Alphabet and Pronunciation

A Hungarian Language Course by Aaron Rubin

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Consonants

The following are pronounced and written as in English:
b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, t, v, z

Notes:

g is always hard as in 'gun', never soft as in 'gem'
r is rolled off the tongue, though not really trilled
t is pronounced with the tongue touching the back of the teeth (dental)

The following consonants are pronounced and/or spelled differently than in English, and require special attention:

c is pronounced like the ts in 'bats'

cs is the English ch as in 'check'

gy is one sound pronounced like dy, or the d in 'adulation'

j, ly are both pronounced as y like 'yes'

ny is pronounced like the Spanish ñ and like the ni in the English word 'onion'

s Be careful! This is always pronounced like sh as in 'shun' and 'ship'

sz like a regular English s as in 'sell', never pronounced as a z like 'rose'

ty a soft t sound, pronounced much as it looks; say 'at your' fast

zs like the s in 'pleasure'

The letters q, w, x, y are not Hungarian and appear only in foreign words or in some family names. The English sound /j/ as in 'jet' appears in foreign words and is spelled dzs in Hungarian.

Note: Double consonants are pronounced long, like the final and initial /k/ sound in 'book-case'. When a double consonant occurs at the end of a word, try to linger on the sound slightly. With consonants like gy, ny, ty, sz etc. only the first letter of the cluster is doubled (ssz, ggy, etc.)

Vowels

a hard to describe, but rather like the sound in 'awe' and the British 'hot'

á a very open sound, between the a in 'matter' and the a in (American) 'father'

e the sound in 'set' and 'bed'

é Like the sound in 'way' but with the back of the tongue higher in the mouth

i not quite as short as the sound in 'sit', more like the short ee in 'feet' and 'meet'

í a long ee as in 'feed' and 'bleed'

o like the sound in 'stole' and 'sold'

ó a long o, as in 'rogue' and 'rode'

u a short oo as in 'boot'

ú a long oo as in 'food' and 'cool'

ö as in German ö, say French 'peu' and 'le'

o" a longer version of ö, like German 'schön' (Note: o" really looks like an o with a quotation mark or double acute accent on top, but is represented here with a quote next to it)

ü like German ü and French u as in 'début'. English speakers, round lips as if to say o but say ee

u" a longer version of ü (Note: like o", written with double accent on top, but represented here with a quote next to it)

Note: There are no diphthongs in Hungarian, so always pronounce each vowel separately.

Stress

Stress in Hungarian falls on the first syllable of the word. The accent marks over the various vowels DO NOT alter stress, but rather the quality of the vowel. And although stress is on the first syllable, every syllable is pronounced distinctly (unlike English, where many unstressed vowels become schwa and the ends of words are often swallowed).

Lesson One: Some Basics

Vocabulary

magyar (remember gy is pronounced like dy) - Hungarian
igen - yes
nem - no, not
angol - English
amerikai (remember to pronounce the last two vowels separately) - American
nyelv - language
szép - beautiful
itt - here
no" - woman
férfi - man
nagyon - very
város - city
és - and
vagyok - I am
könnyu" - easy

Some sample sentences:

A no" magyar és a férfi angol.
The woman is Hungarian and the man is English.

A város nagyon szép.
The city is very beautiful.

Amerikai vagyok.
I am American.

A magyar nyelv könnyu".
The Hungarian language is easy.

Grammar

The Definite Article

You probably deduced from the above sentences that the definite article in Hungarian is A. Remember to pronounce it like aw and not like the English indefinite article 'a'. A corresponds to the English 'the' and before a word beginning with a vowel, A becomes Az.

A város - the city
Az autó - the car

Equational Sentences

You also probably noticed that in the above sentences there was a construction like 'A város szép' and 'A no" magyar' in which there was no verb corresponding to the English 'is'. Hungarian does have a verb 'is' and it is often used, but for sentences like these, called equational sentences, it can be omitted. This rule however, only applies to 3rd person subjects.

Personal Pronouns and the Irregular Verb 'Lenni'

The personal pronouns in Hungarian are as follows, along with their corresponding forms of the verb 'lenni', 'to be':

Note: There is also a personal pronoun 'maga' and its plural form 'maguk' which are the formal, or polite form of 'you'. It uses the 3rd person verb forms however.
Te angol vagy?
Are you English (For example, one teenager to another)

Maga magyar? (remember, we can omit 'van')
Are you Hungarian? (Say, one adult stranger to another)

Like German, French, and other European languages, the forms te and ti> are used only when speaking with close friends, family, children, or among young people.

Omission of Personal Pronoun

When using verbs, the ending signifies the person and number, so the use of the personal pronouns is optional and they are used mainly for emphasis. Note the following sentences:
Amerikai vagyok. (also note the preferred word order here)
Angol vagy?
Itt vagyunk. (We are here)

Exercises

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Magyar vagyok.
2. Itt vagytok.
3. A város nagyon szép.
4. Az angol nyelv könnyu".
5. Itt a férfi.

Translate the following into Hungarian:

6. I am American.
7. The city is here.
8. The Hungarian language is easy.
9. The woman is very beautiful.
10. Yes, we are here.

Lesson Two: More Basics

Vocabulary

ott - there
mi? - what?
ki? - who?
az - that (a different word than the definite article, but looks and sounds the same)
ez - this
köszönöm - thank you
mi a neve? - what's your name? (polite)
a nevem - my name is...
asztal - table
pincér(remember c is 'ts') - waiter
jól - well
hol? - where?
is - also
hogy? - how?
egy - a, an, one
autó - car

Some sample sentences:

Mi az?
What is that?

Ez egy autó és az egy asztal.
This is a car and that is a table.

Köszönöm, jól vagyok.
Thank you, I am good (well)

Hol a pincér? Ott.
Where is the waiter? There.

Grammar

The Indefinite Article

The indefinite article in Hungarian is egy, which also means 'one'. However, it is used less frequently than in English. Look at the following sentences:
O" turista.
He is (a) tourist.

Egyetemista vagyok.
I am (a) student.

In the above sentences, the article is required in English, but not in Hungarian. You will get a feel of when to use the article once you have been exposed to more sentences and had some practice.

Ez and Az

The Hungarian words ez and az correspond to English 'this' and 'that' respectively, in the context of both 'that book is good' and 'that is a book' (French, for example, makes a difference between 'that' in these two contexts). When ez or az is modifying the noun, as in 'that book', the Hungarian noun must be preceded by the definite article a or az. Examine the following sentences:

Ki ez?
Who's this?

Ez az autó szép.
This car is pretty.

Az az autó is szép.
That car is also pretty.

Ez az asztal.
This is the table.
Note: Ez az asztal can mean 'this is the table' or 'this table...' but here it must be the former because the latter is not a complete sentence.

Greetings

Here are some practical greetings:
Jó reggelt (kívánok) - Good morning
Jó napot (kívánok) - Hello (formal, literally 'good day')
Jó estét (kívánok) - Good evening
Jó éjszakát (kívánok) - Good night

Note: the above expression are both formal and informal. The kívánok is optional and slightly more formal. With kívánok, the expressions mean 'I wish you good morning', etc...

A viszontlátásra - Goodbye (formal)
Szervusz (Szervusztok to more than one person) - Hello/Goodbye (informal)
Szia (Sziasztok to more than one person) - Hello/Goodbye (more informal)

Hogy van? - How are you? (formal)
Hogy vagy? - How are you? (informal)
Note: When you ask Hogy vagy? in Hungarian, you are really asking how they are, unlike in English where 'how are you' is a polite greeting. A good answer to the question would be: Jól vagyok, 'I am fine (well)'.

Vowel Harmony

Vowel harmony is a very important concept in Hungarian. Vowels are divided into two categories, front and back. Examine the following table:

The concept is important when adding suffixes and, as you will discover, Hungarian has plenty of suffixes. Suffixes usually come in groups of two, so which one to use depends on whether the word is a front word (consisting of front vowels) or a back word (consisting of back vowels). A word that is mixed (contains both front and back vowels) is most often a back word, and in the case of a compound word (two words put together) one must use the vowels in the second word. And, finally, sometimes there is a third suffix to chose from that applies only words in what is called the -ö, o", ü, u"- sub-category. This may seem confusing at first, but take a look at some sample words and it may seem clearer:

Vowel harmony will be important when discussing verb endings in Lesson Three.

Exercises

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Turista vagy.
2. Ez az asztal szép.
3. Az az autó.
4. Jó napot, hol egy pincér?
5. Ott a no".

Translate the following into Hungarian:

6. This is the man.
7. This language is easy.
8. What is that?
9. Where is a car?
10. Good morning, how are you? I am fine, thank you.

Which vowel category do the following words fall into:

11. nyelv 12. anya 13. fogalom 14. egyetem 15. pincér 16. Magyarország 17. Lengyelország 18. üveg 19. külföld 20. világ

Lesson Three: Intro to Verbs & More

Vocabulary

tanul - he, she, it studies, learns
ért - he, she, it understands
beszél - he, she, it speaks
lakik - he lives
eszik - he eats (irregular infinitve enni)
ül - he, she, it sits
lát - he, she, it sees
dolgozik - he, she, it works
étterem - restaurant
nem - not
de - but
magyarul - Hungarian (adverb, used with the verbs 'study' and 'speak')
angolul - English (adverb like magyarul)
-ban/-ben - suffix in

Some sample sentences:

Beszél magyarul?
Does he (or you formal) speak Hungarian?

Nem, angolul beszél.
No, he speaks English.

Nem lakik Londonban.
He doesn't live in London

Grammar

Verbs

In the above vocabulary, you were given several verbs in their 3rd person singular form. This is the verb stem and is very important. To this stem, Hungarian attaches suffixes to signify person and number. The suffixes are as follows for the indefinite (don't worry about what this means until Lesson Four) present tense conjugation:

You may be wondering why there is sometimes more than one suffix in a box. Well, this is where vowel harmony becomes important. In the above table, where there is more than one suffix listed the first one is used for back verbs, the second for front verbs, and the third for ö,o",ü,u" verbs. Look at the following three tables for the conjugations of the back verb 'tanul' and the front verbs 'beszél' and 'ül'.

In the following table, only the suffixes which differ from a regular front verb are in boldface:

Notes:
The form ending in -ni above each table is the infinitive form. However, in most dictionaries and in these lessons you will find the verbs given in their third person singular form (e.g. tanul, ért).
The present tense corresponds to English 'I study', 'I am studying', and 'I do study'.

Some exceptions:

1. Many Hungarian verbs stems end in -ik. With these verbs there are two things to note. The -ik appears only in the 3rd person singular, it is dropped before adding other suffixes. And for the first person singular, the suffixes don't end with 'k' but with 'm'. So the verb lakik (lakni) 'to live' is conjugated: lakom, laksz, lakik, lakunk, laktok, laknak. (Note: Some Hungarians do not follow this rule and therefore would say lakok, etc., but that is not correct).

2. Verb stems ending in -s, -z, or -sz have alternate endings for the 2nd person singular for phonetic reasons. The suffix is -l, preceded by the appropriate link vowel, o, e, or ö. So the verb eszik 'to eat' (an -ik verb also) is conjugated: eszem, eszel, eszik, eszünk, esztek, esznek.

3. Verb stems ending in two consonants or -ít require a link vowel a/e/ö before the -sz, -nak/-nek, and -ni (infinitive) suffixes. And before the -tok/-tek suffix there must be a link vowel o/e/ö. Here is the verb mond (mondani) 'to say': mondok, mondasz, mond, mondunk, mondotok, mondanak.

This is enough about verbs for one lesson!

The -ban/-ben Suffix

The English prepositions 'in' and 'inside' correspond to the suffix -ban/-ben in Hungarian. By now you know all about vowel harmony, so you know that -ban is used for back words and -ben is used for front words.

Negation

Negation is simple. Just add nem before the verb.

More sample sentences:

Tanulok Philadelphiában.
I am studying (or I study) in Philadelphia.

Értek, de nem értesz.
I understand, but you don't understand.

Én nem lakom Los Angeles-ben, de o" ott lakik.
I don't live in Los Angeles, but he lives there.

Magyarul beszéltek? Nem, angolul beszélünk.
Do you (plural) speak Hungarian? No, we speak English.

Látsz?
Do you see?

Itt ülnek.
They are sitting here.

Confused? If you have a question, click on the comment button at the bottom.

Exercises

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Tanulnak Rómában.
2. Nem beszélek angolul.
3. Ott lakom.
4. Jól beszélsz magyarul.
5. Ki ért?

Translate the following into Hungarian:

6. I am eating.
7. Do you (singular, formal) study Hungarian?
8. He is sitting here also.
9. Where do you (plural) study.
10. That waiter works in the restaurant.

Lesson Four: Using Verbs

Vocabulary

For all nouns, the accusative suffix (see below) is given in parentheses

ház (-at) - house
ismer - to know (to be acquainted with, French 'connaitre', Spanish 'conocer')
küld - to send
olvas - to read
könyv (-et) - book
szeret - to like, love
valami (-t) - something
gulyás (-t) - goulash (Hungarian stew)
akar - to want
kér - to ask for, to want (polite)
kérek/kérem - please (literally, 'I ask for')

There are a lot of sample sentences given in the grammar section:

Grammar

Direct Objects

A direct object is the receiver of the action of a verb. 'Cake' is the object in the sentence 'I eat the cake' and 'me' is the object in the sentence 'he likes me'. A verb which can take a direct object is called a transitive verb. Some verbs like 'be', 'go' and 'live' are unable to take direct objects. These are called intransitive verbs. In English, we can identify the direct object by word order. The sentences 'Mike likes Jane' and 'Jane likes Mike' contain the same words but are different because of the order in which they appear. In Hungarian word order is flexible and the direct object is recognizable by a suffix -t. This is called the accusative suffix. Many words ending in a consonant need a link vowel before the suffix, e for front words and most often o but sometimes a for back words. For words ending in vowels, often the final vowel is lengthened. This sounds tricky and it kind of is, so don't worry too much about the link vowel, the important part is the -t. Just try to learn each form as you come across it, and eventually you will get a feel for it. Look at the following sentences:

Látok egy házat.
I see a house.

Ismerek egy pincért
I know a waiter.

Magyart tanulok.
I am studying Hungarian.
Note: this means I am studying a Hungarian lesson (or something), for the general sense of 'I study Hungarian', most likely magyarul would be used.

Mit olvasol? (remember -sz becomes -l after stems ending in s,sz,z)
What are you reading?

There will be more examples with the accusative suffix following the next grammar section.

Indefinite and Definite Verb Conjugations

In Hungarian there are two types of verb conjugation for each tense. Last lesson you were presented with the indefinite and in this lesson you will learn the definite. This is an essential part of Hungarian grammar and it may seem difficult at the beginning. Here are the basic rules just to give you an idea of what we are dealing with here:

The indefinite conjugation is used when:

1. The verb is intransitive (incapable of taking a direct object).
2. The object of the transitive verb is indefinite (something general, preceded by the indefinite article egy). Also when there is no object as in the sentence 'Now I am reading'.
3. The object of the verb is a 1st or 2nd person, e.g. 'they like you', 'you like me'. It is not necessary to state the 1st or 2nd person object, the use of the indefinite is enough (see samples below).

The definite conjugation is used when:

1. The object of the transitive verb is definite (preceded by the article 'a, az'; a personal or place name)
2. The object of the verb is a 3rd person, e.g. 'I like him', 'We understand it', They like you (formal). Again it is not necessary to use the object, the use of the definite conjugation implies it.

Take at look at some English examples to help get a better understanding:

The Definite Conjugation

Here are the suffixes for the definite conjugation in the present tense, followed by the conjugations of the back verb tud and the front verbs ért and küld

In the following table, only forms which differ from a regular front verb are in boldface: