Hungarian letters
We have some special vowels:
"a" is much more closed than in other European languages
"á" (A', a acute) is near to the usual "a" (as in "bar", "guy" etc.), but it's a bit longer
"é" (E', e acute) is similar to the first voice in "make", "aim", etc.
"í" (I', i acute) is a long "i" (as in "teeth", "feed", etc.)
"ó" (O', o acute) is a long "o" (as in "wall", "show", etc.)
"ö" (O:, o umlaut/diaeresis) is equal to the German, as in "sir", "her", etc.
"o" (O", o with double acute) is the long "ö" [not similar voice in any well-known languages]
"ú" (U', u acute) is a long "u" (as in "new", "loop", etc.)
"ü" (U:, u umlaut/diaeresis) is equal to the German, as in French "vue", etc.
"u" (U", u with double acute) is the long "ü" [not similar voice in any well-known languages]
It is very important to use the accents right. A word means very different with/without accent. For example: "szárnyalás" = "flying by wings" while "szarnyalás" = "licking the shit"... (Excuse me for the vulgarism, it was only to emphasize the need for the right accents.)
and some special consonants:
"cs" is like in "cheep", "chat", etc.
"dz" is "d"+"z"
"dzs" is "d"+"zs", like in "jungle", "jive", etc.
"gy" is "g"+"y", soft "g", like in "during", "due", etc.
"j" is like "y" in English ("youth", "yogurt", etc.)
"ly" is "l"+"y", soft "l", almost equal to "j" ("youth", "yogurt", etc.)
"ny" is "n"+"y", soft "n", like in "new", etc.
"s" is like "sh" in English ("short", "shy", etc.)
"sz" is like "s" in English ("spam", "spy", etc.)
"ty" is "t"+"y", soft "t", like in English "Tudor", "tube", etc.
"zs" is "z"+"s", like in French "Jules", "Jaques", etc.
Usually it is easy to recognise these letter-combinations, but there are some exceptions: "egészség" (health, coming from "egész+ség" [whole-ness]) and many more.
For doubling long consonants, only the first character is doubled: "sz"+"sz" = = "ssz", "gy"+"gy" = "ggy". Double consonants are really pronounced long; if you see "tt", you should say "t+t".
The full Hungarian alphabet:
a, á, b, c, cs, d, dz, dzs, e, é, f, g, gy, h, i, í, j, k, l, ly, m, n, ny, o, ó, ö, o, p, r, s, sz, t, ty, u, ú, ü, u, v, w, x, y, z, zs
"a" is much more closed than in other European languages
"á" (A', a acute) is near to the usual "a" (as in "bar", "guy" etc.), but it's a bit longer
"é" (E', e acute) is similar to the first voice in "make", "aim", etc.
"í" (I', i acute) is a long "i" (as in "teeth", "feed", etc.)
"ó" (O', o acute) is a long "o" (as in "wall", "show", etc.)
"ö" (O:, o umlaut/diaeresis) is equal to the German, as in "sir", "her", etc.
"o" (O", o with double acute) is the long "ö" [not similar voice in any well-known languages]
"ú" (U', u acute) is a long "u" (as in "new", "loop", etc.)
"ü" (U:, u umlaut/diaeresis) is equal to the German, as in French "vue", etc.
"u" (U", u with double acute) is the long "ü" [not similar voice in any well-known languages]
It is very important to use the accents right. A word means very different with/without accent. For example: "szárnyalás" = "flying by wings" while "szarnyalás" = "licking the shit"... (Excuse me for the vulgarism, it was only to emphasize the need for the right accents.)
and some special consonants:
"cs" is like in "cheep", "chat", etc.
"dz" is "d"+"z"
"dzs" is "d"+"zs", like in "jungle", "jive", etc.
"gy" is "g"+"y", soft "g", like in "during", "due", etc.
"j" is like "y" in English ("youth", "yogurt", etc.)
"ly" is "l"+"y", soft "l", almost equal to "j" ("youth", "yogurt", etc.)
"ny" is "n"+"y", soft "n", like in "new", etc.
"s" is like "sh" in English ("short", "shy", etc.)
"sz" is like "s" in English ("spam", "spy", etc.)
"ty" is "t"+"y", soft "t", like in English "Tudor", "tube", etc.
"zs" is "z"+"s", like in French "Jules", "Jaques", etc.
Usually it is easy to recognise these letter-combinations, but there are some exceptions: "egészség" (health, coming from "egész+ség" [whole-ness]) and many more.
For doubling long consonants, only the first character is doubled: "sz"+"sz" = = "ssz", "gy"+"gy" = "ggy". Double consonants are really pronounced long; if you see "tt", you should say "t+t".
The full Hungarian alphabet:
a, á, b, c, cs, d, dz, dzs, e, é, f, g, gy, h, i, í, j, k, l, ly, m, n, ny, o, ó, ö, o, p, r, s, sz, t, ty, u, ú, ü, u, v, w, x, y, z, zs