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The Alphabet & Vowel Harmony

The Alphabet

The best place to start with learning any language is the alphabet. With 14 vowels and 30 consonants the Hungarian Alphabet is a total of 44 letters. Hungarian is a phonetic language so once you master the alphabet, you'll be able to speak every word that you can read first time every time!

A Á B C Cs D Dz Dzs E É F
a á b c cs d dz dzs e é f

G Gy H I Í J K L Ly M N
g gy h i í j k l ly m n

Ny O Ó Ö Ő P Q R S Sz T 
ny o ó ö ő p q r s sz t  

Ty U Ú Ü Ű V W X Y Z Zs
ty u ú ü ű v w x y z zs

It should be noted that the Hungarian Language has gemination, or consonant lengthening. Consonants can be paired together for a longer consonant sound. Every word in Hungarian is stressed on the first syllable.

  • Legszebb - (Most beautiful)
  • Ujj - (Finger)
  • Áll - (Stand)
  • Könny - (Tear (long ny))
  • Sebesség - (Speed)
  • Asszony - - (Mrs. (long sz))

See how only the first letter of a diagraph (double-letter) is lengthened.

When some consonants are combined, the pronunciation changes slightly. Try to recognise the base words to see which consonants really are there.

  • Igazság (Igaz - true) becomes [Igasság]
  • Állj meg! (Áll) becomes [Ájj meg!]
  • Egészség (Egész - whole) becomes [Egésség]
  • Ne haragudj! (Haragszik - he/she is angry) becomes [Ne haraguggy!]

Videos to help pronunciation

Vowel Harmony

Grammarwise, Hungarian solves all their problems with prefixes and suffixes, the way these attachments sound depends on vowel harmony.

The vowels in Hungarian are paired. The second row marks elongation on the vowels (and a change in sound for á and é).

a e i o ö u ü
á é í ó ő ú ű

For vowel harmony, these vowels are sorted as either front of back (Hungarians refer to these as deep or high). Here are some non-sensical sentences to remember each.

Front: e é i í ö ő ü ű (Öt üveg-űző épít itt.)
Back:  a á o ó u ú     (A Zuzmó-Háború.)
  • If a word contains only front-vowels, then it should be conjugated with front-vowels. épület
  • Likewise, if a word contains only back-vowels, then it should be conjugated with back vowels. darázs
  • If a word contains a mixture of front and back, the last vowel will specify what kind it is. dzsungel

If the word is only one-syllable and contains only i or í then it can be considered a back-voweled or front-voweled. E.g.

  • szív - ((the verb) considered front-voweled word)
  • híd - (considered back-voweled word)

That's it for now. Check out wikipedia's article on pronunciation for more information.