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HUNGARIAN-ENGLISH LINGUISTIC CONTRASTS. A PRACTICAL APPROACH
The incidence of inappropriately used English definite articles by Hungar¬
ian learners may be expected to be higher in speech than in writing. In writing
English and translating into English there is more time to decide whether a
definite article is needed or not. Ifthe noun is followed by an of-construction
it is definite, and the definite article is safe to use. In a similar way, postmod¬
ifying prepositional phrases and relative clauses make the head noun definite:
a főváros utcái — the streets of the capital
az északra vezető út — the road which leads north /leading
north
a hegyvidéki utak — the roads in the mountains
The noun following the preposition of may or may not take the definite article,
depending on whether it has specific definite reference of generic reference:
a fejlődő országok problémái — the problems of developing countries
(generic: developing countries in general)
the problems of the developing countries
(specific: the developing countries we have
been talking about; all the developing
countries)
Interestingly, in some cases the Hungarian definite article corresponds to the
English indefinite article:
Régóta probléma a kórház hiánya. — The lack of a hospital has been
a problem.
Before brand names and other proper names there is usually no definite arti¬
cle, except when it is preceded by an appositive (értelmezé jelzéi) noun:
A Biopon nagyon jó mosószer. — Biopon is a very good detergent.
A Biopon mosószer nagyon jó. — The detergent Biopon is very
good.
Ezen a talajon a Proctor a legjobb. — Proctor is the best on this soil.
Ezen a talajon a Proctor fajta a legjobb. - Ihe variety Proctor is the best
on this soil.
In summary, there are certain formal clues that may indicate the use of the
definite article in English, but it always depends on what kind of reference we
want to make: if we suppose that a given entity is known to our interlocutor
and it can be uniquely identified from the context or previous discourse, then
we are making specific reference and the article the can and should be used.
If we want to refer to things in general, then it is better to use the zero or the
indefinite article.
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