Hungarian pronunciation may seem difficult at first, especially if you’re seeing letters like gy, ny, sz, or ő for the first time. The good news is that Hungarian is a highly phonetic language: once you learn the sounds of its letters, you’ll be able to pronounce almost any word you read.
In this guide, you’ll learn the basic pronunciation rules of Hungarian in a simple and practical way. For each Hungarian letter, you’ll see an English word with a similar sound whenever possible. Some Hungarian sounds do not exist in English, so in those cases I’ll use examples from other widely spoken languages. This way, you can build on sounds you may already know.
We’ll cover vowels, consonants, and word stress, helping you develop a solid foundation for speaking Hungarian with confidence. Whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to improve your accent, this guide will make Hungarian pronunciation much easier to learn.
Be sure to watch the video as well to hear how each sound is pronounced.
a – sofa, awe, what?
á – father
c- its, pots
cs- chat, children
dz – kids
dzs – jam, bridge
e – less, pet
é – café, hey, hair
g – get, go
gy – 🇬🇧 during
i – thin
í – It’s the same sound as ‘i’, but longer: bee, leave
j & ly – yes, you
ny – senior
o – November
ó – whole, over
ö – early, burn, curly
ő – It’s the same sound as ‘ö’, but longer: Like a child saying, “eurgh!“
r – 🇮🇹 pronto, 🇪🇸 perro
The Hungarian ‘r’ is rolled: you tap or vibrate the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, a bit behind your upper teeth.
s – ship, wash
sz – said, small
ty – 🇬🇧stew, tube, stewart
u – put
ú – It’s the same sound as ‘u’, but longer: fool, rule
ü – 🇫🇷 tutu
To pronounce the Hungarian ‘ü’, start with an ‘ee’ sound, then keep your tongue in place and round your lips as if whistling or blowing out a candle.
ű – It’s the same sound as ‘ü’, but longer
z – zebra
zs – pleasure, vision
With regular practice, Hungarian pronunciation will quickly start to feel natural. Keep up the good work!
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