Since 1997

More practice on special sounds


The Hungarian language has a total of 14 (!) vowels, which are often organized to pairs based on similar tone. In the following pairs the first sound is unstressed, the second is stressed:


i, í o, ó ö, ő u, ú ü, ű


in the following two pairs the sounds themselves are slightly different, but neither is stressed:
a, á e, é


I selected a few short words that will challenge your pronounciation, since they have many unique Hungarian vowels. They might cause challenge to English-speaking people.


fürdő [bath]kendő [kerchief]ernyő [unbrella]
zöld [green]tök [squash]örök [ever]
híres [famous]írt [cut out]sírni [cry]
határ [border]kabát [coat]barát [friend]
ebéd [lunch]elég [enough]kevés [not enough]
bor [skin]erdő [forest]tető [roof]
gyűrű [ring]gyűjt [collect]gyümölcs [fruit]


The following words are selected because at least one of their consonant is hard to pronounce. Special sounds are: cs, ty, zs, ny. Also, please remember that the sound "r" is always strong similarly to the Spanish r.


búcsú [good-bye]kulcs [key]roncs [wreck]
bátya [brother]kesztyű [glove] Pityu [Steve]
Zsolt [a name]rúzs [rouge] zsír [fat]
nyak [neck] nyelv [tounge]nyúl [rabbit]
szál [thread] ősz[fall]szék [chair]
gyár [factory] Győr gyöngy [pearl]



Download the file of the first part and the second part . Try to pronounce first, and than check it out with the sound file.
A consonant is always doubled if it is stressed and vica versa. fenn [above], lenn [below], Hanna. However, in case of the 2-letter consonants, like ny, sz, zs etc. we double just the first letter in writing. For example hosszú [long], mennyi [how many].
Please remember that Hungarian sounds always have the same pronounciation. You "say what you see." Once you practiced these sounds, perheps you don't even need sound file for the following lessons. Just turn back to the alphabet page if you are unsure in any sound.