Page:Simplified grammar of the Hungarian language.djvu/59

Rh 2. The imperative commands or entreats; as, írj! write! or, please write!

3. The third mood is called the subjunctive, because it is subjoined to another clause; as, atyám kivánja hogy írjak—my father wishes that I shall write. In form the subjunctive is the same as the imperative, and is only distinguished from it by always having a conjunction—hogy= that; or ha=if—before it; wherefore it is sometimes called also the conjunctive mood.

4. The conditional puts a condition to the clause; as, írnék, ha volna tollam, I would write, had I a pen.

The conditional can express a wish, request, doubt, or condition, according to the modulation of the voice or the context.

5. The infinitive has no tenses and takes only the personal suffixes, which express number at the same time. Without suffixes it is known by its termination -ni; as írni, to write.

Infinitives, being the crude expression of the action itself, are equal in meaning to substantives in the nominative case, and may be used as such. For instance: (1) lopni bűn, to steal is a sin; or lopás bűn, stealing is a sin; (2) élni jobb mint meghalni, to live is better than to die; or élet jobb mint halál, life is better than death.

There are five tenses or "times" expressing the time at which the action takes place:—