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Hungarian grammar

Chapter 4: Consonants.
By Charles Arthur Ginever
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About This Book

This work provides a comprehensive overview of the Hungarian language, focusing on its grammar and phonetics. It begins with an introduction to the alphabet, detailing the fourteen distinct vowel characters and their pronunciations, including distinctions between short and long vowels. The text explains the classification of vowels into flats, sharps, and mediates, and discusses the implications of these classifications on word formation and suffix usage. Additionally, it covers the absence of diphthongs in Hungarian and offers insights into compound word formation. The structure is designed to aid learners in understanding the complexities of Hungarian grammar.

HUNGARIAN GRAMMAR

CHAPTER I
THE ALPHABET

Vowels.

There are in Hungarian fourteen distinct vowel characters:— a, á; e, é; i, í; o, ó, ö, ő; u, ú, ü, ű.

They are pronounced:—

a as o in rod, e.g. fal, a wall
á ” a ” far ” vár, a castle
e⁠[1] ” a ” man ” kerek, round
é ” a ” pale ” pénz, money
i ” i ” piqué ” piros, red
í ” ee ” bee ” ív, an arch
o ” o ” fort ” bor, wine
ó ” o ” roll ” ló, a horse
ö ” French eu ” neuf ” föld, earth
ő ” u ” fur } ” bőr, skin
or French œu ” sœur }
u ” u ” bull ” futni, to run
ú ” oo ” pool ” rút, ugly
ü ” French u ” une ” fül, ear
ű ” ” ue ” morue ” tűz, fire

a, e, i, o, ö, u, ü are short vowels.

á, é, í, ó, ő, ú, ű are long vowels.

There are no Diphthongs.

Vowels are also divided into:—

  • (a) Flats: a, á, o, ó, u, ú;
  • (b) Sharps: e, ö, ő, ü, ű; and
  • (c) Mediates: é, i, í.

Flats and Sharps never occur in the same word, and according as the vowels are of one or the other class the words are said to be sharp or flat, and only take suffixes of their respective class.

kalap (hat), pl. kalapok.
kert (garden), ” kertek.

Note.—This rule does not prevent the formation of compound substantives of heterogeneous words, and applies only to etymological derivatives. For example, selyemruha is a compound of selyem (silk), and ruha (a dress).

The Mediates may be found in the same word along with either flat or sharp vowels. Such words are called mixed, and take suffixes of either class.

piros (red), pl. pirosak.
hideg (cold), ” hidegek.

Consonants.

The simple consonants are: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, z.

c (or cz) is pronounced like ts in its, e.g. citrom, a lemon
g (hard) ” ” ” g ” go ” galamb, a dove
j (soft) ” ” ” y ” you ” jó, good
s ” ” ” sh ” shoe ” sas, an eagle
h is always aspirated ” három, three
r is harder than in English, and is always vibrated, whether preceded or followed by a vowel } ” róka, a fox
} ” ár, price

The others are pronounced as in English.

The compound consonants are: cs, ds, gy, ly, ny, sz, ty, zs.

They are pronounced as follows:—

cs as ch in church, e.g. csirke, a chicken
ds ” j ” joke ” findsa, a cup
gy ” d ” dew ” gyöngy, a pearl
ly ” y ” you ” ilyen, such
ny ” n ” new ” nyúl, a hare
sz ” s ” so ” szabó, a tailor
ty ” t ” tune ” tyúk, a hen
zs ” z ” azure } ” zsir, lard
or French j in je }

These compound consonants must be looked upon as single letters, each representing a single and distinct sound or articulation, and cannot be divided in spelling or pronunciation.

If in a word the sound of a compound consonant is heard with greater stress, that is, where these letters are to be written doubly, they are thus abbreviated:—

  • For cscs, ccs; for gygy, ggy; &c.

But if these consonants meet only through the use of suffixes or the formation of compound words, they must be written out in full. Also, when a word is broken off at the end of a line, the missing letter is to be replaced.

  • asszony (woman) is divided thus: asz-szony.

The Hungarian language has no mute letters. Every character is to be pronounced distinctly and in full, always retaining the same sound, and each word has as many syllables as it contains vowels.

fiaim has three syllables, and is pronounced fi-a-im.
leányaié ” five ” ” ” le-ány-a-i-é.

The emphasis always rests on the first syllable.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This e is sometimes pronounced like e in men, especially in the case of words in which it occurs several times; e.g. engedelmes (pronounced angedalmash).