Hungarian Cheatsheet
- Hungarian is a Uralic language
- It is spoken in Hungary and parts of neighboring countries
- The Hungarian alphabet has 44 letters
Pronunciation
- Hungarian pronunciation is mostly phonetic
- Stress is usually on the first syllable of a word
- The letters “sz” and “zs” are pronounced as “s” and “z” respectively
- The letter “gy” is pronounced like a soft “d” followed by a “y” sound
Examples
- “szeretem” (I like) is pronounced “seh-reh-tem”
- “jó reggelt” (good morning) is pronounced “yoh reh-gelt”
- “magyar” (Hungarian) is pronounced “moh-dyahr”
Vocabulary
- Hungarian vocabulary is heavily influenced by Turkic and Slavic languages
- Nouns have 18 cases: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental, causal-final, translative, terminative, essive-formal, essive-modal, inessive, illative, adessive, ablative, sublative, superessive, delative, and allative
- Verbs have two conjugations: definite and indefinite
Examples
- “Azt” (that) in the accusative case becomes “Az” (the) in the nominative case, “Abból” (from that) in the ablative case, “Ahhoz” (to that) in the allative case, and “Arra” (onto that) in the sublative case.
- “Fut” (to run) in the definite conjugation becomes “Futok” (I run) and in the indefinite conjugation becomes “Futni” (to run).
Grammar
- Word order is relatively flexible, but the verb usually comes second in a sentence
- Adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify
- Negation is formed by placing “nem” before the verb
Examples
- “Szeretem a magyar nyelvet.” (I like the Hungarian language.) and “A magyar nyelvet szeretem.” (The Hungarian language, I like.) are both correct.
- “Kék autó” (blue car) becomes “Kék autók” (blue cars) in the nominative plural case.
- “Nem beszélek magyarul.” (I don’t speak Hungarian.)
Resources