The alphabet and its sounds
Hungarian spelling is consistent: each letter, including the two- and three-character ones, stands for exactly one sound. Learn these and you can pronounce almost any Hungarian word on sight.
Seven rules that carry most of the load
1. Stress is always on the first syllable
Every Hungarian word, however long, is stressed on its first syllable. There are no exceptions to learn. Longer words pick up a light secondary beat further along, but the main emphasis never moves.
2. Spelling matches sound
Hungarian is almost perfectly phonetic: once you know the letters, you can read any word aloud. Letters are not dropped or reshaped the way English does with 'knight' or 'though'. The only common silent letter is a word-final 'h' in a handful of words (cseh, méh, juh).
3. Long vowels change the word
The marks á é í ó ő ú ű mean 'hold this vowel about twice as long'. Length carries meaning: kor (era) vs kór (disease), örül (is glad) vs őrül (goes mad), tör (breaks) vs tőr (dagger).
4. Double consonants are held longer
A doubled consonant is pronounced long, as one drawn-out sound: hal (fish) vs hall (hears), tol (pushes) vs toll (pen, feather). English does this across word boundaries ('bookkeeper'); Hungarian does it inside words.
5. Short vowels are pure
Short a, e, o, ö, u, ü have no glide. 'o' does not drift toward 'oh-oo', and 'e' does not drift toward 'ay'. Keep them clipped and steady.
6. The combination letters are single letters
cs, sz, gy, ny, ty, zs, dz, dzs each spell one sound and count as one letter. The big trap for English readers: plain s is 'sh', and the 's' sound is written sz. So 'Budapest' locally sounds like 'BOO-daw-pesht'.
7. Vowel harmony (a preview)
Hungarian vowels split into two families — back: a á o ó u ú, and front: e é i í ö ő ü ű. Endings come in matching versions and copy the family of the word. That is why you hear -ban next to -ben, and -hoz / -hez / -höz for the same 'to' ending.
Every letter
In Hungarian dictionary order. Press play to hear the letter itself, or the example word.
Vowels14
Fourteen of them. The accent marks mean 'hold it longer', and length changes meaning.
- a“a”/ɒ/
A short, rounded 'o' — the vowel in British 'hot' or 'lot', not the 'a' in 'cat'.
almaAWL-maw— apple - á“á”/aː/
A long, bright, open 'ah', as in 'father' — held about twice as long as 'a'.
házhaaz— house - e“e”/ɛ/
A short, open 'e' as in 'bed'.
nemnem— no - é“é”/eː/
A long, pure 'ay' as in 'play', but without the 'y' glide at the end.
kékkayk— blue - i“i”/i/
A short 'ee', clipped — like 'sit', not 'seat'.
kicsiKI-chi— small - í“í”/iː/
A long 'ee' as in 'see'.
vízveez— water - o“o”/o/
A short, pure 'o' as in 'or' — no 'w' glide at the end.
borbor— wine - ó“ó”/oː/
A long 'oh' as in 'go', held, and again with no glide.
óraOH-raw— hour, clock - ö“ö”/ø/
Short. The vowel in 'her' or 'bird' (British, no 'r'), said with the lips rounded — German 'ö', French 'peu'.
öturt— five - ő“ő”/øː/
The long version of 'ö' — same mouth shape, held about twice as long.
nőnur— woman - u“u”/u/
A short 'oo' as in 'book'.
utcaOOT-tsaw— street - ú“ú”/uː/
A long 'oo' as in 'boot'.
útoot— road, way - ü“ü”/y/
Short. Say 'ee' while rounding your lips as if for 'oo' — French 'tu', German 'über'.
fülfewl— ear - ű“ű”/yː/
The long version of 'ü' — same shape, held longer.
tűtew— needle
Single consonants17
Mostly close to English. Watch s (which is 'sh') and r (tapped).
- b“bé”/b/
'b' as in 'bed'.
balbawl— left - c“cé”/t͡s/
'ts' as in 'cats' — a single sound, even at the start of a word.
cukorTSOO-kor— sugar - d“dé”/d/
'd' as in 'dog'.
daldawl— song - f“ef”/f/
'f' as in 'fun'.
falfawl— wall - g“gé”/ɡ/
Hard 'g' as in 'go' — never soft as in 'gem'.
gólgohl— goal - h“há”/h/
'h' as in 'hat'. Silent at the end of a few words (cseh, méh).
halhawl— fish - j“jé”/j/
'y' as in 'yes'.
jóyoh— good - k“ká”/k/
'k' as in 'skate' — without the puff of air an English 'k' usually has.
karkawr— arm - l“el”/l/
A light 'l' as in 'let' — closer to a French or Spanish 'l' than an English one.
láblaab— leg, foot - m“em”/m/
'm' as in 'man'.
mamaw— today - n“en”/n/
'n' as in 'net'.
napnawp— day, sun - p“pé”/p/
'p' as in 'spin' — without the puff of air.
párpaar— pair, couple - r“er”/r/
A tapped or lightly rolled 'r', made with the tip of the tongue — as in Spanish or Italian.
rosszross— bad - s“es”/ʃ/
'sh' as in 'shoe'. This is the one that catches everyone out — plain 's' is 'sh'.
sóshoh— salt - t“té”/t/
't' as in 'stop' — without the puff of air, tongue on the teeth.
teaTE-aw— tea - v“vé”/v/
'v' as in 'very'.
városVAA-rosh— city, town - z“zé”/z/
'z' as in 'zoo'.
zöldzurld— green
Combination letters9
Two or three characters, but one sound and one letter. This is where English readers slip.
- cs“csé”/t͡ʃ/
'ch' as in 'church'. One letter, one sound.
családCHAW-laad— family - dz“dzé”/d͡z/
The 'ds' in 'kids', as a single sound. Rare.
edzedz— trains (works out) - dzs“dzsé”/d͡ʒ/
'j' as in 'jam'. Almost only in loanwords.
dzsungelJOON-gel— jungle - gy“gyé”/ɟ/
A soft 'd', close to the 'd' in British 'due' or 'dew'. One sound.
magyarMAW-dyawr— Hungarian - ly“elipszilon”/j/
In today's Hungarian, identical to 'j' — 'y' as in 'yes'. The spelling is historical.
helyhey— place - ny“eny”/ɲ/
'ny' as in 'canyon' — a single sound, not 'n' then 'y'.
nyárnyaar— summer - sz“esz”/s/
Plain 's' as in 'see'. If you want an English 's' sound, you write 'sz'.
szépsayp— beautiful - ty“tyé”/c/
A soft 't', close to the 't' in British 'tune' or the name 'Katya'. One sound.
kutyaKOO-tyaw— dog - zs“zsé”/ʒ/
The 's' in 'measure' or 'j' in French 'jour'.
zsebzheb— pocket
Foreign letters4
q, w, x, y appear only in names and loanwords.
- q“kú”/k/
Only in names and Latin words; pronounced like 'k'.
- w“dupla vé”/v/
Only in names and loanwords; pronounced like 'v'.
- x“iksz”/ks/
Only in loanwords and names; pronounced 'ks'.
- y“ipszilon”/i/
On its own only in old family names, where it is silent after 'g', 'l', 'n', 't' (Nagy, Kodály) or sounds like 'i'.
The pronunciation respelling key
Every word on the site carries a respelling like KUR-sur-nurm. Here is what each part means.
- CAPITALS
- the stressed syllable — always the first one in Hungarian
- aw
- short a, the rounded vowel in British 'hot'
- aa
- long á, the 'a' in 'father'
- e
- short e, as in 'bed'
- ay
- long é, the 'a' in 'face' with no y-glide
- i
- short i, as in 'sit'
- ee
- long í, as in 'see'
- o
- short o, pure, as in 'or'
- oh
- long ó, as in 'go' with no w-glide
- ur
- ö and ő — 'her' without the r, lips rounded (ő is longer)
- oo
- u and ú — 'book' (short) or 'boot' (long)
- ew
- ü and ű — say 'ee' with rounded lips, French 'tu'
- y
- the consonant y in 'yes' (Hungarian j and ly)
- s
- plain s as in 'see' (Hungarian sz)
- sh
- sh as in 'shoe' (Hungarian s)
- ts
- ts as in 'cats' (Hungarian c)
- ch
- ch as in 'chair' (Hungarian cs)
- zh
- the s in 'measure' (Hungarian zs)
- dy
- soft d, the 'd' in 'dew' (Hungarian gy)
- ty
- soft t, the 't' in 'tune' (Hungarian ty)
- ny
- ny as in 'canyon' (Hungarian ny)