The Hungarian alphabet (, ) is an extension of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Hungarian language.
The alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, with several added variations of letters, consisting of 44 letters. Over the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet it has five letters with an acute accent, two letters with an umlaut, two letters with a double acute accent, eight letters made up of two characters, and one letter made up of three characters. In some other languages, characters with diacritical marks would be considered variations of the base letter, however in Hungarian, these characters are considered letters in their own right.
One sometimes speaks of the smaller (or basic) and greater (or extended) Hungarian alphabets, differing by the inclusion or exclusion of the letters Q, W, X, Y, which can only be found in family names, and in foreign words. (As for Y, however, it exists as part of four digraphs.)
As an auxiliary letter sometimes Ë is used in academic documents to show different pronunciation of spoken dialects, though it is not part of the alphabet.Ë in Hungarian (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, in Hungarian)
Majuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)A Á B C Cs D Dz Dzs EÉ F G Gy H I Í JK L Ly M N Ny O Ó Ö Ő P QR S Sz T Ty U Ú Ü Ű V W X Y Z Zs Minuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)a á b c cs d dz dzs eé f g gy h i í jk l ly m n ny o ó ö ő p qr s sz t ty u ú ü ű v w x y z zs
Description Each sign shown above counts as a letter in its own right in Hungarian. Some, such as the letter ⟨ó⟩ and ⟨ő⟩, are inter-filed with the letter preceding it when sorting words alphabetically, whereas others, such as ⟨ö⟩, have their own place in collation rather than also being inter-filed with ⟨o⟩.
While long vowels count as different letters, long (or geminate) consonants do not. Long consonants are marked by duplication: e.g. ⟨tt⟩, ⟨gg⟩, ⟨zz⟩ (ette 'he ate' (det.obj.), 'it hangs', 'with that'). For the di- and tri-graphs a simplification rule normally applies (but not when the compound is split at the end of a line of text due to hyphenation), only the first letter being duplicated, e.g. ⟨sz⟩ + ⟨sz⟩ → ⟨ssz⟩ ( 'woman'), ⟨ty⟩ + ⟨ty⟩ → ⟨tty⟩ ( 'swan'), ⟨dzs⟩ + ⟨dzs⟩ → ⟨⟩ ( 'with bridge (playing game)').
An exception is made at the joining points of compound words, for example: jegygyűrű 'engagement ring' ( + ) rather than .
Hyphenation of individual letters ⟨Dz⟩ and ⟨dzs⟩ were changed in the 11th edition of Hungarian orthography (1984).http://real-j.mtak.hu/6065/1/MagyarNyelvor_1984.pdf p. 399 Prior to that, they were allowed to separate as two-letter combinations ⟨d⟩+⟨z⟩ and ⟨d⟩+⟨zs⟩.
Pronunciation
The pronunciation given for the following Hungarian letters is that of standard Hungarian. LetterMinuscule Form Name Phoneme (IPA) Complementary allophones (IPA)List of complementary allophone variants possibly not complete. Close to Notes Aa a similar to British English hot Lot, got, bot might describe it better. Áá á eye Not nearly as open as the a in American English hat, but closer to it than Hungarian a (without the accent mark) Bb bé as by, ab etc. Cc cé like pots Cscs csé as check, cheek, etching etc. Dd dé deck, wide etc. Dz dz dzé like in kids Uncommon. When neither post- nor preconsonantic, always realised as a geminate. Dzs dzs dzsé John, jam, bridge Uncommon, mostly in loanwords. when final or intervocalic, usually realised as a geminate: maharadzsa 'maharajah', bridzs 'bridge (card game)', but dzsungel 'jungle', fridzsider coll. 'refrigerator' Ee e like less, cheque, edge, bed about 40-50% of speakers also have a phoneme (see below at Ë). is not considered part of standard Hungarian, wherein takes the place of . Éé é café Ff ef find, euphoria Gg gé get, leg, go etc. Gygy gyé (not used in English; soft form of . Mostly similar to during, as pronounced in Received Pronunciation) denoting by is a remnant of (probably) Italian scribes who tried to render the Hungarian sound. <dy> would be a more consistent notation in scope of , , ; (see there), as the part of digraphs show palatalisation in the Hungarian writing system. Hh há 1. 2. 3. 4. Basic: hi 1. behind2. honest 3. Loch, Chanukah 4. human 1. when in intervocalic position. 2. not rendered usually when in final position méh 'bee', cseh 'Czech' 3. seldom, in final position, such as in doh 'dampness', MÉH 'metal recycling facility' 4. seldom, such as in ihlet 'inspiration' Ii i peak Pronounced the same as Í, only shorter Íí í lean, leave, seed, sea Vowel length is phonemically distinctive in Hungarian: irt = 'to exterminate' and írt = 'to write (past tense)' Jj jé , you, yes, faith allophones occur when occurs after a consonant; (voiceless after voiceless, voiced after voiced consonants). e.g. férj 'husband', kapj 'get! (imperative)' Kk ká key, kiss, weak Ll el leave, list Lyly elly, el-ipszilon 1. 2. play, pray Most dialects pronounce it as /j/; see yeísmo. Mm em mind, assume, might Nn en thing, lying (before k, g), need, bone (anywhere else) allophone before , Nyny eny canyon Oo o force, sorcerer A shorter, more open variant of Ó. Unlike with short e, which is opened to in standard speech, short o remains , rather than opening to where it would come close to clashing with short a. Óó ó fraud, cause (Southern England, Australian or New Zealand English) Same as except longer. It is important to pay attention to. (Minimal pair to kor = 'age' and kór = 'disease') Öö ö (not used in English; most similar to learnt, earl, fern) (Corresponds to (short) German Ö); similar to shwa /ə/ (e.g. cola) except with rounded lips. A shorter, more open variant of Ő Őő ő bird (Broad New Zealand accent) (A longer, more closed variant of Ö.) Minimal pair to : öt = 'five' and őt = 'him/her (Hungarian pronouns do not specify gender)' Pp pé peas, apricot, hope Rr er The closest equivalent is r also called apical trill as pronounced by trilling the tip of the tongue (the apex) and not the uvula. Ss es share, wish, shout This notation is unusual for European writing systems where usually stands for . In Hungarian, is represented by . Szsz esz say, estimate Tt té tell, least, feast Tyty tyé (not used in English; soft form of . Mostly similar to tube, as pronounced in Received Pronunciation) Uu u school, tool Úú ú fool Minimal pair to : hurok = 'loop' and húrok = 'cords' Üü ü (not used in English, corresponds to German ü; closest to do, food) A shorter, more open variant of ű Űű ű (not used in English, corresponds to a longer version of the German ü) Vv vé very, every Zz zé desert, roses, zebra Zszs zsé pleasure, leisure
The letter ë is not part of the Hungarian alphabet; however, linguists use this letter to distinguish between the two kinds of short e sounds of some dialects. This letter was first used in 1770 by György Kalmár, but has never officially been part of the Hungarian alphabet, as the standard Hungarian language does not distinguish between these two sounds. However, the ë sound is pronounced differently from the e sound in 6 out of the 10 Hungarian dialects and the sound is pronounced as ö in 1 dialect. It is also used in names. Other letter for this sound is Ėė (rarely).
A more open variety of , close to , may be denoted as Ää in the Hungarian linguistics literature.
The digraph ch also exists in some words (technika, monarchia) and is pronounced the same as h. In names, however, it is pronounced like cs as well as like h or k (as in German) (see below).
The letter Y is only used in loanwords and several digraphs (gy, ly, ny, ty), and thus in a native Hungarian word, Y never comes as the initial of a word, except in loanwords. So, for native Hungarian words, the capital Y only exists in all caps or small caps formats, such as the titles of newspapers.
Historic spellings used in names and historical documents Old spellings (sometimes similar to German orthography) used in some Hungarian names and their corresponding pronunciation according to modern spelling include the following:
+ Consonants Historic spelling Pronounced like modern spelling bb b cz c tz c z c ch cs cz cs č cs ć cs ts cs csh cs tsch cs tzsch cs chs cs cy cs ʟ cs dd d dsz dz ds dzs ff f ph f gh g dgy ggy dy gy g gy gi gy gj gy gʹ~g′ gy ǵ gy ġ gy j gy jj j l j y j ck k kh k x ks xy ksz xz ksz qu kv ll l l ll w lv j ly l ly li ly ry ly lly ly ′l(ʹl)~l′(lʹ)~ŀ ly n ny ni ny nʹ~n′ ny ń ny ṅ ny my ny ph p pp p rh r rr r ꝛ r sch s ss s ss ssz s sz sc sz sy sz z sz th t tt t ti ty tʹ~t′ ty ṫ ty ky ty u v w v s z s zs ss zs zy zs ['s] zs Benkő Loránd et al.: Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen; Band I; PP. XVII–XVIII. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1993.
+ Vowels Historic spelling Pronounced as in modern spelling a á aa á aá á áá á áh á ä e ae e ai e ay e áe é ái é áy é e é ee é eé é éh é i í ié í íh í ii í ií í å o o ó óh ó oo ó oó ó ua ó â ö åe ö åi ö åy ö eö ö ew ö oe ö oi ö oy ö eö ő eő ő ew ő ia ő ö ő őh ő öö ő öő ő óe ő ói ő óy ő üa ő u ú úh ú uó ú uu ú uú ú ue ü ui ü uy ü ü ű űh ű üő ű üü ű üű ű úe ű úi ű úy ű aë aj aï aj aÿ aj ei aj áë áj áï áj áÿ áj åë oj åï oj åÿ oj eu oj oë oj oï oj oÿ oj óë ój óï ój óÿ ój au uj uë uj uï uj uÿ uj úë új úï új úÿ új (g)y ~ gÿ gi y ji ý jí (l)y ~ lÿ (l)i (n)y ~ nÿ (ny)i or (n)i (t)y ~ tÿ ti
On áá: Benkő Loránd et al.: Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen; Band II; P. 1000. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1993.
Generally, y in historic spellings of names formed with the -i affix (not to be confused with a possessive -i- of plural objects, as in szavai!) can exist after many other letters (e.g.: Teleky, Rákóczy, Dézsy). Here are listed only examples which can be easily misread because of such spelling.
Examples: Name Pronounced as if spelled Madách Madács Széchenyi Szécsényi or Szécsenyi Batthyány Battyányi Gajdátsy Gajdácsi Thököly Tököli Weöres Vörös Eötvös Ötvös Kassay Kassai Debrődy Debrődi Karczagy Karcagi Vörösmarty Vörösmarti Cházár Császár Czukor CukorBaloghBalogVarghaVarga Paal Pál Gaál Gál Veér Vér Rédey Rédei Soós Sós Thewrewk Török Dessewffy Dezsőfi
Historic spellings of article and conjunctions In early editions the article a/az was written according to the following rules: before vowels and h — az: az ember, az híd before consonants — a: a' csillag.
The abbreviated form of the conjunction és (and), which is always written today as s, was likely to be written with an apostrophe before — 's (e.g. föld 's' nép).
Capitalisation The di- and the trigraphs are capitalised in names and at the beginning of sentences by capitalising the first glyph of them only. Csak jót mondhatunk Székely Csabáról.
In abbreviations and when writing with all capital letters, however, one capitalises the second (and third) character as well.
Thus ("The Rules of Hungarian Orthography", a book edited by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences): A magyar helyesírás szabályai MHSZ (not MHSz) A MAGYAR HELYESÍRÁS SZABÁLYAI (not SzABÁLyAI)
Alphabetical ordering (collation) While the characters with diacritical marks are considered separate letters, vowels that differ only in length are treated the same when ordering words. Therefore, for example, the pairs O/Ó and Ö/Ő are not distinguished in ordering, but Ö follows O. In cases where two words are differentiated solely by the presence of an accent, the one without the accent is put before the other one. (The situation is the same for lower and upper-case letters: in alphabetical ordering, varga is followed by Varga.)
The polygraphic consonant signs are treated as single letters. combcukorcsak <cs> comes after <c>...folyikfolyó <ó> is sorted as <o>folyosó...fő and <ő> is sorted as <ö>,födém but <ö> comes after <o>...
The simplified geminates of multigraphs (see above) such as <nny>, <ssz> are collated as <ny>+<ny>, <sz>+<sz> etc., if they are double geminates, rather than co-occurrences of a single letter and a geminate.