Hungarian Alphabet 1
Chapter 11 · Consonants You Know I: B P D T G K
🔤 The Consonants Begin — b p d t g k
After ten chapters on vowels and harmony, the consonants begin, and the first six will feel familiar: b, p, d, t, g, k. They come in three pairs, one voiceless and one voiced in each. There's one important difference from English, which you can fix with a simple trick: in Hungarian, p, t and k have no puff of air.
✨ Three Pairs
p · b
P p · B b
p as in spin (no puff) · b as in bin
lips together
Tip: the lips make both sounds. For b, your voice buzzes in your throat; for p, it doesn't.
t · d
T t · D d
t as in stop (no puff) · d as in do
tongue behind the upper teeth
Tip: the tongue tip touches just behind the upper front teeth. For d, the voice buzzes; for t, it doesn't.
k · g
K k · G g
k as in sky (no puff) · g as in go (always hard)
back of the tongue
Tip: g is always the hard "g" of go, never the soft "g" of gem. For g, the voice buzzes; for k, it doesn't.
The "S" Trick: Taking the Puff Away
In English, p, t, k at the start of a word come with a small puff of air (hold a hand in front of your mouth and say "pin": you feel it). Hungarian p, t, k have no puff, like the sounds in spin, stop and sky. To practise: say "spin", then "pin without the puff"; "stop" then plain "top"; "sky" then plain "key". Spanish, French and Japanese work the same way.
Voiced Means "Buzz"
Put two fingers on your throat and say "ssss" (nothing) then "zzzz" (a buzz). That buzz is voicing. b, d, g are voiced: start the buzz at once, don't hesitate. p, t, k have no buzz. Hungarian also keeps final b, d, g fully voiced: unlike German, the d at the end of ebéd is still a clear "d" and doesn't turn into "t".
📖 Read It — New Words
You can read all of these. Remember the vowel respellings from earlier chapters (aw, ah, o, oh, u, oo, eh, ay, ih, ee, eu, euu, ue, uue), and that stress is on the first syllable.
| # | Hungarian | Say it | English | Note |
|---|
| 1 | bolt | BOLT | shop | b, t |
| 2 | bátor | BAH-tor | brave | long á; tapped r |
| 3 | pék | PAYK | baker | p and k, no puff |
| 4 | kép | KAYP | picture; image | k and p, no puff |
| 5 | dal | DAWL | song | short a |
| 6 | idő | IH-deuu | time; weather | two meanings |
| 7 | adó | AW-doh | tax | long ó |
| 8 | tanár | TAW-nahr | teacher | stress on TA |
| 9 | tea | TEH-aw | tea | two syllables |
| 10 | gól | GOHL | goal (in football) | hard g |
| 11 | gép | GAYP | machine | hard g |
| 12 | kapu | KAW-pu | gate | k, p: no puff |
Real Hungarian Tip — Foreign Words, Hungarian Spelling
Hungarian spells many foreign words the way they sound, which makes them easy to read: kóla (KOH-law, cola), kakaó (KAW-kaw-oh, cocoa), tea (tea), gól (goal), kávé (coffee). The letter k always stands for the "k" sound: Hungarian never uses c for it (c is "ts", Chapter 14).
A Peek Ahead — Double Letters
Doubled consonants are long: you hold the sound for an extra beat. You've already seen ott (there), itt (here) and nulla (zero). The same applies to bb, pp, dd, tt, gg, kk. Chapter 18 covers long consonants and the short/long pairs in detail.
💬 Mini-Dialogs
① A Picture — Mi ez?
A:
Mi ez?
MIH EHZ?
What is this?
B:
Ez kép.
EHZ KAYP.
This is a picture.
A:
Kép? Jó!
KAYP? YOH!
A picture? Good!
② Where Is the Shop? — Hol a bolt?
A:
Hol a bolt?
HOL aw BOLT?
Where is the shop?
B:
Ott, a téren.
OTT, aw TAY-rehn.
There, in the square.
A:
És a kapu?
AYSH aw KAW-pu?
And the gate?
B:
A kertben.
aw KEHRT-behn.
In the garden.
③ Tea or Coffee? — Tea? Kávé?
A:
Tea?
TEH-aw?
Tea?
B:
Nem, kávé!
NEHM, KAH-vay!
No, coffee!
A:
Jó!
YOH!
Good!
Review: Chapter 10 — Harmony
Test yourself: papírban (in the paper) · hotelben (in the hotel) · kávéban · tévében · irodában · hídban (exception). What decides each ending?
✍️ Try It Yourself — Gyakorlatok
Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.
1. Which three of the six letters are voiced (with a buzz in the throat)?
Show answer
b, d, g. The voiceless partners are p, t, k.
2. How do you make a Hungarian p, t or k without the English puff?
Show answer
Say it as in spin, stop, sky (the sound after the "s"): no puff of air.
3. Read aloud and translate: bolt · dal · gól
Show answer
BOLT (shop) · DAWL (song) · GOHL (goal)
4. Read aloud and translate: tanár · idő · pék
Show answer
TAW-nahr (teacher) · IH-deuu (time; weather) · PAYK (baker)
5. Read aloud and translate: kóla · kakaó · tea
Show answer
KOH-law (cola) · KAW-kaw-oh (cocoa) · TEH-aw (tea). Hungarian spells foreign words as they sound.
6. Does Hungarian turn a final d into "t" (as German does)? Give an example.
Show answer
No: the final d stays a clear "d", as in ebéd (EH-bayd, lunch).
Coming Up in Chapter 12
Seven more letters that look like English: f v h m n l z. They're mostly straightforward, with a few small differences in h, v and l to watch for.