Hungarian stress on the first syllable of every word, the rise-fall melody of yes/no questions, and vowel and consonant length that changes meaning.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
BU-da-pest — a hangsúly az első szótagon.
Budapest — stress always on first syllable.
Kor (age) vs. kór (disease).
Kor = age, kór = disease — vowel length matters.
Eljössz holnap?
Are you coming tomorrow? (rise-fall)
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
In Hungarian the main stress falls on the first syllable of a word, however long it is: BU-da-pest, TA-nár, E-gész-sé-ged-re (Cheers!), KÖ-szö-nöm. A prefix carries the stress too: MEG-néz. There is no word whose stress you have to memorise.
English speakers carry over English stress patterns: "Bu-da-PEST", "Hun-GA-ri-an". Saying BUDApest with the weight up front is the quickest way to sound less foreign. Stress is not length: an unstressed syllable can still have a long vowel (ba-RÁT is wrong; it is BA-rát, with a long, unstressed á).
Every vowel comes short or long, and the accent marks length: a/á, e/é, i/í, o/ó, ö/ő, u/ú, ü/ű. Length alone can separate two words:
| Short | Long |
|---|---|
| kor (age) | kór (disease) |
| szel (he slices) | szél (wind) |
| öt (five) | őt (him / her) |
For a/á and e/é the quality changes too: a is a rounded "o"-like sound, á is the open "a" of "father"; e is the "e" of "bed", é a closed "ay" without the glide. Consonants can be long as well: tol (pushes) / toll (feather). Hold the double consonant a moment longer.
Statements fall at the end. Question-word questions fall too: Hol van a pályaudvar? But a yes/no question, which has no question word and no change of word order, is carried by its melody: the voice rises to a peak on the second-to-last syllable and drops on the last one. Beszélsz magyarul? peaks on -ru- and falls on -ul. In a one- or two-syllable question the rise and fall squeeze onto the last syllable: Kérsz? (Do you want some?)
The English habit of rising all the way to the end makes a Hungarian question sound odd, or like surprise. Practise the rise-fall on everyday questions in a café in Szeged: Van szabad asztal? - Is there a free table?
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesStress not on first syllable
Short/long vowel confusion changing meaning
BU-da-pest — a hangsúly az első szótagon.
Budapest — stress always on first syllable.
Fixed first-syllable stress is a key feature of Hungarian.
Kor (age) vs. kór (disease).
Kor = age, kór = disease — vowel length matters.
Long vowels (marked with accent) are distinct phonemes changing meaning.
Eljössz holnap?
Are you coming tomorrow? (rise-fall)
A yes/no question rises to the second-to-last syllable and falls on the last: in Eljössz holnap? the pitch peaks on hol- and falls on -nap.
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Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises