Hungarian vowel harmony

Vowel harmony is the rule that makes a suffix match the vowels of the word it attaches to: házban (in a house) but kertben (in a garden). It is the first thing you need before you can use any case ending, plural or verb ending, and it is far more regular than its reputation suggests once you know the three vowel groups and a handful of exceptions.

The three vowel groups

Hungarian sorts its 14 vowels by where the tongue is (back or front) and by whether the lips are rounded:

Among the front unrounded vowels, i, í, é and to a lesser degree e behave as neutral vowels: they can sit in a word next to back vowels without affecting which suffix the word takes. That single fact explains most of the "mixed" words that confuse learners.

The basic rule

1. If a word contains a back vowel, it is normally a back word and takes back suffixes (exceptions below): ház → házban, házhoz; autó → autóban, autóhoz.
2. If a word contains only front vowels, it is a front word and takes front suffixes: kert → kertben, kerthez; sör → sörben, sörhöz.
3. For suffixes with three forms, a front word takes the rounded form when its last vowel is rounded (ö, ő, ü, ű): sörhöz, but kerthez.

• A kulcs a táskában van. The key is in the bag.
• A kulcs a zsebemben van. The key is in my pocket.
• Megyek a boltba, aztán a fodrászhoz. I'm going to the shop, then to the hairdresser's.
• Elmegyek az orvoshoz, aztán a fogorvoshoz. I'll go to the doctor, then to the dentist.
• Beszélek a szomszédokkal és a főnökkel. I talk to the neighbours and to the boss.

Note that harmony only chooses the suffix vowel. The stem never changes to match the suffix.

Two-form, three-form and one-form suffixes

Suffixes fall into three classes. Sorting them this way, rather than memorising each case separately, halves the work.

The linking vowel before the accusative -t and the plural -k also harmonises (ablakot, kertet, gyümölcsöt), but here the choice between -e- and -ö- in rounded words is partly lexical: sör → sört, sörök, but fül → fület, fülek and könyv → könyvet, könyvek. See plural and accusative for the full pattern.

Mixed words and neutral vowels

Many native and borrowed words mix back vowels with i, í, é, e. The neutral vowels are "transparent": look past them to the nearest back vowel.

• papír → papírban, papírhoz paper (a + í: back)
• kávé → kávéban, kávéval coffee (á + é: back)
• tányér → tányéron, tányérok plate (á + é: back)
• kocsi → kocsiban, kocsihoz car (o + i: back)
• radír → radírral, radírok eraser (a + í: back)

The transparency weakens with e and with longer runs of neutral vowels. Here the language genuinely varies, and learners should know that both forms can be correct:

• Back vowel + i/í: reliably back (papírok, radírral).
• Back vowel + é: usually back (kávéban, tányérra).
• Back vowel + e: decided word by word. Ágnes → Ágnesnek and október → októberben are front; haver (buddy) → haverral is back; hotel and fotel (armchair) are heard with both (hotelban and hotelben).
• Back vowel + two neutral vowels: front forms are common or standard: november → novemberben, oxigén → oxigénnel.

Exception: back-harmonic i-stems (híd, ír)

Words containing only neutral vowels normally take front suffixes: víz → vízben, szék → székre, kép → képek. A small closed group of a few dozen stems with i, í or é takes back suffixes instead. They are old words whose vowel was once a back vowel, and they simply have to be learned:

A striking pair is szív: the noun "heart" is front (szívek, szívem), while the verb "sucks, smokes" is back (szívunk, szívnak). Not every i verb belongs here: visz (carries) is front, viszünk, visznek, and so is hisz (believes), hiszünk.

Loanwords: the last non-neutral vowel wins

Loanwords can combine back and front rounded vowels, something native stems rarely do. The rule is to look at the last vowel that is not neutral:

For three-form suffixes, rounding is again decided by the very last vowel: sofőrhöz (last vowel ő), but üzlethez (shop, last vowel e) and Brüsszelhez.

Compounds take harmony from the last element

A compound is harmonised as if only its final element existed. The earlier parts are ignored completely:

• Buda + pest → Budapesten, Budapestre in/to Budapest (pest is front)
• kerék + pár → kerékpáron, kerékpárral on/by bicycle (pár is back)
• gép + kocsi → gépkocsiban in the motor car (kocsi is back)
• föld + rajz → földrajzból from geography (rajz is back)
• Székesfehér + vár → Székesfehérváron in Székesfehérvár (vár is back)
• Balaton + füred → Balatonfüreden in Balatonfüred (füred is front)

Place names are a good test because learners often guess from the first syllable. For whether a town takes -ban/-ben or -on/-en/-ön in the first place, see cities: -ban or -on?

Decision flowchart: which suffix form?

Run through these steps in order. They cover every case above, including the exceptions:

1. Is the suffix one-form? (-ig, -ért, -kor, -ként) Use it as is and stop.
2. Is the word a compound? Cover everything except the last element, then continue with that element.
3. Is it one of the back-harmonic i-stems (híd, cél, ír, nyit, iszik...)? Use the back form and stop.
4. Find the last vowel that is not i, í, é or e.
   • It is back (a á o ó u ú): use the back form (papírban, kávéhoz). If it is followed by e or by two neutral vowels, check a dictionary, since front forms are possible (novemberben).
   • It is front rounded (ö ő ü ű): go to step 5.
   • There is none (only neutral vowels): go to step 5.
5. Front word. Two-form suffix: use the e form (-ben, -nek). Three-form suffix: use the ö form if the last vowel of the word is ö, ő, ü, ű (sörhöz), otherwise the e form (kerthez, üzlethez).

To check your answers, type any word into the vowel harmony checker, or see every suffixed form of a noun at once with the suffix builder.

Typical learner errors

• Deciding by the first vowel. Budapestban is wrong; the last element pest is front, so Budapesten.
• Treating i as front in mixed words. papírben is wrong; papírban.
• Forgetting rounding. sörhez is wrong; sörhöz. But do not over-round: zöldséghez (to the vegetable) ends in é, so -hez.
• Regularising híd-type words. hidek is wrong for "bridges"; hidak.
• Harmonising one-form suffixes. There is no -kar or -ag: hatkor (at six), holnapig (until tomorrow).

Sources and further reading

• Péter Siptár and Miklós Törkenczy, The Phonology of Hungarian (Oxford University Press, 2000), chapter on vowel harmony, including antiharmonic stems and variation
• Carol H. Rounds, Hungarian: An Essential Grammar (2nd ed., Routledge, 2009), on vowel harmony in suffixation
• István Kenesei, Robert M. Vago and Anna Fenyvesi, Hungarian (Descriptive Grammars series, Routledge, 1998), morphophonology

Frequently asked questions