Customer Reviews

Hungarian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar 2E. (Verbs and Essentials of Grammar Series) (v. 2)

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This book is a useful quick reference, but its explanations are brief and can leave a student of Hungarian wanting more if one is struggling to understand a new concept or grammatical feature of the language. I find the fact that the index comes before a number of verb tables frustrating as it is often faster to flip through the pages to find the section one wants rather than flipping through the end of the book in search of the index. The explanations are at times too brief to grasp the form and function of different elements of the language, something Carol H. Rounds' Hungarian: An Essential Grammar Hungarian: An Essential Grammar, 2nd edition does very well. Still, this book is a useful tool if you are looking for a reminder about the form of a verb or grammatical feature that you previously studied and already understand.

This is a grammar reference, not a way to learn the language. It's organized well enough that I can usually find what I need quickly--much faster than pawing through a book that focuses on step-by-step language learning. Be prepared for linguistic jargon. Specific terminology is the only way to make a reference like this useful, but better definitions would really help. (How about a glossary?) Most foreign language grammar books are much longer, and this one would benefit from more fleshed-out explanations.

This is the 2nd edition of the book--I have both. Very useful to check grammar points, verb endings. It's pared down so a lot of context is missing. But it means that it is light enough to carry in my bag.