[#DuolingoForumGems originally posted on 2020-07-09 on the Duolingo Hungarian for English speakers forum by peter.kristof.hu ]
Vowel lengthening in Hungarian
Probably you have noticed the phenomenon that the word-final vowel is often lengthened in an inflected form. The vowel a and e at the end of a word become lengthened when given a suffix. A changes to á and e changes to é respectively. (A and e are so-called short low vowels.) Since the pair of a-á and e-é are qualitatively different too, the difference can be felt not only in writing but also in speech. For example:
béka → békává
(béka = frog, békává változik = turn into frog)
fekete → feketébb
(fekete = black, feketébb = blacker)
This rule is true for most suffixes but does not apply to the boundary of compound words or preverbs: baltanyél (axe handle), belép (enter).
According to szotar.com, there are 5806 Hungarian words ending in a and 1180 words ending in e. However, most of them are compound word or verb with a preverb or inflected form.
Some of these are:
| Words ending in a | English meaning |
|---|---|
| fa | tree, wood |
| alma | apple |
| kutya | dog |
| óra | watch |
| tea | tea |
| anya | mother |
| béka | frog |
| forma | form |
| lila | violet |
| barna | brown |
| lusta | lazy |
| háza | his/her house |
| Words ending in e | English meaning |
|---|---|
| ige | verb |
| mese | tale |
| medve | bear |
| zene | music |
| bögre | mug |
| elme | mind |
| szőke | blond |
| füge | fig |
| béke | peace |
| fekete | black |
| gyenge | weak |
| pénze | his/her money |
Examples for suffixes:
| Suffix | English meaning |
|---|---|
| -k | plural suffix |
| -bb | comparative suffix |
| -m | possessive suffix 1st person singular |
| -ban/-ben | in |
| -nál/-nél | at |
| -hoz-/hez/(-höz) | to |
| -ból/-ből | from |
| -juk/-jük | possessive suffix 3rd person plural |
| -jú/-jű | e.g. jó formájú = good formed |
Examples for inflected words:
| Word | Inflected form |
|---|---|
| fa | fák |
| gyenge | gyengébb |
| bögre | bögrém |
| háza | házában |
| béka | békánál |
| alma | almából |
| kutya | kutyájuk |
| forma | formájú |
A language would not be a natural language if there were no irregularities. The following endings are exceptions where a and e remain unchanged:
-kor: távozás → távozásakor (at his leaving)
-i: haza → hazai (domestic)
-ság/-ség: katona → katonaság (soldiery)
-szerű: mese → meseszerű (like a fairy tale)
-féle: macska → macskaféle (feline)
Nevertheless, the main rule is a word ends in a or e and takes a suffix, the word-final vowel is to be lengthened.
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So far, "irregular" suffixes seem easy to spot - they are all syllablic and they have only one form (-szerű, -féle, -i, -kor) or they are formative (-ság/-ség, -szerű, -féle and arguably -i).
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A language would not be a natural language if there were no irregularities. The following endings are exceptions where a and e remain unchanged
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