The Hungarian alphabet is easier than it looks! It uses the same Latin letters as English, plus some vowels with accents and some pairs of letters that stand for one sound. Best of all, Hungarian is written exactly the way it sounds. Once you finish this lesson you will be able to read any Hungarian word out loud, even if you have no idea what it means yet.
It may help to print the Alphabet Table and keep it next to you while you work through the first few lessons.
The Hungarian alphabet
Here is the full alphabet in dictionary order:
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
That is 44 letters. It sounds like a lot, but many of them are pairs of letters you already know, such as sz and gy. Hungarian counts these pairs as single letters, because each one makes a single sound. The letters in brackets are only used in foreign words and old family names, so don't worry about them.
When you look a word up in a dictionary, remember that the pairs are sorted as separate letters. All the words starting with sz come after all the words starting with s.
Letters that are (almost) the same as in English
These letters sound much like their English versions. You already know them:
B D F G H K L M N P T V Z
There are only two small things to remember. G is always hard, as in go, never soft as in gem. And p, t and k are said without the little puff of air that English puts after them. Say the English words spot, stay and skate: those are the Hungarian sounds.
ház (house) – pronounced “haaz”
bor (wine) – pronounced “bor”
tíz (ten) – pronounced “teez”
meleg (warm) – pronounced “MEH-leg”
Letters that look the same but sound different
These are the most important letters to learn, so you don't mix them up.
S and Sz
This is the biggest trap in Hungarian, so learn it first. The letter s on its own is not an English "s". It is the "sh" in ship. To make the English "s" sound, Hungarian writes sz.
| Written | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| s | "sh" in ship | sör (beer) |
| sz | "s" in sun | szép (beautiful) |
So the capital city is not "Buda-pest" with an English "s". It is said "BU-daw-pesht". And these two words mean completely different things:
szó (word) – pronounced “soh”
só (salt) – pronounced “shoh”
Budapest (Budapest) – pronounced “BU-daw-pesht”
szia (hi) – pronounced “SI-yaw”
A trick to remember it
English speakers often get s and sz the wrong way round for weeks. Think of it like this: sz has a z in it, and it makes the sound closest to English "s" and "z", the hissing one. The single s is the "shh!" you make to ask for quiet.
C and J
C is always "ts", as in cats, never "k" or "s". J is always the "y" in yes.
cukor (sugar) – pronounced “TSU-kor”
utca (street) – pronounced “UT-tsaw”
jó (good) – pronounced “yoh”
igen (yes) – pronounced “I-gen”
The vowel A
The letter a is not the "a" of cat or father. It is a short, dark sound with rounded lips, close to the "o" in British hot, or the "aw" in American law said quickly. In the pronunciation guides it is written "aw".
alma (apple) – pronounced “AWL-maw”
magyar (Hungarian) – pronounced “MAW-dyawr”
nap (sun, day) – pronounced “nawp”
The other plain vowels: E, I, O, U
Hungarian vowels are "pure". Your mouth stays in one position while you say them, so they never slide into another sound the way English vowels do. Say "go" in English and listen: it slides from "o" to "oo". In Hungarian it would just be a clean "o".
| Letter | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| e | "e" in bed, a little more open | egy (one) |
| i | "ee" in see, but short | itt (here) |
| o | "o" in more, but short | bor (wine) |
| u | "u" in put | busz (bus) |
R
The Hungarian r is rolled with the tip of the tongue, as in Spanish or Italian. It is always pronounced, even at the end of a word.
piros (red) – pronounced “PI-rosh”
rossz (bad) – pronounced “ross”
New letters: the accented vowels
Hungarian has seven vowel sounds you can write with or without an accent. The accent (a short line, or two short lines on ő and ű) usually means the vowel is long: you hold it for about twice as long. For five of the pairs, the sound itself also stays the same:
| Short | Long | Sound |
|---|---|---|
| i | í | "ee" in see |
| o | ó | "o" in more |
| u | ú | "u" in put, held long it is "oo" in food |
| ö | ő | "u" in fur, with rounded lips |
| ü | ű | "ee" with rounded lips |
víz (water) – pronounced “veez”
jó (good) – pronounced “yoh”
új (new) – pronounced “ooy”
fű (grass) – pronounced “füü”
But for a/á and e/é, the accent changes the sound as well as the length:
- á is a long, bright "aa", like the "a" in father. It is a different sound from the dark, short a.
- é is a long "ay", like the "ay" in day, but without sliding into "ee" at the end. It is closer than the open e of bed.
kávé (coffee) – pronounced “KAA-vay”
kép (picture) – pronounced “kayp”
hat (six) – pronounced “hawt”
hát (back (of the body)) – pronounced “haat”
Accents really do change the meaning. Here are some pairs of words that differ only in an accent:
agy (brain) – pronounced “awdy”
ágy (bed) – pronounced “aady”
kor (age) – pronounced “kor”
kór (disease) – pronounced “kohr”
tör (breaks) – pronounced “tör”
tőr (dagger) – pronounced “töör”
szel (slices) – pronounced “sel”
szél (wind) – pronounced “sayl”
Ö and Ü
These two vowels don't exist in English, so take your time with them. For ü, say "ee" as in see. Now, without moving your tongue, round your lips as if you were about to say "oo". For ö, do the same with "e" as in bed. It sounds a lot like the vowel in British English fur or bird (with no "r"). If you know German, these are the German "ö" and "ü".
öt (five) – pronounced “öt”
ő (he, she) – pronounced “öö”
üveg (glass, bottle) – pronounced “Ü-veg”
tűz (fire) – pronounced “tüüz”
Don't worry too much yet
Nobody gets every vowel right on day one. For now, focus on two things: say a and á as two different sounds, and hold the long vowels. The rest will come as you listen.
New letters: the letter pairs
These pairs of letters each stand for one sound. You have already met sz. Here are the others:
| Letter | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| cs | "ch" in church | csak (only) |
| zs | "s" in pleasure | zsemle (bread roll) |
| gy | "d" in British duke | egy (one) |
| ny | "ny" in canyon | nyár (summer) |
| ty | "t" in British tune | kutya (dog) |
| ly | "y" in yes, exactly like j | hely (place) |
| dzs | "j" in jam | dzsem (jam) |
| dz | "ds" in beds | bodza (elderflower) |
The three with y (gy, ny, ty) are "soft" versions of d, n and t. You make them with the middle of your tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth. The y here is not a separate sound. It just tells you to soften the letter before it. The word magyar (Hungarian) has two syllables, not three: "MAW-dyawr".
magyar (Hungarian) – pronounced “MAW-dyawr”
négy (four) – pronounced “naydy”
nyolc (eight) – pronounced “nyolts”
tyúk (hen) – pronounced “tyook”
csoki (chocolate (informal)) – pronounced “CHO-ki”
Why does Hungarian have both j and ly for the same sound? Long ago they were different sounds. Today they sound exactly the same, but the old spelling stayed, so you simply have to learn which words use ly. Hungarian children have to learn this too!
Double consonants
Just like vowels, consonants can be short or long. A doubled consonant is held longer: you hold the l in hall, or pause slightly on the t in itt, as you do in English bookcase or hot tea. This changes the meaning:
hal (fish) – pronounced “hawl”
hall (hears) – pronounced “hawll”
tol (pushes) – pronounced “tol”
toll (pen, feather) – pronounced “toll”
megy (goes) – pronounced “medy”
meggy (sour cherry) – pronounced “meddy”
When a letter pair is doubled, you only double the first letter. So a long sz is written ssz, and a long ny is written nny:
hosszú (long) – pronounced “HOS-soo”
asszony (woman, lady) – pronounced “AWS-sony”
könnyű (easy, light) – pronounced “KÖNY-nyüü”
Vowels side by side
English often blends two vowels into one sound, as in boat or rain. Hungarian doesn't. When two vowels stand next to each other, you say each one clearly, in its own syllable:
fiú (boy) – pronounced “FI-oo”
dió (walnut) – pronounced “DI-oh”
kakaó (cocoa) – pronounced “KAW-kaw-oh”
A note about stress
In English, stress can fall almost anywhere: PHO-to-graph but pho-TO-gra-phy. Hungarian is much kinder. The stress always falls on the first syllable. There are no exceptions, not even in long words or borrowed words:
telefon (telephone) – pronounced “TEH-leh-fon”
Amerika (America) – pronounced “AW-meh-ri-kaw”
viszontlátásra (goodbye) – pronounced “VI-sont-laa-taash-raw”
Be careful not to mix up stress and length. The accents on á, é and the other vowels are about length, not stress. In kávé, both vowels are long, but only the first syllable is stressed. In viszontlátásra, the long á sounds come late in the word, but the stress is still on "VI".
Some listening practice
Try reading these out loud. Don't worry about learning the words. Just practise the sounds, and remember: stress the first syllable, hold the long vowels and the double consonants, and say s as "sh".
Jó napot! (Good day!) – pronounced “yoh NAW-pot”
A nevem Anna. (My name is Anna.) – pronounced “aw NEH-vem AWN-naw”
Budapesten lakom. (I live in Budapest.) – pronounced “BU-daw-pesh-ten LAW-kom”
Egy, kettő, három. (One, two, three.) – pronounced “edy, KET-töö, HAA-rom”
Köszönöm szépen. (Thank you very much.) – pronounced “KÖ-sö-nöm SAY-pen”
Jó éjszakát! (Good night!) – pronounced “yoh AY-saw-kaat”
Conclusion
That's the alphabet! You now know every sound in Hungarian. Look over the Alphabet Table, then try the Exercises. You may be surprised how many Hungarian words you can already read. In Lesson 2 you will learn to count.