Consonants II

Hungarian Alphabet 1

Chapter 12 · Consonants You Know II: F V H M N L Z

🔤 Seven More Familiar Letters — f v h m n l z

Seven more consonants look and mostly sound like English. Four of them (f, m, n, z) are exactly as you'd expect. The other three have small differences that make your Hungarian sound much more natural: v (never "w"), h (always pronounced, and sometimes a rasp), and l (always a clear, light "l").

✨ The Seven Letters

Letter	Sounds like	Watch out for
f	English f in fish	nothing special
v	English v in very	always a real "v", never a "w"
h	English h in hat	never silent; after a vowel it can be a soft rasp (see below)
m	English m in man	nothing special
n	English n in no	tongue just behind the upper teeth
l	a light, clear "l" as in leaf	stays light even at the end of a word: dal, tál
z	English z in zoo	a buzzing "s"; you've used it in ház, víz, tűz

H Is Never Silent English drops the h in hour and honest, and French drops it everywhere. Hungarian always pronounces h. At the start of a word it's the English "h" (hold, ház), and between two vowels it's a gentle, breathy "h" (ruha, tehén). After a vowel at the end of a word or before another consonant, it becomes a soft rasp, a little like the "ch" in Scottish loch, as in méh (bee). Scottish speakers have a head start with this one.

The Light "L" In many English accents (and especially Scots), the l at the end of a word, as in hill or ball, is "dark": the back of the tongue pulls up. Hungarian l is always light, made with the tip of the tongue just behind the upper teeth, as in the English l of leaf. Say dal (DAWL) and tál (TAHL) with that light "l".

📖 Read It — New Words

You can read all of these. Stress is on the first syllable; the respellings use the vowel keys from earlier chapters.

#	Hungarian	Say it	English	Note
1	fehér	FEH-hayr	white	f, h between vowels
2	fekete	FEH-keh-teh	black	three short e's
3	vonat	VO-nawt	train	v as in English
4	vendég	VEHN-dayg	guest	short e, long é
5	hold	HOLD	moon	light l
6	tehén	TEH-hayn	cow	gentle h between vowels
7	mozi	MO-zih	cinema	z as in zoo
8	metró	MEH-troh	metro, underground	tapped r
9	ember	EHM-behr	person; man	short e's
10	levél	LEH-vayl	letter; leaf	both l's are light
11	zene	ZEH-neh	music	two short e's
12	zöld	ZEULD	green	z and ö

🎨 Colours You Can Read Now

Hungarian	Say it	English	Note
piros	PIH-rosh	red	s is said "sh"
fehér	FEH-hayr	white	today
zöld	ZEULD	green	today
kék	KAYK	blue	Chapter 4
fekete	FEH-keh-teh	black	today

Real Hungarian Tip — The Flag The Hungarian flag is three horizontal stripes: piros, fehér, zöld (red, white, green), from top to bottom. It's a good way to remember three colours at once, and you may hear "piros-fehér-zöld" at football matches and national holidays.

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Cinema and Metro — Hol a mozi?

A: Hol a mozi? HOL aw MO-zih? Where is the cinema?

B: Ott. OTT. There.

A: És a metró? AYSH aw MEH-troh? And the metro?

B: A téren. aw TAY-rehn. In the square.

② The Traffic Light — Piros a lámpa?

A: Piros a lámpa? PIH-rosh aw LAHM-paw? Is the light red?

B: Nem, zöld! NEHM, ZEULD! No, green!

A: Jó! YOH! Good!

③ Who Is This? — Ki ez?

A: Ki ez? KIH EHZ? Who is this?

B: Ez a vendég. EHZ aw VEHN-dayg. This is the guest.

A: És ő? AYSH EUU? And she/he?

B: Ő a tanár. EUU aw TAW-nahr. He/She is the teacher.

A Peek Ahead — n and l Before y You'll sometimes see n or l followed by y, as in nyár or lyuk. That isn't an n plus a y: ny and ly are separate letters with their own sounds (Chapter 16), just like gy and ty (Chapter 15).

Review: Chapter 11 Words Cover the English and read these again: bolt (shop) · bátor (brave) · pék (baker) · kép (picture) · dal (song) · idő (time; weather) · adó (tax) · tanár (teacher) · tea (tea) · gól (goal) · gép (machine) · kapu (gate).

✍️ Try It Yourself — Gyakorlatok

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. Which three of today's letters have small differences from English?

Show answer

v (always "v", never "w"), h (never silent; a soft rasp after a vowel) and l (always light and clear).

2. How should you say the l in dal and tál?

Show answer

With a light, clear "l" (tongue tip behind the upper teeth), even at the end of the word, not a dark "l".

3. Read aloud and translate: fehér · fekete · zöld

Show answer

FEH-hayr (white) · FEH-keh-teh (black) · ZEULD (green)

4. Read aloud and translate: vonat · mozi · metró

Show answer

VO-nawt (train) · MO-zih (cinema) · MEH-troh (metro)

5. What are the three colours of the Hungarian flag?

Show answer

piros, fehér, zöld (red, white, green), from top to bottom.

6. Does Hungarian drop the h in words like hold or tehén?

Show answer

No: h is never silent in Hungarian. Say it at the start of a word (HOLD) and gently between vowels (TEH-hayn).

Coming Up in Chapter 13 The big swap: in Hungarian, s is said "sh" and sz is said "s", the reverse of what you'd expect. Chapter 13 teaches r, s, sz, zs, and finally lets you read köszönöm ("thank you") and szia ("hi/bye").