This page sums up how Hungarian sounds and how it is written. For a gentle step-by-step introduction with lots of practice, start with Lesson 1. Come back here whenever you want to check a rule.
The golden rules
- One letter, one sound. Hungarian is written the way it is said. Once you know the 44 letters, you can read any word aloud.
- Stress the first syllable. Every word is stressed on its first syllable, however long it is: MEG-ma-gya-ráz-ták (they explained it). Prefixes count as the first syllable too.
- The accent marks mean length. á, é, í, ó, ú, ő, ű are long vowels, not stressed vowels. A long vowel is held for about twice as long.
- Double consonants are long. tt is a held t, as in English "cat tail". Length changes meaning.
- Pure vowels. Vowels never slide into another sound the way English "go" or "day" does.
The alphabet
The Hungarian alphabet has 44 letters. Nine of them are written with two or three characters but count as a single letter, both in the dictionary and when you split a word into syllables: cs, dz, dzs, gy, ly, ny, sz, ty, zs.
a, á, b, c, cs, d, dz, dzs, e, é, f, g, gy, h, i, í, j, k, l, ly, m, n, ny, o, ó, ö, ő, p, q, r, s, sz, t, ty, u, ú, ü, ű, v, w, x, y, z, zs
The letters q, w, x and y (on its own) appear only in foreign words and in old family names such as Széchenyi.
Vowels
Hungarian has seven vowel sounds, and each has a short and a long version. For most pairs the long vowel is simply the short one held longer. The exceptions are a/á and e/é, which are different sounds.
| Letter | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a | "o" in British hot, with slightly rounded lips | hat (six) |
| á | "a" in father, long and open | ház (house) |
| e | "e" in bet, a little more open | kert (garden) |
| é | "ay" in day, but without the glide at the end | kér (asks for) |
| i, í | "i" in bit / "ee" in see | kis (small), víz (water) |
| o, ó | "o" in more, without the "r"; long and short | bor (wine), jó (good) |
| u, ú | "u" in put / "oo" in food | busz (bus), út (road) |
| ö, ő | "u" in fur said with rounded lips; short and long | öt (five), nő (woman) |
| ü, ű | "ee" said with rounded lips, like German "ü"; short and long | ül (sits), tű (needle) |
Notice that ő and ű have a double accent. They are the long versions of ö and ü. Don't confuse them with the German umlaut or write them as ô or û: on a phone, hold down the o or u key and pick the letter with two strokes.
Consonants
Most consonants are close to English. The ones to watch are below.
| Letter | How to say it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| s | "sh" in shop. This is the big trap | só (salt) |
| sz | "s" in sun | szó (word) |
| zs | "s" in pleasure | zseb (pocket) |
| c | "ts" in cats | cukor (sugar) |
| cs | "ch" in church | csak (only) |
| gy | like the "d" in British during: a soft "dy" | magyar (Hungarian) |
| ty | like the "t" in British tube: a soft "ty" | kutya (dog) |
| ny | "ny" in canyon, like Spanish "ñ" | nyár (summer) |
| ly, j | both are "y" in yes | folyó (river), jó (good) |
| dz, dzs | "ds" in beds / "j" in jam; rare | edz (trains), dzsem (jam) |
| r | rolled with the tip of the tongue | reggel (morning) |
| h | like English "h"; silent at the end of a word | cseh (Czech) |
| g | always hard, as in go | gép (machine) |
s and sz
English speakers almost always read s as "s" at first. In Hungarian it is "sh", and the "s" sound is written sz. So Budapest ends in "sht", and szia (hi) starts with "s". Compare sör (beer, "shur") with szög (nail, angle, "sug").
Long and short sounds
Length is part of the word. Saying a vowel or a consonant too short or too long can give you a different word.
| Short | Long |
|---|---|
| kor (age, era) | kór (disease) |
| tör (breaks) | tőr (dagger) |
| örült (was glad) | őrült (mad) |
| szel (slices) | szél (wind) |
| megy (goes) | meggy (sour cherry) |
| hal (fish) | hall (hears) |
| tol (pushes) | toll (pen, feather) |
When a two-letter consonant is doubled, only the first letter is written twice: sz + sz is ssz, gy + gy is ggy, ny + ny is nny. So you write asszony (woman), meggy (sour cherry) and hosszú (long). The exception is when you join two words: jegygyűrű (wedding ring) keeps both halves whole.
Sound changes in speech
Spelling stays the same, but neighbouring consonants affect each other when you speak. You don't need to learn these to be understood, but they explain what you hear.
- Voicing: a consonant takes on the voicing of the one after it. népdal (folk song) sounds like "nébdal", fogtam (I held) like "foktam".
- t or d + j: become "ty" or "gy". látja (he sees it) sounds like "láttya", adjon (let him give) like "aggyon".
- l + j: becomes a long "y". hallja (he hears it) sounds like "hajja".
- n + b, p: the n becomes "m". színpad (stage) sounds like "szímpad".
Capital letters and punctuation
- Nationalities, languages, days and months are written with a small letter: magyar (Hungarian), hétfő (Monday), május (May).
- The polite "you", Ön and Önök, is usually written with a capital letter.
- Dates go from big to small: year, month, day. 2026. május 1. The full stop after a number shows that it is an ordinal.
- Hungarian uses a comma before every subordinate clause, including hogy (that): Tudom, hogy itt vagy. (I know that you are here.)
- Quotation marks look like this: „Igen”, with the first mark at the bottom.
Reading practice
Read these aloud, remembering to stress the first syllable and to hold the long vowels.
Magyarország (Hungary) – pronounced “MO-dyor-or-saag”
köszönöm (thank you) – pronounced “KÖ-sö-nöm”
viszontlátásra (goodbye) – pronounced “VI-sont-laa-taash-ro”
egészségedre (cheers, bless you) – pronounced “E-gayss-shay-ged-re”
Hogy vagy? (How are you?) – pronounced “HODY vody”
Szép napot! (Have a nice day!) – pronounced “SAYP NO-pot”