What are the best reference grammars available?

[Retinend]

This is somewhat a matter of taste, but what do you think are the best grammar books you know of for your languages? I mean the pure reference books. The dense ones which dispense with exercises and just lay it all out in plain language.

For English, I've seen lots of different versions (all monolingual) working as an English teacher, and the best in my opinion is the Longman English Grammar by L.G. Alexander. It's compact (350 pages), yet complete so far as I've had need to consult it, and well arranged so that the really pedantic stuff is kicked into the long grass of the appendices - you can see an example page here: http://www.nzdl.org/gsdl/collect/hdl/in ... r/p178.png

I'd love to know what good high-level reference grammars, similar to this (whether monolingual or bilingual with English), there are for German and Spanish, if any has recommendations. I have used grammar-heavy books with exercises, but no straight reference grammars yet in these languages.

However, for intermediate German learners (already English-proficient) I can recommend the book"Aktion Grammatik," by John Klapper and Trudi McMahon which is appropriately simplified for that level (with English as the explanatory language) but is still challenging, with activities that are worthwhile to go through with a German-speaking friend.

[Exasperated]

For German I'm a fan of Hammer's German Grammar and Usage - it strikes a visually appealing figure on my bookshelf with it's nigh un-cracked spine. But in all seriousness, I find it extremely comprehensive yet accessible and logically structured.

[Montmorency]

Welsh: Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar.
By Gareth King.
Now in its 3rd edition.

He has also written beginner- and intermediate-level combined grammar and workbooks.

He is interesting in that while he thinks grammar is very important, he is not prescriptive, and thinks the colloquial language is at least as important as the formal written language. He is also happy to engage with his readers in online forums.


+1 for Hammer Grammar for German, btw.

[FyrsteSumarenINoreg]

for Brazilian Portuguese:
Modern Portuguese by Mário Perini
Yale University Press

for Mandarin:
YUFA!: A Practical Guide to Mandarin Chinese Grammar by Wen-Hua Teng
Oxoford University Press

for Spanish:
A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish by by John Buttt, Carmen Benjamin
Routledge

[Chung]

This reminds me of an old thread. I still stand by my comments then. "Iso suomen kielioppi" is still the best available for Finnish but any edition of Fred Karlsson's "Finnish: An Essential Grammar" will be more than enough for a student of the language.

[galaxyrocker]

There's several really good ones for Irish. If you have internet connection and speak English only, I can't recommend Gramadach na Gaeilge enough. It's great, though some parts of it are still in German (the creator's native language). If you speak Irish the Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostaí is perhaps an even better bet. It's the most complete grammar, and I believe it covers dialectal stuff.

[tomgosse]

Le Bon Usage is considered one of, if not, the best French grammars.

[Keys]

For Hungarian I use:

As a grammar explanation guide, this book from Corvina (publisher):
Practical Hungarian Grammar - Miklós Törkenczy (author)

For detailed conjugation and declension these books from PONS (publisher):
Hungarian Verb Conjugation Tables
Hungarian Noun Declension Tables
(http://www.pons.hu)

That and, off-topic as it's a dictionary, the Magyar-Angol Nagyszótár from Akadémiai Kiado, which I'm also very happy with.

[jeff_lindqvist]

For Irish speakers:
An Caighdeán Oifigiúil (PDF, 228 pages)