Hungarian Pronunciation
A a, Á á, B b, C c, Cs cs, D d, Dz dz, Dzs dzs, E e, É é, F f, G g, Gy gy,
H h, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, Ly ly, M m, N n, Ny ny, O o, Ó ó, Ö ö, P p,
R r, S s, Sz sz, T t, Ty ty, U u, Ú ú, Ü ü, Ű ű, V v,
Z z, Zs zs
Hungarian is unlike the languages of Europe except for Finnish. They are both called Finno-Ugric, and originated from the Ural Mountains. Both sounds and rules of grammar are quite different.
Words are often distinguished only by vowel length. Short vowels have either no accent mark or the two dots over the letter (umlaut). Long vowels have a single or double accent marks
The first syllable in a word is always stressed, whether or not it has the accent.[1]
A good pronunciation guide with audio is here.
| A, a | sounds like - aw as in | awe, law |
| Á, á | - a | hot |
| E, e | - e | pet, bed |
| É, é | - e | say |
| I, i | - i | seat, see |
| Í, í | - i | seat, see or Sp “Si” (yes |
| O, o | - o | oh |
| Ó, ó | - o | hoe (longer oh sound) |
| Ö, ö | - e | er, like father |
| Ő, ő | - eu but longer | er, but held longer |
| U, u | - u | oo sound, Luke |
| Ú, ú | - oo | who, root, held longer
|
| Ü, ü | - eu sound
|
mewed, or déjà vue |
| Ű, ű | - eu | same, but longer |
| C, c | - tz sound; c | France, tzar |
| Cs, cs | - ch | church, child |
| Cz, cz | - ts sound; c | France |
| Dz, dz | - ds | adze, needs |
| Dzs, dzs | - j | juice |
| G, g | - hard g | go, give |
| Gy, gy | - dju | d-yes run together |
| J, j | - y | yes, yesterday |
| Ly, ly | - l is silent; | yee sound |
| Ny, ny | - ny | n-y run together |
| Q, q | - q or k | |
| R, r | - slightly rolled | |
| S, s | - sh sound | short |
| Sz, sz | - s | silo, sale |
| T, t | - t | top |
| Ty, ty | - ty | t-y run together as in bet you
|
| W, w | - veh sound | vegetable |
| Y, y | - ee | see |
| Zs, zs | - zh sound | treasure |
| DIPTHONGS: | ||
| ai, aj, ay, or aly | - oy | soy, toy |
| ái, áj, áy, ály | - i | bike |
| oi, oj, oy, oly | - oy | soy, toy |
| ee, ely | - ay | gay, bay |
Family names English equivalent
| Glattstein sounds like - | Glah-tt-stine | |
| Ehrenfeld | Err-n-felled | |
| Mór | More | |
| Pista | Steven | Peesh-tah |
| Józsi | Joe | Yo-zhee |
| Magdus | Maggie | Mug-doosh |
| Bözsi | Betty | Burr-zhee |
| Klari | Clara | Klah-ree |
| Kati | Kitty | Cut-ee |
| Miklós | Nicholas | Meek-low-sh |
| Miki | Micky | Mee-key |
| Sanyi | Alex | Shun-yee |
[1] Dick Oakes, “Hungarian Pronunciation Guide,” accessed March 16, 2019, http://www.phantomranch.net/folkdanc/alphabet/hungarian.htm
[2] “Hungarian 103,” Hungarian Studies at the University of Kansas, accessed March 16, 2019, https://magyar.ku.edu/unit1/pronunciation.php.
