How to read and say Hungarian

Vowels

Vowel length is indicated by the acute accent. Words are often distinguished only by vowel length: e.g., kór "disease" vs. kor "age".

a

like 'o' in "oat" (a very deep "o") → [SYMBOL: å]

á

like 'a' in "father" → [SYMBOL: a]

e

like 'e' in "let" → [SYMBOL: e]

é

like 'a' in "say" → [SYMBOL: ey]

i

like i in "machine", but shorter → [SYMBOL: i]

í

like 'ee' in "seem" → [SYMBOL: ee]

o

like 'o' in "or" → [SYMBOL: o]

ó

like 'o' in "so" → [SYMBOL: oa]

ö

like 'ö' in German "schön" or English "shun" (with rounded lips) → [SYMBOL: ø]

ő

like 'ö' but longer → [SYMBOL: ø̱]

u

like 'u' in "Luke" → [SYMBOL: ou]

ú

like 'oo' in "moon" → [SYMBOL: oo]

ü

like 'ü' in German "über" (like "ee" with rounded lips) → [SYMBOL: ů]

ű

like "ü" but longer → [SYMBOL: ů̱]

Consonants

Only the consonants having sounds different from those in English are noted here. Consonant length is distinctive: tizenegyedik "eleventh" vs. tizennegyedik "fourteenth". Consonants written with two letters are doubled by doubling the first letter: asszony "woman". Exception: tizennyolc is tizen-nyolc. Think of pronouncing 'Ben Nevis' with the two n's pronounced separately, with a split-second pause between them.

c

like 'ts' in hats → [SYMBOL: ts]

cs

like 'ch' in chair → [SYMBOL: ch]

dzs

like 'dg' in badge → [SYMBOL: j]

gy

like 'd' in duty or 'de y' in made your → [SYMBOL: dj]

j

like 'y' in yes → [SYMBOL: y]

ly

same as j; except at the end of a word, where it is a palatised l

ny

as in canyon or 'ñ' in señor → [SYMBOL: ny]

r

always rolled like as in Spanish "María: less guttural than German

s

as in sugar → [SYMBOL: sh]. It is easy to confuse this with sz!

sz

like 's' in see → [SYMBOL: s]

ty

like the 't' in tube or 'ty' in at you [SYMBOL: ty]

zs

like 'g' in genre or 's' in pleasure → [SYMBOL: zh]