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 } or French _œu_ ” sœur } ” bőr, skin =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 } ” róka, a fox or followed by a vowel } ” 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).