Oldal 71 [71]
Chapter 5
HUNGARIAN-ENGLISH GRAMMATICAL CONTRASTS:
THE NOUN PHRASE
——o—
5.1 NOUN PLURALS
According to a well-known Hungarian song, "Az a szép, akinek a szeme kék".
Are we talking of one-eyed girls?
Of course not. One of the first differences that a Hungarian learner of English
meets is the plural of nouns after numerals. In Hungarian nouns remain in
the singular in such cases:
három kismalac [0] — three little pigs
This difficulty is relatively easily overcome, but then the learner is faced with
further complications:
minden/mindegyik asztal [0] — all the tables, but: every table, each
table
olló [0] — scissors
bizonyitékok — evidence [0]
információk — information [0]
gépek, berendezések — equipment [0]
bútorok — furniture [0]
It is less often noticed that the plural is used in possessive constructions like
the following:
a költők élete [0] — the lives of poets
Megváltoztatta az elhatározását. — §/he has changed her mind.
Megváltoztatták az elhatározásukat. — They have changed their minds.
Az ország legtöbb területén nőtt a talajok nitráttartalma. —
In most areas of the country soil nitrate levels have increased.
In the last example one must take into account the fact that nitrate level was
measured in different places, so according to the logic of English it must be
plural.
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