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HUNGARIAN-ENGLISH LINGUISTIC CONTRASTS. A PRACTICAL APPROACH
change the meaning of the base verb in various ways: they add spatial and
aspectual meanings as well as all kinds oftransferred, metaphorical meanings.
English uses few prefixes and suffixes. The meanings of a Hungarian prefixed
verb can be expressed in English by
> phrasal verbs;
> compound verbs;
> verb tense and aspect;
> simple verb (without formal change), and
> a different verb.
In this way, it is difficult to compare the two systems — there are criss-cross
correspondences. We have no space here to present a systematic comparison
of the relevant subsystems of the two languages — one reason being that there
does not exist such a comparison. Instead, a few examples will be given of some
difficulties, based on teaching experience.
The Hungarian verbal prefix meg- often carries the aspectual meaning of
perfective (although verbs in Hungarian may have the same meaning without
the prefix) and may be matched in English by Present Perfect verbs:
Ettem egy szendvicset./Megettem egy szendvicset. — I ate/have eaten a sand¬
wich.
In some cases, Hungarian learners try to find a morphological equivalent of
the Hungarian verbal prefix when a simple verb would do. The easiest solution
appears to be to identify Hungarian prefixed verbs with English phrasal verbs:
Edd meg! — Eat it up!
Tudd meg, mikor indul a vonat! — Find it out when the train leaves!
However, this crosslinguistic identification does not always work. In many
cases the base form of the English verb is sufficient, or, if the Hungarian verb
has a transferred, metaphorical meaning, a different verb or a paraphrase is
needed:
A szellem megszólalt. — The gost spoke.
A telefon/csengő megszólalt. — The telephone/bell rang/began to ring.
Vajon megalkuszik irányadó mértékeiben, ha elfogadja ezt a szokást?
— Would he be lowering his standards if he went along with this custom?®
In choosing a correspondent for a prefixed Hungarian verb, transferability
plays an important role, and deceptive transferability may lead to error.
8 https://hu.glosbe.com/hu/en/megalkuszik. Accessed 05.12.2020.
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