Hungarian Alphabet

--- Advertisement ---

The Hungarian alphabet
Hungarian alphabet (Hungarian: Magyar ábécé) is an extension of the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet used for writing the Hungarian language. One sometimes speaks of the smaller and greater (or extended) Hungarian alphabets, depending on whether or not the letters Q, W, X, Y are listed, which can only be found in foreign words and traditional orthography of names.[1] The 44 letters of the extended Hungarian alphabet
Hungarian alphabet are:

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 Ő P (Q) R S Sz T Ty U Ú Ü Ű V (W) (X) (Y) Z Zs

Contents

1 Description 2 Pronunciation

2.1 Historic spellings used in names 2.2 Historic spellings of article and conjunctions

3 Capitalisation 4 Alphabetical ordering (collation) 5 Keyboard layout 6 Letter frequencies 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Description[edit] 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.)', függ 'it hangs', azzal '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 is duplicated: e.g. <sz> + <sz> → <ssz> (asszony 'woman'), <ty> + <ty> → <tty> (hattyú 'swan'), <dzs> + <dzs> → <ddzs> (briddzsel 'with bridge (playing game)'). An exception is made at the joining points of compound words, for example: jegygyűrű 'engagement ring' (jegy + gyűrű) not *jeggyűrű. Pronunciation[edit] Further information: Hungarian phonology The pronunciation given for the following Hungarian letters is that of standard Hungarian.

Letter Name Phoneme
Phoneme (IPA) Complementary allophones (IPA)[2] Close to Notes

A a /ɒ/ (help·info)

similar to British English cot [ɑ̝̹] might describe it better (raised, more rounded; sign rendered probably incorrectly, containing two diacritical marks below). Still definitely not [ɔ], but more like [ɒ] (the o in traditional Received Pronunciation hot)

Á á /aː/ (help·info)

an extended father Not nearly as open as the a in American English hat, but closer to it than Hungarian a (without the accent mark)

B bé /b/ (help·info)

as by, absence etc.

C cé /ts/ (help·info)

like pots

Cs csé /tʃ/

as check, cheek, etching etc.

D dé /d/ (help·info)

deck, wide etc.

Dz dzé /dz/ (help·info)

like in kids rare. does not occur at the beginning of words. When neither post- nor preconsonantic, always realised as a geminate.

Dzs dzsé /dʒ/

jam, George, bridge, edge, fridge rare, mostly in loanwords. when final or intervocalic, usually realised as a geminate: maharadzsa /mɑhɑrɑdʒɑ/ [mɑhɑrɑd͡ʒːɑ] 'maharajah', bridzs /bridʒ/ [brid͡ʒː] 'bridge (card game)', but dzsungel /dʒuŋɡɛl/ [d͡ʒuŋɡɛl] 'jungle', fridzsider /fridʒidɛr/ [frid͡ʒidɛr] coll. 'refrigerator'

E e /ɛ/ (help·info)

like less, cheque, edge, bed about 40-50% of speakers also have a phoneme /e/ (see below at Ë). /e/ is not considered part of standard Hungarian, wherein /ɛ/ takes the place of /e/.

É é /eː/ (help·info)

café

F ef /f/ (help·info)

find, euphoria

G gé /ɡ/ (help·info)

get, leg, go etc.

Gy gyé /ɟ/ (help·info)

(not used in English; soft form of /d/. Mostly similar to during, as pronounced in Received Pronunciation) denoting /ɟ/ by <gy> is a remnant of (probably) Italian scribes who tried to render the Hungarian sound. <dy> would be a more consistent notation in scope of <ty>, <ny>, <ly> (see there), as the <y> part of digraphs show palatalisation in the Hungarian writing system.

H há /h/ 1. [ɦ] (help·info) 2. ∅ 3. [x] (help·info) 4. [ç] (help·info)

Basic: hi 1. behind 2. <mute> 3. Loch, Chanukah 4. human 1. when in intervocalic position. 2. not rendered usually when in final position méh /meː/ 'bee', cseh /tʃɛ/ 'Czech' 3. seldom, in final position, such as in doh 'dampness', MÉH 'metal recycling facility' 4. seldom, such as in ihlet 'inspiration'

I i /i/

sea, key, tree Pronounced the same as Í, only shorter

Í í /iː/ (help·info)

leek, leave, seed, sea Vowel length
Vowel length is phonemically distinctive in Hungarian: irt = 'to exterminate' and írt = 'to write (past tense)'

J jé /j/ (help·info) [ç], [ʝ] you, yes, faith allophones occur when /j/ occurs after a consonant; (voiceless after voiceless, voiced after voiced consonants). e.g. férj 'husband', kapj 'get! (imperative)'

K ká /k/ (help·info)

key, kiss, weak

L el /l/ (help·info)

leave, list

Ly elly, el-ipszilon /j/ (help·info) / /ʎ/ (help·info)

play, billard

M em /m/ (help·info)

mind, assume, might,

N en /n/ [ŋ] (help·info) [n] (help·info)

thing, lying (before k, g), need, bone (anywhere else) allophone before /k/, /ɡ/

Ny eny /ɲ/ (help·info)

new (in BE, not AE) niño/niña (Spanish)

O o /o/

force, sorcerer A shorter, more open variant of Ó. Unlike with short e, which is opened to /ɛ/ in standard speech, short o remains /o/, rather than opening to /ɔ/ where it would come close to clashing with short a.

Ó ó /oː/ (help·info)

Not in standard English. go, snow are approximations, but are diphthongs, unlike the Hungarian Same as /o/ except longer. It is important to pay attention to. (eg.: kor = 'age' and kór = 'disease')

Ö ö /ø/ (help·info)

(Not used in English; corresponds to (short) German Ö); similar to shwa /ə/ (e.g. cola) except with rounded lips. A shorter, more open variant of Ő

Ő ő /øː/

(Not used in English; a longer, more closed variant of Ö, similar to non-rhotic murder.) Minimal pair to /ø/: öt = 'five' and őt = 'him/her (Hungarian pronouns do not specify gender)'

P pé /p/ (help·info)

peas, apricot, hope

(Q) kú

Q occurs only as part of the digraph qu in foreign words, realised as /kv/: Aquincum
Aquincum [ɑkviŋkum] (name of an old Roman settlement on the area of present-day Óbuda). Words originally spelled with qu are today usually spelled with kv, as in akvarell 'watercolor painting'.

R er /r/ (help·info)

The closest equivalent is r also called apical trill as pronounced by trilling the tip of your tongue (the apex) and not the uvula.

S es /ʃ/ (help·info)

share, wish, shout This notation is unusual for European writing systems where <s> stands for /s/ virtually everywhere. In Hungarian, /s/ is represented by <sz>.

Sz esz /s/ (help·info)

say, estimate

T té /t/ (help·info)

tell, least, feast

Ty tyé /c/ (help·info)

tube

U u /u/

rude

Ú ú /uː/ (help·info)

do, fool minimal pair to /u/: hurok 'loop' ∼ húrok 'cords'

Ü ü /y/

(not used in English, corresponds to German Ü) A shorter, more open variant of ű

Ű ű /yː/ (help·info)

(not used in English)

V vé /v/ (help·info)

very, every

(W) dupla vé /v/ (help·info)

view, evolve, vacuum only occurs in foreign words and in Hungarian aristocratic surnames

(X) iksz

occurs only in loanwords, and there only when denoting /ks/; [ɡz] is transcribed: extra, Alexandra, but egzakt 'exact'.

(Y) ipszilon /i/

happy Usually combined with another letter to form a new sound (see ly, ny, gy, ty). In loanwords, usually rendered as /i/ or /j/. Occurs very often in old Hungarian aristocratic surnames where it stands for /i/ or /ʲi/: 'Báthory' [baːtori], 'Batthyány' [bɑcːaːɲi] or [bɑcːaːni] (<n>+<y> ∼ /ɲi/)

Z zé /z/ (help·info)

desert, roses

Zs zsé /ʒ/ (help·info)

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
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 used in names, also The digraph ch also exists in some words (technika, monarchia) and is pronounced the same as h. In names, it is pronounced like cs as well as like h or k (as in German) (see below). Historic spellings used in names[edit] Old spellings (sometimes similar to German orthography) used in some Hungarian names
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

ts cs

csh cs

tsch cs

chs cs

cy cs

dd d

dsz dz

ds dzs

ff f

ph f

gh g

dgy ggy

dy gy

g gy

gj 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

ry ly

lly ly

n ny

my ny

ph p

pp p

rh r

rr r

sch s

ss s

ss ssz

s sz

sc sz

sy sz

z sz

th t

tt t

ky ty

w v

s zs

ss zs

zy zs

['s] zs

Vowels

Historic spelling Pronounced like modern spelling

a á

aa á

aá 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

eö ő

eő ő

ew ő

ö ő

őh ő

öö ő

öő ő

óe ő

ói 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

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

Batthyány Battyányi

Thököly Tököli

Weöres Vörös

Eötvös Ötvös

Kassay Kassai

Debrődy Debrődi

Karczagy Karcagi

Vörösmarty Vörösmarti

Cházár Császár

Czukor Cukor

Balogh Balog

Vargha Varga

Paal Pál

Gaál Gál

Veér Vér

Rédey Rédei

Soós Sós

Thewrewk Török

Dessewffy Dezsőfi

Historic spellings of article and conjunctions[edit] 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[edit] 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)[edit] 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
Ő are not distinguished in ordering, but Ö
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.

comb

cukor

csak <cs> comes after <c>

...

folyik

folyó <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.

könnyű is collated as <k><ö><ny><ny><ű>. tizennyolc of course as <t><i><z><e><n><ny><o><l><c>, as this is a compound: tizen+nyolc ('above ten' + 'eight' = 'eighteen').

Similar 'ambiguities', which can occur with compounds (which are highly common in Hungarian) are dissolved and collated by sense.

e.g. házszám 'house number (address)' = ház + szám and of course not *házs + *zám.

These rules make Hungarian alphabetic ordering algorithmically difficult (one has to know the correct segmentation of a word to sort it correctly), which was a problem for computer software development. Keyboard layout[edit] The standard Hungarian keyboard layout is German-based (QWERTZ). This layout allows direct access to every character in the Hungarian alphabet.

Hungarian keyboard layout

The letter "Í" is often placed left of the space key, leaving the width of the left Shift key intact. "Ű" may be located to the left of Backspace, making that key smaller, but allowing for a larger Enter key. Ű being close to Enter often leads to it being typed instead of hitting Enter, especially when one has just switched from a keyboard that has Ű next to backspace. Letter frequencies[edit] The most common letters in Hungarian are e and a.[3][4] The list below shows the letter frequencies for the smaller Hungarian alphabet
Hungarian alphabet in descending order (excluding the rarest letters ty, dz, dzs).

Letter Frequency

e 12.256%

a 9.428%

t 7.380%

n 6.445%

l 6.383%

s 5.322%

k 4.522%

é 4.511%

i 4.200%

m 4.054%

o 3.867%

á 3.649%

g 2.838%

r 2.807%

z 2.734%

v 2.453%

b 2.058%

d 2.037%

sz 1.809%

j 1.570%

h 1.341%

gy 1.185%

ő 0.884%

ö 0.821%

ny 0.790%

ly 0.738%

ü 0.655%

ó 0.634%

f 0.582%

p 0.509%

í 0.499%

u 0.416%

cs 0.260%

ű 0.125%

c 0.114%

ú 0.104%

zs 0.021%