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Page:Simplified grammar of the Hungarian language.djvu/83

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THE VERB.
71

tion, which modify then the action expressed in its crude form accordingly; as, venni, to take; elvenni, to take away; fölvenni, to take up; levenni, to take down.

The verb is inflected in the same manner as when it stands by itself.

Note.—These particles or adverbs can also be written separately; as, elvenni akarta or el akarta venni, he would take it away.


Irregular Verbs.

There are in Hungarian—as in nearly all languages—certain verbs, which vary from the general rule, and are called irregular.

The so-called irregular verbs of the Hungarian language are only seemingly irregular, inasmuch as they take the same inflections as the regular verbs, and change only the final consonant of the root or shorten their last vowel when inflected. All these changes occur in the root of the verb, and are purely euphonic.

Native grammarians style them sz enyésztő, and gy enyésztő, igéki.e., verbs mortifying sz, and verbs mortifying gy—because they "mortify," or cause the disappearance (enyészt) of these consonants.

The verbs mortifying gy are only two in number: vagyon, to be; and megyen, to go.

Of these, the vagyon is not only irregular, but also imperfect, as it borrows its forms for the future tense of the indicative mood, and the imperative, from lenni, to become. It has already been conjugated, p. 52.