# Correct pronunciation of É



## cisarro

Hi guys! it's me again 

I'm trying to asimilate the correct pronunciation of *é*. I'm a little confused because i found two audios, but the sound is different (*according to my ear*). In the example number 1 (the alphabet in mp3) the letter É sounds almost like a short *e*, but in the example number 2 (a song in Youtube) it sounds almost like a *i*.

Could you help me please?

*Example 1* http://www.single-serving.com/Hungarian/GP/alph/Hun-alph.mp3

*Example *2 http://aprendiendohungaro.co.cc/zene-szabo-balazs-bandaja-zaj/

Thank you!

p.s., I don't know if the woman


----------



## Olivier0

Hungarian é is in phonetic writing [e] exactly like Spanish e (usual e like in _en,_ not the more open kind found in some contexts like the e in _verdad_), but longer.
Hungarian e is [ɛ] like French è, or even [æ] like the short English a (in _cat_, which is not at all like French or Spanish a).
Hungarian i, short or long, is _ exactly like Spanish i, so anybody pronouncing it like Spanish e probably has an English accent. _


----------



## Ateesh6800

cisarro said:


> I'm trying to asimilate the correct pronunciation of *é*. I'm a little confused because i found two audios, but the sound is different (*according to my ear*). In the example number 1 (the alphabet in mp3) the letter É sounds almost like a short *e*...



Well, you're pretty lucky.  "É" is not only pronounced by the woman in its own right ("e, é, ef, gé...") but it is also the vowel that goes with (and is therefore pronounced as part of the _names_ of) the following consonants:

bé, cé, csé, dé, dzé, dzsé, (é), gé, gyé, jé, pé, té, tyé, vé, duplavé (w), zé, zsé.

So listen to the recording an try to imitate the way she pronounces these consonant names -- and the vowels they go with are all *é* vowels.

I'd add that é is pretty much like Spanish "e" in "en", BUT it is about twice as long as its short Hungarian counterpart "e".
Notice: while i/í, o/ó, ö/ő, u/ú, ü/ű are the short and long versions of the same five vowels (as in _ versus [i:]), the vowel pairs e/é and a/á are in fact two different vowels, plus the long vesion is twive as long as the short version.

Another thing: when pronouncing "é", the lips are more tense and are stretched somewhat wider than in the case of Spanish "e".

Attila_


----------



## cisarro

Every night I listen the "ábécé" by the woman in my MP3 player before sleeping  (I hope don't imitae her feminine voice hahahaha).


----------



## Olivier0

Ateesh6800 said:


> If you know what Wikipedia is referring to with the example *guía => being pronounced by some Chilean natives as [ˈʝia]*, this is pretty much what Hungarian would write as: GYia. In fact, the [word] is what we say to horses to run faster. It is somewhat similar to a*DI*eu in French.


You are right for TY [c] and the Chilean sound, but fot GY there is a difference:
- [ *ʝ* ] is j with a loop = a more fricative kind of (Hungarian) j, like for instance at the end of Hungarian dob*j*
- [ *ɟ* ] is upside-down f = Hungarian gy, a mild (soft) d followed by a (Hungarian) j.


----------



## Ateesh6800

Olivier0 said:


> You are right for TY [c] and the Chilean sound, but fot GY there is a difference:
> - [ *ʝ* ] is j with a loop = a more fricative kind of (Hungarian) j, like for instance at the end of Hungarian dob*j*
> - [ *ɟ* ] is upside-down f = Hungarian gy, a mild (soft) d followed by a (Hungarian) j.



I agree. I'm really interested to see if the example helps the party posting the original question. 

*A.*


----------



## bibax

The original question was _"How to pronounce the vowel É correctly"_?


----------



## bibax

I remember that my grandmother pronounced the vowel *É* nearly like a diphtong (something like [ei], e.g. kéz [keiz], szép [seip]). Is it possible or merely my memory failed me?


----------



## francisgranada

bibax said:


> I remember that my grandmother pronounced the vowel *É* nearly like a diphtong (something like [ei], e.g. kéz [keiz], szép [seip]). Is it possible or merely my memory failed me?



I think it's possible in some regions or dialects. I have also heard such kind of pronouciation.


----------



## Olivier0

Was she from the North? (Palóc) because I think this is where they use such diphthongs (like ő becoming őü; and also ly different from j as described by Akitlosz, elsewhere ly = j)


----------



## francisgranada

Olivier0 said:


> Was she from the North? (Palóc) because I think this is where they use such diphthongs (like ő becoming őü; and also ly different from j as described by Akitlosz, elsewhere ly = j)



It is not necessarily the same thing, because some diphthongs (ou, au, öü ...) in dialects represent the older Hungarian vowel system, while the éi/ei seems to be an "innovation" (though maybe under the influence of ou, öü ...)

An example:

*lovo/*lova > *lov > *lou *(archaical and dialectal) > *ló *(standard)

That's why we have even today _lovat_, _lovak _and not *_lót_, *_lók_


----------



## bibax

My grandmother was from Austria-Hungary.  

To be more precise, from Técső (you probably never heard about that place; not in Hungary anymore).

She also diphthongized the long vowels ó and ő - jó (jóu, jou), Técső (Téicsőü, Teicsöü), but she pronounced ly normally like j.


----------



## Ateesh6800

bibax said:


> The original question was _"How to pronounce the vowel É correctly"_?



Correct. I have already asked the moderator, Zsanna, to move this segment to the zs/gy/dzs thread.

By the way, Técső is famous for its band, Técsői Banda. 

A.


----------

