Word of the Day

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Portuguese and Hungarian personal infinitives

I liked to think that Portuguese was one of the few languages that conjugated infinitives (and I still think it is), but I've found another language that does the same thing: Hungarian. Hungarian personal infinitives behave like Portuguese ones. Let's compare:

É preciso fazer isto.
Kell csinálni.
It's necessary to do this.

É preciso eu fazer isto.
Kell csinálnom.
It's necessary for me to do this.

É preciso fazeres isto.
Kell csinálnod.
It's necessary for you to do this.

É preciso ele/ela fazer isto.
Kell csinálnia.
It's necessary for him/her/it do to this.

É preciso fazermos isto.
Kell csinálnunk.
It's necessary for us to do this.

É preciso fazerdes isto.
Kell csinálnotok.
It's necessary for you (plural) to do this.

É preciso fazerem isto.
Kell csinálniuk.
It's necessary for them to do this.

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