In Lesson 5 you saw that verb endings come in three versions: tanulok, beszélek, ülök. This is not just a feature of verbs. Almost every ending in Hungarian works like this. The idea behind it is called vowel harmony, and it is the key to the whole language. Once you understand it, you will be able to add any ending to any word. In this lesson you will learn how it works, and then use it straight away to make nouns plural.
Back and front vowels
Hungarian divides its vowels into groups, according to where in your mouth you make them. Say "oo" and then "ee" and notice your tongue: for "oo" it pulls back, for "ee" it pushes forward. That is the difference between back and front vowels.
| Group | Vowels | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Back | a á o ó u ú | ház (house), autó (car) |
| Front | e é i í | kert (garden), kép (picture) |
| Front rounded | ö ő ü ű | sör (beer), gyümölcs (fruit) |
The front rounded vowels are front vowels that you say with rounded lips. They count as front vowels, but some endings have a special version for them.
The rule of vowel harmony is this: an ending must match the vowels of the word it is added to. A back word takes a back ending, and a front word takes a front ending. That is why "in the house" is a házban, but "in the garden" is a kertben. You will learn these endings in Lesson 8.
a házban (in the house) – pronounced “aw HAAZ-bawn”
a kertben (in the garden) – pronounced “aw KERT-ben”
Which group is a word in?
For most words, it is easy: just look at the vowels.
- Only back vowels: the word is back. alma (apple), asztal (table), lány (girl), ablak (window).
- Only front vowels: the word is front. ember (person), gyerek (child), szék (chair).
- The last vowel is ö, ő, ü or ű: the word is front rounded. gyümölcs (fruit), bőrönd (suitcase), sör (beer).
What about words with both back and front vowels? Here is the most useful rule: the vowels e, é, i, í are weak. If a word has a back vowel as well, the back vowel wins, and the word is back:
kávé (coffee) – pronounced “KAA-vay” á wins: back.
papír (paper) – pronounced “PAW-peer” a wins: back.
kocsi (car) – pronounced “KO-chi” o wins: back.
tányér (plate) – pronounced “TAA-nyayr” á wins: back.
A few surprises
A small number of short words with only i, í or é in them take back endings, for historical reasons. Examples are híd (bridge), cél (goal) and the verb ír (write): írok (I write), not "írek". There are not many of them, and you will pick them up as you go. When a word behaves like this, the vocabulary lists in this course will show you.
The plural: -k
Now let's use vowel harmony for something. To make a noun plural, Hungarian adds -k, much as English adds "-s". If the word ends in a vowel, you just add -k:
autók (cars) – pronounced “AW-u-tohk” From autó.
fiúk (boys) – pronounced “FI-ook” From fiú.
kocsik (cars) – pronounced “KO-chik” From kocsi.
nők (women) – pronounced “nöök” From nő.
If the word ends in -a or -e, the vowel becomes long, just as it did with the -t ending in Lesson 4:
almák (apples) – pronounced “AWL-maak” From alma.
kutyák (dogs) – pronounced “KU-tyaak” From kutya.
körték (pears) – pronounced “KÖR-tayk” From körte.
zsemlék (bread rolls) – pronounced “ZHEM-layk” From zsemle.
After a consonant: the linking vowel
Hungarian can't put -k straight after most consonants: "házk" would be impossible to say. So it adds a linking vowel first. And here is where vowel harmony comes in. The linking vowel matches the word:
| Word group | Plural ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Back | -ok (sometimes -ak) | asztalok, ablakok, lányok |
| Front | -ek | kertek, székek, gyerekek |
| Front rounded | -ök | gyümölcsök, sörök, bőröndök |
asztalok (tables) – pronounced “AWS-taw-lok” From asztal.
lányok (girls) – pronounced “LAA-nyok” From lány.
kertek (gardens) – pronounced “KER-tek” From kert.
emberek (people) – pronounced “EM-beh-rek” From ember.
gyümölcsök (fruits) – pronounced “DYÜ-möl-chök” From gyümölcs.
bőröndök (suitcases) – pronounced “BÖÖ-rön-dök” From bőrönd.
Back words with -ak
Most back words take -ok. But a group of common short words take -ak instead. There is no easy way to tell from the word itself, so learn these as you meet them. Here are the most important ones:
házak (houses) – pronounced “HAA-zawk” From ház.
ágyak (beds) – pronounced “AA-dyawk” From ágy.
halak (fish (plural)) – pronounced “HAW-lawk” From hal.
falak (walls) – pronounced “FAW-lawk” From fal.
And one word to watch: férfi (man) has the plural férfiak, with an extra -a-, even though it ends in a vowel. Similarly, a few front rounded words take -ek instead of -ök. The most common is könyv (book), plural könyvek.
férfiak (men) – pronounced “FAYR-fi-awk” From férfi.
könyvek (books) – pronounced “KÖNY-vek” From könyv.
Words whose stem changes
Some common nouns change a little inside the word when you add an ending. This is not random: there are a few clear patterns, and they will come back with every ending you learn from now on, including -t. So it is worth learning them now.
1. The long vowel becomes short
In many short words, a long á or é in the last syllable becomes short a or e. Other long vowels can shorten too, as in víz → vizek:
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| madár | madarak | bird |
| pohár | poharak | glass |
| kenyér | kenyerek | bread |
| levél | levelek | letter, leaf |
| kéz | kezek | hand |
| név | nevek | name |
| víz | vizek | water |
| út | utak | road, way |
You have already seen this in Lesson 4: víz → vizet. It is the same change.
2. A v appears
Some short words ending in a long vowel get a v before the ending, and the vowel often changes too:
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| ló | lovak | horse |
| tó | tavak | lake |
| kő | kövek | stone |
| szó | szavak | word |
Remember narancslé → narancslevet from Lesson 4? That was this pattern too.
3. The last vowel drops out
In some words of two syllables, the vowel in the last syllable disappears when an ending is added:
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| bokor | bokrok | bush |
| tükör | tükrök | mirror |
| majom | majmok | monkey |
| étterem | éttermek | restaurant |
And again, you met this in Lesson 4: cukor (sugar) works the same way, as in cukrot.
How do I know?
You can't always tell from the dictionary form whether a word changes. That is why good dictionaries, and the vocabulary lists in this course, show the plural or the -t form of words like these. The words that change are mostly short, old, everyday words. Long words and new words, like telefon or autó, almost never change.
When not to use the plural
Remember from Lesson 2 that you never use the plural after a number, or after hány (how many). The same is true after words like "many" and "a few", which you will learn later:
két ház (two houses) – pronounced “kayt haaz”
öt gyerek (five children) – pronounced “öt DYEH-rek”
Hány könyv? (How many books?) – pronounced “haany könyv”
Plural subjects and verbs
When the subject of a sentence is plural, the verb takes the ők (they) form, just as in English:
A gyerekek tanulnak. (The children are studying.) – pronounced “aw DYEH-reh-kek TAW-nul-nawk”
A lányok otthon vannak. (The girls are at home.) – pronounced “aw LAA-nyok OTT-hon VAWN-nawk”
A férfiak sört isznak. (The men are drinking beer.) – pronounced “aw FAYR-fi-awk shört IS-nawk”
Notice a gyerekek, with the word a (the). Hungarian uses a and az in the plural too, just like English "the".
Plural adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe things: big, beautiful, red. In Hungarian, an adjective in front of a noun never changes. It doesn't take the plural ending, even when the noun does:
a nagy ház (the big house) – pronounced “aw nawdy haaz”
a nagy házak (the big houses) – pronounced “aw nawdy HAA-zawk”
a szép kertek (the beautiful gardens) – pronounced “aw sayp KER-tek”
But when the adjective comes after the noun, to say what something is like, it does take the plural ending. Remember from Lesson 5 that there is no van or vannak in sentences like these:
A ház nagy. (The house is big.) – pronounced “aw haaz nawdy”
A házak nagyok. (The houses are big.) – pronounced “aw HAA-zawk NAW-dyok”
A kert szép. (The garden is beautiful.) – pronounced “aw kert sayp”
A kertek szépek. (The gardens are beautiful.) – pronounced “aw KER-tek SAY-pek”
A gyümölcsök finomak. (The fruits are tasty.) – pronounced “aw DYÜ-möl-chök FI-no-mawk”
Look at finomak. Adjectives with back vowels usually take -ak in the plural, not -ok: magas → magasak (tall), piros → pirosak (red), új → újak (new). Front adjectives take -ek, as you would expect: szép → szépek, öreg → öregek (old). Two common exceptions are nagy (big), plural nagyok, and fiatal (young), plural fiatalok.
Az autók pirosak. (The cars are red.) – pronounced “awz AW-u-tohk PI-ro-shawk”
A fiúk magasak. (The boys are tall.) – pronounced “aw FI-ook MAW-gaw-shawk”
A poharak újak. (The glasses are new.) – pronounced “aw PO-haw-rawk OO-yawk”
A könyvek drágák. (The books are expensive.) – pronounced “aw KÖNY-vek DRAA-gaak”
A kenyerek olcsók. (The breads are cheap.) – pronounced “aw KEH-nyeh-rek OL-chohk”
Nationalities
Nationality words like magyar and angol work in the same way. With mi (we) and ti (you all), they need the plural:
Mi magyarok vagyunk. (We are Hungarian.) – pronounced “mi MAW-dyaw-rok VAW-dyunk”
Ti angolok vagytok? (Are you (all) English?) – pronounced “ti AWN-go-lok VAWDY-tok”
Ők amerikaiak. (They are American.) – pronounced “öök AW-meh-ri-kaw-i-awk”
Notice amerikaiak: words that end in -i, like amerikai and régi (old, from long ago), add -ak or -ek in the plural: amerikaiak, régiek.
Kis and kicsi
The word for "small" has two forms. In front of a noun, use kis: a kis ház (the small house). After the noun, use kicsi: A ház kicsi. (The house is small.) The plural is kicsik: A házak kicsik.
Conclusion
You now know how vowel harmony works: back words take back endings and front words take front endings. You can make nouns and adjectives plural, and you know the main patterns of stem change, which will come back with every ending you learn. Look over the Plural Table and the Vocabulary, then try the Exercises. In Lesson 7 you will learn the -t ending properly, and how to say what you like. For more about this topic, see the vowel harmony grammar page.