Reading Practice

Hungarian Alphabet 1

Chapter 20 · Reading Practice and Course Complete

📖 Reading Practice — Olvasási gyakorlat

You know every letter, the harmony rules and the length rules. Now put it together: read each sentence aloud from the Hungarian, using the respelling only to check yourself. Remember: stress on the first syllable, and hold the long sounds.

#	Hungarian	Say it	English	Watch for
1	Jó reggelt!	YOH REHG-gehlt!	Good morning!	gg = long g
2	Köszönöm szépen!	KEU-seu-neum SAY-pehn!	Thank you very much!	sz = s; é = ay
3	Egy kávé, kérem.	EHDY KAH-vay, KAY-rehm.	One coffee, please.	gy = dy; long á, é
4	Hol van a WC?	HOL VAWN aw VAY-tsay?	Where is the toilet?	w = v; c = ts
5	Budapest szép város.	BOO-daw-pesht SAYP VAH-rosh.	Budapest is a beautiful city.	s = sh; sz = s
6	A kenyér és a dzsem finom.	AW KEH-nyayr AYSH aw DZHEHM FIH-nom.	The bread and the jam are tasty.	ny, dzs
7	Ez a könyv jó.	EHZ aw KEUNYV YOH.	This book is good.	ö; ny
8	A hal nem hall.	AW HAWL NEHM HAWLL.	The fish does not hear.	short l / long ll
9	Viszontlátásra!	VIH-sont-lah-tah-shraw!	Goodbye!	sz = s; long á; s = sh

Words You Have Not Met Yet A few words here (kávé, kérem, finom, város, szép, jó, nem, ez) are new vocabulary; they are included to give you real sentences to read. You will learn them properly in Hungarian Basic 1.

✍️ Final Check — Gyakorlatok

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

1. What does the letter s sound like, and what does sz sound like?

Show answer

s = "sh"; sz = "s".

2. Which vowels take back endings and which take front endings?

Show answer

Words with a á o ó u ú take back endings; words with ö ő ü ű take front endings. e é i í are neutral, and mixed words follow the rules in Chapters 8–10.

3. Where does the stress fall in every Hungarian word?

Show answer

On the first syllable.

4. What is the difference in sound between hal and hall?

Show answer

The l in hall is held longer.

5. Read aloud: Viszontlátásra!

Show answer

VIH-sont-lah-tah-shraw! (Goodbye!)

6. Spell Pécs with letter names.

Show answer

pé, é, csé: PAY, AY, CHAY.

🎓 Course Complete — Recap

Chapters	Topic	You can now…
1–2	Back vowels a á o ó	Say and spot the back vowels, and tell short from long.
3–5	u ú, e é, i í	Read every plain and long vowel.
6–7	ö ő, ü ű	Read the rounded front vowels, with double acute marks.
8–10	Vowel harmony	Pick the right ending for back, front and mixed words.
11–12	b p d t g k, f v h m n l z	Read the consonants that match English.
13	r s sz zs	Handle the big swap: s = sh, sz = s.
14	c cs j	Read c = ts, cs = ch and j = y.
15–16	gy ty ny ly	Read the soft consonants.
17	dz dzs q w x y	Read the rare letters in names and loanwords.
18	Length	Tell short from long sounds, and write doubled digraphs.
19	Letter names	Spell aloud, alphabetise with digraphs, read place names.

What Next? Congratulations: you can read Hungarian aloud. The next step is Hungarian Basic 1, a practical conversation course where you start using the language: greetings, introductions, ordering and more.