Hungarian phrasebook

Understand

English-speakers tend to find most everything about the written language tough going, including a number of unusual sounds like gy (often pronounced like the d in "during" in British English and ű (vaguely like a long English e as in me with rounded lips), as well as agglutinative grammar that leads to fearsome-looking words like eltéveszthetetlen (unmistakable) and viszontlátásra (goodbye). Also, letters can be pronounced differently than in English: the "s" always has a "sh" sound, the "sz" has the "s" sound, and the "c" is pronounced like the English "ts", to name a few. On the upside, it is written with the familiar Roman alphabet (though one adorned with lots of accents), and — unlike English — it has almost totally phonetic spelling. This means that if you learn how to pronounce the 44 letters of the alphabet and the digraphs, you will be able to pronounce almost every Hungarian word properly. The stress always falls on the first syllable of any word, so all the goodies on top of the vowels are pronunciation cues, and not indicators of stress. Diphthongs are almost nonexistent in Hungarian (except in adopted foreign words). Just one of many profound grammatical differences from most European languages is that Hungarian does not have or need the verb "to have" in the sense of possession - the indicator of possession is attached to the possessed noun and not the possessor, e.g. Kutya = dog, Kutyám = my dog, Van egy kutyám = I have a dog, or literally "Is one dog-my". Hungarian has a very specific case system which encompasses the grammatical, locative, oblique, and the less productive; for example a noun used as the subject has no suffix, while when used as a direct object, the letter "t" is attached as a suffix, with a vowel if necessary. One simplifying aspect of Hungarian is that there is no grammatical gender, even with the pronouns "he" or "she", which are both "ő", so one does not have to worry about the random Der, Die, Das sort of thing that occurs in German; "the" is simply "a", or "az" if the following noun starts with a vowel. In Hungarian, family name precedes given name, as in some Asian languages. And the list of differences goes on and on,

Pronunciation guide

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]

Grammar

Unless you are seriously considering mastering Hungarian, learning Hungarian grammar on your trip is not realistic. But it can help to at least recognize that the following verb conjugations and noun/adjective declensions are used. Perhaps the most difficult feature of Hungarian is the presence of 18 Grammatical Cases. Hungarian usually follows a Subject-Object-Verb word syntax, and like most Uralic languages, is an agglutinative language.

Case System Nominative: The subject of the sentence, usually no ending. Accusative: Showing possession of the direct object. Illative: When the subject goes into something. Inessive: When the subject goes in something. Elative: When the subject goes out of or out from something. Sublative: When the subject goes onto the object. Suppressive: When the subject goes on or at a particular object. Delative: When the subject goes off, from or about the object. Allative: Towards the object. Adessive: Near, at the object. Ablative: (away) from an object. Dative: to, for an object. Instrumental: With/By an object. Translative: (turning) into Causal-Final: for the purpose of doing something Essive-Formal: As Terminative: Up to/Until Distributive: Per, each.

Phrase list

Basics

Hello. Szervusz. (SER-voos) Hello. (informal) Szia. (SEE-å) [like English "See ya!"] How are you? Hogy vagy? (hodj vådj) Fine, thank you. Köszönöm, jól. (KØ-sø-nøm, yoal) What is your name? Hogy hívják? (hodj HEEV-yak?) My name is ______ . ______ vagyok. ( _____ VÅ-djok.) Nice to meet you. Örvendek. (ØR-ven-dek) Please. Kérem. (KEY-rem) Thank you. Köszönöm. (KØ-sø-nøm) You're welcome. Szívesen. (SEE-ve-shen) Yes. Igen. (EE-gen) No. Nem. (nem) Excuse me. (getting attention) Elnézést. (EL-ney-zeysht) Excuse me. (begging pardon) Bocsánatot kérek. (BO-cha-nå-tot KEY-rek) I'm sorry. Bocsánat. (BO-cha-nåt) Goodbye Viszontlátásra. (VEE-sont-la-tash-rå) Goodbye (informal) Viszlát/Szia. (VEES-lat/SEE-å) I can't speak Hungarian [well]. Nem tudok [jól] magyarul. (nem TOU-dok [yoal] MÅ-djå-roul) Do you speak English? Beszél angolul? (BE-seyl ÅN-go-loul?) Is there someone here who speaks English? Beszél itt valaki angolul? (BE-seyl it VÅ-lå-ki ÅN-go-loul) Help! Segítség! (SHE-geet-sheyg!) Look out! Vigyázz! (VEE-djaz) Good morning. (before around 9 AM) Jó reggelt! (yoa REG-gelt) Good morning. (after 9 AM) Jó napot! (yoa NÅ-pot) Good afternoon. Jó napot! (yoa NÅ-pot) Good evening. Jó estét! (yoa ESH-teyt) Good night. Jó éjt! or Jó éjszakát! (yoa eyt / yoa EY-så-kat) I don't understand. Nem értem. (nem EYR-tem) Where is the toilet? Hol van a mosdó? (hol vån å MOSH-doa?)

Problems Leave me alone. Hagyj békén! (hådʸ BEY-keyn) Don't touch me! Ne érj hozzám! (ne eyrʸ) I'll call the police. Hívom a rendőrséget. (HEE-vom å REN-dø̱r-shey-get) Police! Rendőrség! (REN-dø̱r-sheyg) Stop! Thief! Megállj! Tolvaj! (ME-"guy" Thol-vay) I need your help. Segítened kell. (SHE-gee-te-ned kel) It's an emergency. Vészhelyzet van. (VEYS-hey-zet vån) I'm lost. Eltévedtem. (EL-tey-ved-tem) I lost my bag. Elveszett a táskám. (EL-ve-set å TASH-kam) I lost my wallet. Elveszett a tárcám. (EL-ve-set å TAR-tsam) I'm sick. Rosszul vagyok. (RO-soul VÅ-djok) I've been injured. Megsérültem. (MEG-shey-růl-tem) I need a doctor. Szükségem van egy orvosra. (SŮK-shey-gem vån edj Or-vosh-rå) Can I use your phone? Használhatom a telefonját? (HÅS-nal-hå-tom å TE-le-fon-yat)

Numbers 1 egy (edj) 2 kettő (

Learning more

How do you say (in Hungarian) _____ ? Hogy mondják (magyarul) _____ ? (hodj MOND-yak (MÅ-djår-oul) _____) What is this/that called? Hogy hívják ezt/azt? (hodj HEEV-yak ezt/åzt)