Back Vowels Completed

Hungarian Alphabet 1

Chapter 3 · Back Vowels Completed: U Ú

🔤 The Last Back Vowels — u ú

Two more letters complete the family of back vowels: u and ú. Like o / ó, they're the same sound at two lengths. With them you'll know all six back vowels, and you'll get a first taste of how they control the endings of Hungarian words (vowel harmony).

Back vowels	Short	Long	Respelled
Chapter 1	a	á	aw · ah
Chapter 2	o	ó	o · oh
Chapter 3 (today)	u	ú	u · oo

✨ Two New Vowels — u ú

U · u

short, like the "oo" in book or foot — respelled u (always as in put, never as in cup)

back vowel · short

Mouth tip: push your lips forward into a small rounded opening and keep the sound short and tight. In Scottish English, the vowel in pull is very close to the Hungarian u.

Ú · ú

long, like the "oo" in moon — respelled oo

back vowel · long

Mouth tip: same lip position as u, but hold it for twice as long. It's a steady "oo" with no glide to another vowel.

A Respelling Reminder: "u" Is Not "uh" In the respellings, u always stands for the short Hungarian u, which is the "oo" of put. It never stands for the vowel in cup. So nulla (zero) is NUL-law with a short "oo" sound, not "nuh-law". If you're unsure, think of u as a short, tight oo.

🗂️ The Six Back Vowels — The Whole Family

The back vowels differ in how open the mouth is. From the most closed to the most open:

Mouth position	Short	Long	Sounds like
closed (small gap)	u	ú	"oo" in book · "oo" in moon
half-closed	o	ó	pure "o" · pure "oh"
open (wide gap)	a	á	"o" in hot · "a" in father

📖 Read It — New Words

With six vowels, you can read a lot. As before, s is said "sh" (Chapter 13), and doubled letters (ll) are held for an extra beat. Stress is always on the first syllable.

#	Hungarian	Say it	English	Note
1	út	OOT	road; way	long ú
2	hús	HOOSH	meat	s is said "sh"
3	kút	KOOT	well (for water)	long ú
4	lúd	LOOD	goose	long ú
5	búza	BOO-zaw	wheat	z as in English
6	nulla	NUL-law	zero	double l: held
7	ruha	RU-haw	clothes, clothing	tapped r
8	puha	PU-haw	soft	short u
9	hullám	HUL-lahm	wave	double l; long á
10	autó	AW-u-toh	car	three syllables: a-u-tó
11	tud	TUD	knows; can	a verb ("he/she knows")
12	bunda	BUN-daw	fur coat	short u

Real Hungarian Tip — Út on Street Signs You'll see út ("road, avenue") on street signs all over Hungary, as in Budapest's famous Andrássy út. In Hungarian, the street type usually follows the name, as in Andrássy út, so út is a handy word to read.

A Preview of Vowel Harmony Hungarian endings change to match the vowels in the word, and all six back vowels take the same ending. For "in", the back-vowel ending is -ban: házban (in the house), tóban (in the lake), útban (in the way). After the front vowels (next chapters), the same ending becomes -ben. That pairing is vowel harmony, and Chapters 8–10 are all about it.

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Where Is the Car? — Hol az autó?

A: Hol az autó? HOL awz AW-u-toh? Where is the car?

B: Ott az autó. OTT awz AW-u-toh. The car is there.

② Where Is the Well? — Hol a kút?

A: Hol a kút? HOL aw KOOT? Where is the well?

B: Ott a kút. Jó! OTT aw KOOT. YOH! The well is there. Good!

③ Where Is the Road? — Hol az út?

A: Hol az út? HOL awz OOT? Where is the road?

B: Ott az út. Sok autó! OTT awz OOT. SHOK AW-u-toh! The road is there. Lots of cars!

Review: Chapter 2 Words Cover the English and read these again: ló (horse) · tó (lake) · hó (snow) · jó (good) · óra (hour; clock) · hol (where) · bor (wine) · kor (age) · ott (there) · orr (nose) · rokon (relative) · sok (many).

✍️ Try It Yourself — Gyakorlatok

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

1. Say the six back vowels with their respellings: a · á · o · ó · u · ú

Show answer

aw · ah · o · oh · u (as in put) · oo (as in moon).

2. Do u and ú sound the same apart from length, like a and á?

Show answer

Yes, they're the same sound, short and long, like o and ó. Only a and á differ in quality as well.

3. Read aloud and translate: út · hús · lúd

Show answer

OOT (road) · HOOSH (meat) · LOOD (goose)

4. How is autó pronounced, and how many syllables does it have?

Show answer

AW-u-toh: three syllables (a-u-tó), with stress on the first.

5. Say in Hungarian: "Where is the car?" and "Where is the well?"

Show answer

Hol az autó? and Hol a kút? (az before a vowel, a before a consonant.)

6. Add -ban ("in") to each word: ház · tó · út

Show answer

házban (in the house) · tóban (in the lake) · útban (in the way). All back-vowel words take -ban.

Coming Up in Chapter 4 The front vowels begin with e and é. You'll then read te (you), tér (square), kéz (hand) and lé (juice), and see why they take a different ending from the back vowels.