A complete, but high-level outline of Hungarian grammar, November 1, 2001

NTC's HUNGARIAN VERBS AND ESSENTIALS OF GRAMMAR is much like other books in the same series, giving of course first an explanation of verb conjugations and voices, and then an outline of grammar. This book is organized in a very logical way, and is very comprehensive.

However, as other reviews have shown, HUNGARIAN VERBS AND ESSENTIALS OF GRAMMAR is not for the beginner in the Hungarian language. This book is written as a reference guide for professional linguists or those who already speak the language. NTC also publishes a series of grammar guides geared towards students, but unfortunately there has yet to appear a Hungarian entry in that series.

Bottom line: if you're serious about Hungarian, HUNGARIAN VERBS AND ESSENTIALS OF GRAMMAR is worth buying. However, it provides only limited help to beginners because of its high-level style.

No, It's NOT Complete, Nor Is It High-Level, August 26, 2002
Reviewer: A reader
I couldn't disagree more with the previous reviewer, who criticizes this book for its alleged inaccessibility. As a beginning Hungarian student, I've been consulting this grammar from day one and have gotten quick answers to the questions raised by Teach Yourself Hungarian, which generally eschews the grammar approach. (I'll admit I have studied a number of foreign languages, but a person serious about Hungarian will need to learn some grammar early in the process or risk learning nothing at all.)

Torkenczy's book is clearly organized and concise. In fact, it is at times a bit too concise, leaving the reader with the impression that the writer has not explained the more subtle grammatical points of the Hungarian language. Nevertheless, for a BEGINNER (not the expert), the book is most practical. The EXPERT (not the beginner) would be better served by Hungarian: An Essential Grammar (Routledge Grammars) by Carol Rounds.

Excellent as far as it goes, October 17, 2001

As a reference grammar for someone with either a grammar background or a decent linguistics background this book really cannot be beat. I don't know of any clearer explanations of the formal aspects of Hungarian morphology and elementary syntax,

On the other hand the subtitle "A practical guide to the mastery of Hungarian" is somewhat misleading. The book is primarily useful if you, (a) already speak Hungarian and just need some clarification on grammar points you may not know or have forgotten, or, (b) are one of those people who like to approach a language through a grammar-based approach.

This book would be somewhat difficult to use for those not used to grammar-based approaches. Inasmuch as grammar-based approaches have become less popular in language-training circles (possibly because they demand more of the students and teachers than do "sit-around-the-circle-and-sing-folk-songs" approaches) most language students looking for an introduction would be better off with _Teach Yourself Hungarian_ or some such book. Get this book after you have some basics under your belt.

Based on this I give the book three stars because I feel its actual usability for many is limited, even though for my own use I find it hard to imagine a better reference book of its sort.

Great book on hungarian grammar, September 3, 2000
Reviewer: A reader
This is an eccelent book on Hungarian grammar. I highly reccomend this for all of you learning Hungarian, it is a must have. The only bad part of this is that some things are not very well explaned. This is most prelevelent on the noun cases sections, where it just gives a very rough translation of what the cases mean, which could lead to people using them wrongly. The verbs on the other hand are very well done.

Great book on Hungarian grammar, March 4, 2000

Everything is included in this book, from conjugations to participles this book is marvelous. Some things may take awhile to understand and the book could use a couple more examples. Other than that this book is a must have for anyone learning Hungarian.

cut & dry tabulation of grammar; good reference, study aid, February 10, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
book tabulates, records, summarizes the grammatical rules of Hungarian. Pluses: can almost find a reason for any grammatical question, referring to why something is said a certain way in Hungarian, without having to refer to "...well because it's 'hagyom?yos' (evolved that way)". Also, grammatical concepts are well categorized. Minuses: some tables take time to interpret.