Learn the Hungarian Alphabet

A magyar ábécé

Learn to read the Hungarian Alphabet (A magyar ábécé): all 44 letters with names, sounds and audio, plus flashcards, listening, typing and matching practice.

Letter	Name	Latin letters	Sound
A a	A	a	a short, rounded 'aw', like o in British hot (alma)
Á á	Á	á	a long, open 'ah' as in father; a different vowel from a, not just longer (ház)
B b	Bé	b	b as in bed
C c	Cé	c	always ts as in cats, never k or s (cica)
Cs cs	Csé	cs	ch as in church; one letter, written with two marks (csók)
D d	Dé	d	d as in dog
Dz dz	Dzé	dz	dz as in adze, a buzzing ts (bodza)
Dzs dzs	Dzsé	dzs	j as in jam; one letter, written with three marks (dzsungel)
E e	E	e	short e as in bed (egy)
É é	É	é	a long, closed 'ay' with no glide, as in café (kép)
F f	Ef	f	f as in fish
G g	Gé	g	always hard as in go (gomb)
Gy gy	Gyé	gy	a soft d, like 'dy' in British 'duty' or 'did you' said fast; nothing like a g (magyar)
H h	Há	h	h as in hat; silent at the end of a word (méh)
I i	I	i	short ee as in see (itt)
Í í	Í	í	the same ee, held longer (víz)
J j	Jé	j	y as in yes, never English j (jó)
K k	Ká	k	k as in skate, without a puff of air
L l	El	l	l as in lamp
Ly ly	Elipszilon	ly	today exactly the same sound as j, y as in yes (folyó); a spelling leftover
M m	Em	m	m as in man
N n	En	n	n as in no
Ny ny	Eny	ny	one sound: n and y melted together, like ny in canyon (nyár)
O o	O	o	a short, pure 'oh' (ok)
Ó ó	Ó	ó	the same 'oh', held longer (jó)
Ö ö	Ö	ö	say 'eh' with rounded lips, like German ö (öt)
Ő ő	Ő	ő	the same ö sound, held longer (ő means he or she)
P p	Pé	p	p as in spin, without a puff of air
Q q	Kú	q	k as in kite; only in foreign names
R r	Er	r	a rolled r (rózsa)
S s	Es	s	sh as in ship, not s! (Budapest sounds like 'Budapesht')
Sz sz	Esz	sz	s as in sun; one letter, written with two marks (szia)
T t	Té	t	t as in stop, without a puff of air
Ty ty	Tyé	ty	a soft t, like 'ty' in British 'tune' or 'got you' said fast (kutya)
U u	U	u	a short oo as in book (ugye)
Ú ú	Ú	ú	oo as in moon, held long (út)
Ü ü	Ü	ü	say ee while rounding your lips, like German ü (üveg)
Ű ű	Ű	ű	the same ü sound, held longer (tű)
V v	Vé	v	v as in van
W w	Dupla vé	w	the same v sound as V; only in names and loanwords (watt)
X x	Iksz	x	ks as in box; only in loanwords (taxi)
Y y	Ipszilon	y	alone, only in old family names, read like i (Vörösmarty); mostly seen inside gy, ly, ny, ty
Z z	Zé	z	z as in zoo (zene)
Zs zs	Zsé	zs	the s in measure; one letter, written with two marks (zseb)

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