Pronunciation
Further information: Hungarian phonologyHungarian orthography's principles include being phonemic along with being traditional, etymological and simplifying. Therefore most words can be read out correctly, if one knows the pronunciation of the letters.
The pronunciation of Hungarian letters which follows is that of standard Hungarian.
| Letter | Name | Phoneme (IPA) | Complementary allophones (IPA) | Close to | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | /ɒ/ | bod, call | might describe it better (raised, more rounded; sign rendered probably incorrectly, containing two diacritical marks below). Still definitely not | |
| Á | á | /aː/ | an extended cat, bad | ||
| B | bé | /b/ | as by, absence etc. | ||
| C | cé | /ts/ | like tsunami | ||
| Cs | csé | /tʃ/ | as check,cheek, etching etc. | ||
| D | dé | /d/ | deck, wide etc. | ||
| Dz | dzé | /dz/ | like in kids | rare. does not occur at the beginning of words. When neither post- nor preconsonantic, always realised as a geminate. | |
| Dzs | dzsé | /dʒ/ | jam, George, bridge, edge, fridge | rare, mostly in loanwords. when final or intervocalic, usually realised as a geminate: maharadzsa /mɑhɑrɑdʒɑ/ 'maharajah', bridzs /bridʒ/ 'bridge (card game)', but dzsungel /dʒuŋɡɛl/ 'jungle', fridzsider /fridʒidɛr/ coll. 'refrigerator' | |
| E | e | /ɛ/ | like less, cheque, edge, bed | about 40-50% of speakers also have a phoneme /e/ (see below at Ë). /e/ is not considered part of standard Hungarian, wherein /ɛ/ or /æ/ takes the place of /e/. | |
| (Ë) | ë | /e/ | like in "same", without the /ɪ/ part of the diphthong /eɪ/ | Although not part of the alphabet, this symbol is sometimes used to denote the phoneme /e/, e.g. when noting down texts spoken or sung in a dialect where this sound is present. | |
| É | é | /eː/ | café, hey | ||
| F | ef | /f/ | find, euphoria | ||
| G | gé | /ɡ/ | get, leg, go etc. | ||
| Gy | gyé | /ɟ/ | (not used in English) similar to: duke, dew, due (British, not American, pronunciation) | denoting /ɟ/ by |
|
| H | há | /h/ | 1.
2. ∅ |
Basic: hi 1. behind 2. 3. Loch, Chanukah 4. human |
1. when in intervocalic position. 2. not rendered usually when in final position méh /meː/ 'bee', cseh /tʃɛ/ 'Czech (noun/adj.)' 3. seldom, in final position, such as in doh 'dampness', MÉH 'metal recycling facility' 4. seldom, such as in ihlet 'inspiration' |
| I | i | /i/ | thick, thin | Pronounced the same as Í, only shorter | |
| Í | í | /iː/ | lead, leave, seed, sea | Vowel length is phonemically distinctive in Hungarian: irt 'he eradicates' ∼ írt 'he wrote' | |
| J | jé | /j/ | , | you, yes, faith | allophones occur when /j/ occurs after a consonant; (voiceless after voiceless, voiced after voiced consonants). e.g. férj 'husband', kapj 'get! (imperative)' |
| K | ká | /k/ | key, kiss, weak | ||
| L | el | /l/ | leave, list | ||
| Ly | elly, el-ipszilon | /j/ | hey, ray | Orthographic tradition. Once /ʎ/, now /j/ in standard Hungarian. | |
| M | em | /m/ | mind, assume, might, | ||
| N | en | /n/ |
|
thing, lying (before k,g), need, bone (anywhere else) |
allophone before /k/, /ɡ/ |
| Ny | eny | /ɲ/ | new (in BE, not AE) niño/niña (Spanish) | ||
| O | o | /o/ | force, sorcerer | A shorter, more open variant of Ó | |
| Ó | ó | /oː/ | go, sew, snow | minimal pair to /o/: kor 'age' ∼ kór 'disease' | |
| Ö | ö | /ø/ | (Not used in English; corresponds to German Ö) similar to: Bird, Third, Heard | A shorter, more open variant of Ő | |
| Ő | ő | /øː/ | (Not used in English; a longer, more closed variant of Ö, similar to Boeing.) | Minimal pair to /ø/: öt 'five' ∼ őt 'him/her (Hungarian pronouns do not specify gender)' | |
| P | pé | /p/ | peas, apricot, hope | ||
| (Q) | kú | Q occurs only as part of the digraph qu in foreign words, realised as /kv/: Aquincum (name of an old Roman settlement on the area of present-day Óbuda). Words originally spelled with qu are today usually spelled with kv, as in akvarell 'watercolor painting'. | |||
| R | er | /r/ | (not used in BE, pronounced like Spanish R or like the t and tt in AE water and butter) | also called apical trill as pronounced by trilling the tip of your tongue (the apex) and not the uvula. | |
| S | es | /ʃ/ | share, wish, shout | This notation is unusual for European writing systems where |
|
| Sz | esz | /s/ | say, estimate | ||
| T | té | /t/ | tell, least, feast | ||
| Ty | tyé | /c/ | (not used in English) similar to: stew, Stuart (BE RP) | ||
| U | u | /u/ | rude | ||
| Ú | ú | /uː/ | do, fool | minimal pair to /u/: hurok 'loop' ∼ húrok 'cords' | |
| Ü | ü | /y/ | (not used in English, corresponds to German Ü) | A shorter, more open variant of ű | |
| Ű | ű | /yː/ | (not used in English) | ||
| V | vé | /v/ | very, every | ||
| (W) | dupla vé | /v/ | view, evolve, vacuum | only occurs only in foreign words and in Hungarian aristocratic surnames | |
| (X) | iksz | occurs only in loanwords, and there only when denoting /ks/; is transcribed: extra, Alexandra, but egzakt 'exact'. | |||
| (Y) | ipszilon | /i/ | in loanwords, usually rendered as /i/ or /j/. Occurs very often in old Hungarian aristocratic surnames where it stands for /i/ or /ʲi/: 'Báthory', 'Batthyány' or ( |
||
| Z | zé | /z/ | desert, roses | ||
| Zs | zsé | /ʒ/ | pleasure, leisure, genre |
Read more about this topic: Hungarian Alphabet