Numbers are one of the most useful things you can learn in a new language. You need them for prices, phone numbers, times, addresses and much more. The good news is that Hungarian numbers are very logical. Once you know the numbers from one to ten and a few tens, you can build every number up to a million.
Zero to ten
Learn these first. Say each one out loud a few times, and remember to stress the first syllable:
nulla (0) – pronounced “NUL-law”
egy (1) – pronounced “edy”
kettĹ‘ (2) – pronounced “KET-töö”
három (3) – pronounced “HAA-rom”
nĂ©gy (4) – pronounced “naydy”
öt (5) – pronounced “öt”
hat (6) – pronounced “hawt”
hĂ©t (7) – pronounced “hayt”
nyolc (8) – pronounced “nyolts”
kilenc (9) – pronounced “KI-lents”
tĂz (10) – pronounced “teez”
Be careful with hat (six) and hét (seven). They look alike, but the vowels are different: hat has the dark, short "aw" sound, and hét has a long "ay". Notice also nyolc (eight), which ends in a "ts" sound.
Two words for "two": kettő and két
Hungarian has two words for "two". This is one of the few things about numbers you really have to think about.
- kettő is used on its own, when you are just counting or answering a question.
- két is used in front of a noun.
Egy, kettĹ‘, három. (One, two, three.) – pronounced “edy, KET-töö, HAA-rom”
kĂ©t kávĂ© (two coffees) – pronounced “kayt KAA-vay”
kĂ©t ház (two houses) – pronounced “kayt haaz”
Hány? KettĹ‘. (How many? Two.) – pronounced “haany? KET-töö”
Look at kĂ©t kávĂ© again. In English you say "two coffees", with a plural. In Hungarian, the noun after a number always stays singular. You say három ház (literally "three house") and tĂz forint ("ten forint"). This makes life easier: you never have to change the noun after a number.
Singular after numbers
Any time a number or a word like "how many" comes before a noun, the noun stays singular: öt kép (five pictures), hat busz (six buses), Hány ház? (How many houses?). You will learn the plural in Lesson 6, but you will never use it after a number.
Eleven to nineteen: tizen-
For the numbers from 11 to 19, you start with tizen- ("ten-and") and add the number, all in one word:
tizenegy (11) – pronounced “TI-zen-edy”
tizenkettĹ‘ (12) – pronounced “TI-zen-ket-töö”
tizenhárom (13) – pronounced “TI-zen-haa-rom”
tizennĂ©gy (14) – pronounced “TI-zen-naydy”
tizenöt (15) – pronounced “TI-zen-öt”
tizenhat (16) – pronounced “TI-zen-hawt”
tizenhĂ©t (17) – pronounced “TI-zen-hayt”
tizennyolc (18) – pronounced “TI-zen-nyolts”
tizenkilenc (19) – pronounced “TI-zen-ki-lents”
Notice that ten on its own is tĂz, with a long Ă, but in tizen- the vowel is short. And kĂ©t works here too: on its own you say tizenkettĹ‘, but before a noun you say tizenkĂ©t kávĂ©.
The tens
Here are the round tens. Most of them end in -van or -ven, added to the number: hat + van = hatvan (sixty). Twenty and thirty are different, so learn them carefully:
tĂz (10) – pronounced “teez”
hĂşsz (20) – pronounced “hoos”
harminc (30) – pronounced “HAWR-mints”
negyven (40) – pronounced “NEDY-ven”
ötven (50) – pronounced “Ă–T-ven”
hatvan (60) – pronounced “HAWT-vawn”
hetven (70) – pronounced “HET-ven”
nyolcvan (80) – pronounced “NYOLTS-vawn”
kilencven (90) – pronounced “KI-lents-ven”
száz (100) – pronounced “saaz”
Why -van in some numbers and -ven in others? It depends on the vowels in the number: hat has a back vowel, so it takes -van; hét has a front vowel, so it takes -ven. This is vowel harmony, and you will meet it again and again. Lesson 6 explains it properly. Notice also that hét becomes het- and négy becomes negy- in the tens, with short vowels.
Twenty-one, twenty-two...
To make a number like 25 or 47, put the tens and the ones together in one word, with no "and" between them. Twenty and ten have special forms when something follows them:
- tĂz (10) becomes tizen-, as you have seen.
- hĂşsz (20) becomes huszon-.
huszonegy (21) – pronounced “HU-son-edy”
huszonkettĹ‘ (22) – pronounced “HU-son-ket-töö”
huszonöt (25) – pronounced “HU-son-öt”
harmincegy (31) – pronounced “HAWR-mints-edy”
negyvenhĂ©t (47) – pronounced “NEDY-ven-hayt”
ötvenhárom (53) – pronounced “Ă–T-ven-haa-rom”
kilencvenkilenc (99) – pronounced “KI-lents-ven-ki-lents”
From thirty upwards there are no special forms. You just put the two numbers side by side: harminc + egy = harmincegy.
Hundreds and thousands
A hundred is száz and a thousand is ezer. To say 200 or 3000, put the number in front: kétszáz, háromezer. You don't say "one hundred" or "one thousand", just száz and ezer. And notice that two hundred and two thousand always use két, never kettő.
száz (100) – pronounced “saaz”
százegy (101) – pronounced “SAAZ-edy”
kĂ©tszáz (200) – pronounced “KAYT-saaz”
háromszáz (300) – pronounced “HAA-rom-saaz”
ötszázötven (550) – pronounced “Ă–T-saaz-öt-ven”
ezer (1000) – pronounced “EH-zer”
ezerkĂ©tszáz (1200) – pronounced “EH-zer-kayt-saaz”
kĂ©tezer (2000) – pronounced “KAYT-eh-zer”
tĂzezer (10,000) – pronounced “TEEZ-eh-zer”
egymilliĂł (1,000,000) – pronounced “EDY-mil-li-oh”
Writing big numbers
Hungarian writes numbers up to 2000 as one long word: ezerkilencszázkilencvenkilenc is 1999. Above 2000, you put a hyphen after the thousands, to make long numbers easier to read:
ezerkilencszázkilencvenkilenc (1999)
kétezer-huszonhat (2026)
háromezer-ötszáz (3500)
In real life you will almost always see numbers written as figures, of course. But it is good to know what they look like as words. Notice one more thing: Hungarian uses a comma where English uses a decimal point, and a space (or a full stop) between thousands. So 2,5 means two and a half, and 10 000 is ten thousand.
Prices
The Hungarian currency is the forint, written Ft or HUF. Prices in forints are often in the hundreds or thousands, so you will use the big numbers a lot. Remember that the noun stays singular after a number:
ötszáz forint (500 forints) – pronounced “Ă–T-saaz FO-rint”
ezer forint (1000 forints) – pronounced “EH-zer FO-rint”
ezerötszáz forint (1500 forints) – pronounced “EH-zer-öt-saaz FO-rint”
kĂ©t eurĂł (two euros) – pronounced “kayt EH-u-roh”
To ask the price, say Mennyibe kerĂĽl? (How much does it cost?). You can point to the thing you want and add ez (this):
Mennyibe kerĂĽl? (How much does it cost?) – pronounced “MEN-nyi-beh KEH-rĂĽl”
Mennyibe kerĂĽl ez? (How much does this cost?) – pronounced “MEN-nyi-beh KEH-rĂĽl ez”
KĂ©tezer forint. (2000 forints.) – pronounced “KAYT-eh-zer FO-rint”
Ez háromszáz forint. (This is 300 forints.) – pronounced “ez HAA-rom-saaz FO-rint”
Notice that Hungarian doesn't need a word for "is" in Ez háromszáz forint. It is literally "This three hundred forint". You will learn more about this in Lesson 5.
How many?
There are two ways to ask "how many" or "how much":
Hány? (How many?) – pronounced “haany”
Mennyi? (How much?) – pronounced “MEN-nyi”
Hány kávĂ©? (How many coffees?) – pronounced “haany KAA-vay”
Mennyi az idĹ‘? (What time is it? (literally "How much is the time?")) – pronounced “MEN-nyi awz I-döö”
Hány is for things you can count, and the noun after it stays singular, just as it does after a number.
Phone numbers
Hungarians usually read phone numbers in small groups, not digit by digit. Mobile numbers inside Hungary start with 06 and then a two-digit code such as 20, 30 or 70. A number like 06 30 123 4567 might be read like this:
nulla hat, harminc, százhuszonhárom, negyvenöt, hatvanhĂ©t (06 30 123 45 67) – pronounced “NUL-law hawt, HAWR-mints, SAAZ-hu-son-haa-rom, NEDY-ven-öt, HAWT-vawn-hayt”
Don't worry if people group the numbers differently. Just listen carefully, and ask them to repeat if you need to (Lesson 3 shows you how). To ask for someone's number, you can say:
Mi a telefonszámod? (What's your phone number? (to a friend)) – pronounced “mi aw TEH-leh-fon-saa-mod”
Mi a telefonszáma? (What's your phone number? (polite)) – pronounced “mi aw TEH-leh-fon-saa-maw”
Just learn these as set phrases for now. You will see why there are two versions in Lesson 3.
What time is it?
To ask the time, say Hány óra van?, literally "How many hours are there?" The answer uses óra (hour, also "clock" and "lesson") and van (is):
Hány Ăłra van? (What time is it?) – pronounced “haany OH-raw vawn”
Egy Ăłra van. (It's one o'clock.) – pronounced “edy OH-raw vawn”
KĂ©t Ăłra van. (It's two o'clock.) – pronounced “kayt OH-raw vawn”
HĂ©t Ăłra van. (It's seven o'clock.) – pronounced “hayt OH-raw vawn”
TizenkĂ©t Ăłra van. (It's twelve o'clock.) – pronounced “TI-zen-kayt OH-raw vawn”
Notice kĂ©t Ăłra and tizenkĂ©t Ăłra: Ăłra is a noun, so you use kĂ©t, not kettĹ‘. To add minutes, use perc (minute): HĂ©t Ăłra tĂz perc van. (It's ten past seven.) In timetables and on the radio, Hungarians use the 24-hour clock, so you will also hear tizenhĂ©t Ăłra (17:00).
Half and quarter
In everyday speech, Hungarians count towards the next hour. Fél means "half", and fél három means "half (on the way to) three", which is 2:30. This catches out English speakers all the time!
fĂ©l három (2:30 (half past two)) – pronounced “fayl HAA-rom”
negyed három (2:15 (quarter past two)) – pronounced “NEH-dyed HAA-rom”
háromnegyed három (2:45 (quarter to three)) – pronounced “HAA-rom-neh-dyed HAA-rom”
FĂ©l nyolc van. (It's half past seven.) – pronounced “fayl nyolts vawn”
Think forward
If you remember just one thing about Hungarian time, remember this: fél négy is 3:30, not 4:30. If a friend says to meet at fél hét, be there at 6:30!
Conclusion
Now you can count, ask the price, read a phone number and tell the time. Look over the Vocabulary, then try the Exercises. Keep practising: read every number you see out loud in Hungarian, on buses, price tags and clocks. In Lesson 3 you will learn how to greet people and introduce yourself. You can find more numbers on the numbers vocabulary page.