The Difficulties of Acquiring English Passive Voice by Hungarian Speakers

Hungarian native speakers happen to face several difficulties when it comes to acquiring the English passive voice. Passive constructions turn out to be troublesome, especially because the two languages perceive passive structures in a different manner in numerous cases. Stating the aforesaid, the study presents evidences indicating that passive constructions did not entirely disappear from Hungarian language but constructed in a distinctive way. This paper aims to reveal the root of hardships arising during learning the English passive voice by providing examples from Hungarian and English languages illustrating where the differences lie. Also, identical examples are included as well to demonstrate corresponding constructions in both languages. The Hungarian equivalents of the English passive is also displayed, which speakers of Hungarian use when they attempt to express passive meanings. To investigate the problematic factors, a questionnaire was completed by 20 high school students at an intermediate level to examine common mistakes, which can be beneficial for pedagogical purposes in the future and to collect data for further research.BSc/BAAnglisztikaB