Hungarian Word-Final Vowels

Hungarian has fourteen vowel phonemes. Certain dialects have fifteen, but the number is fourteen in the standard language. The fourteen vowel phonemes can be classified on the basis of length. Seven are short, and seven are long. The front vowels consist of four pairs, and the back vowels consist of three.

Word-final vowels can be short or long. However, the mid front rounded vowel and mid back rounded vowels are always long when they are word-final. For example, the Hungarian word for snow is hó and the word for grape is szőlő. This restriction does not apply to the other vowels. The word for village is falu and the word for menu is menü.

The vowels of Hungarian can be divided into seven pairs that are short and long. These vowels can appear in all word-positions with the exception of two vowels, the mid front rounded long and mid back rounded long vowels.. These two vowels never appear in word-final position. In word-final position, the vowel length of the Hungarian mid vowels is neutralized.