Hungarian basics
Hungarian looks intimidating because its words are long and its sentences move around. Both come from a small number of systematic principles. Learn them first and every later topic (cases, conjugation, prefixes) becomes an application of rules you already know.
Four principles that explain most of Hungarian
- Spelling is phonetic. Each letter or digraph has one sound, stress always falls on the first syllable, and vowel length changes meaning (kor "age", kór "disease"). Alphabet and pronunciation
- Suffixes match the word. Vowel harmony chooses between -ban and -ben, -hoz, -hez and -höz. Vowel harmony
- Words are built in a fixed order. Stem, then plural or possessive, then case: ház-ai-nk-ban, "in our houses". How words are built
- Word order shows emphasis, not grammar. Case endings mark who does what, so position is free to mark focus: the stressed element goes right before the verb. Word order and focus
All basics guides
- Beginner
The Hungarian alphabet and pronunciation
All 44 Hungarian letters with IPA and English sound-alikes: digraphs like cs, gy and sz, long vowels, double consonants, first-syllable stress and pitfalls.
- Beginner
Hungarian vowel harmony
How Hungarian vowel harmony picks -ban or -ben, -hoz, -hez or -höz: back, front and neutral vowels, mixed words, híd-type exceptions, loanwords, compounds.
- Intermediate
How Hungarian words are built
Hungarian stacks suffixes in a fixed order: stem, derivation, plural, possessive, case. Learn the slots, linking vowels, stem changes and the famous long word.
- Intermediate
Hungarian word order and focus
Hungarian word order is not free: it encodes topic and focus. Learn the focus slot before the verb, prefix separation, questions and negation, with examples.
- Beginner
Hungarian articles: a, az and egy
When to use a, az and egy in Hungarian: a vs az before vowels and digits, generic nouns, possessives like a házam, names, and where Hungarian drops the article.
- Beginner
The Hungarian plural
How to form the Hungarian plural with -k, -ok, -ak, -ek, -ök, why it is két alma not két almák, lowering and stem-changing nouns, possessive -i and adjectives.
- Beginner
Hungarian personal pronouns
Hungarian personal pronouns in every case (engem, nekem, velem, bennem, rólam...), formal Ön and maga, pro-drop, reflexive maga and possessive enyém, tiéd, övé.
- Beginner
Is Hungarian hard to learn?
How hard is Hungarian really? FSI ranks it Category III (about 1,100 class hours). What is easy, what is hard, common myths and a realistic learning roadmap.
- Beginner
Hungarian by the numbers
Key numbers about Hungarian: about 13 million native speakers, 44 letters, 14 vowels, 18 cases (and why counts vary), 2 conjugations, 3 tenses and 3 moods.
Frequently asked questions
What should I learn first in Hungarian?
Pronunciation and vowel harmony, because every suffix you learn afterwards depends on them. Then the accusative, the present tense in both conjugations, and the inner local cases.
Does Hungarian have grammatical gender?
No. There is no masculine or feminine, and even the pronoun ő means both "he" and "she".
Is Hungarian written phonetically?
Almost entirely. Once you know the letters you can read any word aloud correctly. The main exceptions are old family names such as Széchenyi and a few assimilations in speech.