borrowed from the German or Slav languages, Hungarian is so different in its structure from the other European languages (excepting Finnish and Turkish) that a new grammatical system, as well as a new vocabulary, has to be learnt. It is therefore obvious that Hungarian cannot be treated according to the rules usually adopted, and yet in most Hungarian Grammars the language is forced to accommodate itself to this framework of the Latin system; where this has been found impossible, as is generally the case, the student was left to shift for himself.

Owing to this imperfect method, a language so expressive and so simple in its grammatical construction as Hungarian has been decried as "extremely difficult," "barbarous," and the like.

The language is here treated from a different standpoint. Instead of attempting to accommodate the language to a system altogether foreign to its spirit, the Author has analysed the language itself, and given the results of his analysis in a series of rules. For this reason the terminology usually adopted has been abandoned and replaced by more appropriate expressions, which in most cases have been obtained by translating directly from Hungarian the corresponding grammatical terms.

IGNATIUS SINGER,

LONDON, June, 1882.

A HUNGARIAN GRAMMAR.

THE ALPHABET.

THE Hungarian Alphabet comprises the following forty

letters:

CAPITALS. SMALL. CAPITALS. SMALL. CAPITALS. SMALL.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Cc was formerly written Cz or cz, and is still used by some Hungarian writers, but is falling into disuse.

È or è is always written and printed without accent, and often pronounced like e.

Of these, fifteen are vowels:-a, e, è, i, o, ö, u, ü, short; and á, é, í, ó, 8, ú, ú, long. The rest are consonants.

The long vowels are distinguished by accents (or "), while the short ones take a diæresis or are left unaccented.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »