C, CS and J

Hungarian Alphabet 1

Chapter 14 · C, CS and J

🔤 Three More Letters — c cs j

Three letters that English readers often misread: c is said "ts", cs is said "ch", and j is said "y". Learn them, and you can read the days of the week and the months by the end of this chapter, plus some very useful everyday words.

✨ Three New Sounds

C c

said "ts", like the end of cats or pizza

respelled ts

Remember: never "k" or "s". cukor = TSU-kor, cipő = TSIH-peuu, cél = TSAYL.

Cs cs

said "ch", as in chip or church

respelled ch

Remember: c + s is one letter. csók = CHOHK, kicsi = KIH-chih.

J j

said "y", as in yes

respelled y

Remember: never the English "j" of jam. jó = YOH, játék = YAH-tayk.

Don't Mix Up c and cs Just one letter separates two different sounds: c is "ts" (cipő, TSIH-peuu "shoe") and cs is "ch" (csésze, CHAY-seh "cup"). If you see cs, think of "church". And remember that the plain English letter k does the work of the English hard "c": Hungarian has kávé, not cávé.

📖 Read It — New Words

You can read all of these. Stress is on the first syllable.

#	Hungarian	Say it	English	Note
1	cipő	TSIH-peuu	shoe	c = ts
2	cukor	TSU-kor	sugar	c = ts
3	cica	TSIH-tsaw	kitten; pussycat	two c's
4	macska	MAWCH-kaw	cat	cs = ch
5	csók	CHOHK	kiss	cs = ch
6	csésze	CHAY-seh	cup	cs = ch; sz = s
7	csak	CHAWK	only; just	cs = ch
8	kicsi	KIH-chih	small	cs in the middle
9	csillag	CHIL-lawg	star	double l
10	ajtó	AWY-toh	door	aj = "awy"
11	játék	YAH-tayk	toy; game	j = y
12	hajó	HAW-yoh	ship	j between vowels

📅 The Days of the Week

All seven are readable now. The week starts on Monday, and the days are written with a small letter.

Hungarian	Say it	English
hétfő	HAYT-feuu	Monday
kedd	KEHDD	Tuesday
szerda	SEHR-daw	Wednesday
csütörtök	CHUE-teur-teuk	Thursday
péntek	PAYN-tehk	Friday
szombat	SOM-bawt	Saturday
vasárnap	VAW-shahr-nawp	Sunday

"On Monday" — A Day + -n To say "on" a day, add the "on" ending from Chapter 9 (-n after a vowel, -on / -en / -ön after a consonant): hétfőn (on Monday), szombaton (on Saturday), pénteken (on Friday), csütörtökön (on Thursday). Vasárnap is the exception: it already means "on Sunday" and takes no ending.

🗓️ The Months

The month names come from Latin, so you'll recognise most of them. They're written with a small letter.

Hungarian	Say it	English	Hungarian	Say it	English
január	YAW-nu-ahr	January	július	YOO-lih-ush	July
február	FEH-bru-ahr	February	augusztus	AW-u-gus-tush	August
március	MAHR-tsih-ush	March	szeptember	SEHP-tehm-behr	September
április	AH-prih-lish	April	október	OHK-toh-behr	October
május	MAH-yush	May	november	NO-vehm-behr	November
június	YOO-nih-ush	June	december	DEH-tsehm-behr	December

↔️ Left and Right

Hungarian	Say it	English	Note
bal	BAWL	left	light l
jobb	YOBB	right; better	double b: held
balra	BAWL-raw	to the left	bal + ra
jobbra	YOBB-raw	to the right	jobb + ra

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① A Kitten — Mi ez?

A: Mi ez? MIH EHZ? What is this?

B: Ez a cica. EHZ aw TSIH-tsaw. This is the kitten.

A: Kicsi? KIH-chih? Is it small?

B: Igen, kicsi! IH-gehn, KIH-chih! Yes, small!

② Left or Right? — Balra, jobbra

A: Hol az ajtó? HOL awz AWY-toh? Where is the door?

B: Balra. BAWL-raw. To the left.

A: Balra? BAWL-raw? To the left?

B: Nem, jobbra! NEHM, YOBB-raw! No, to the right!

③ When? — Mikor? Szombaton

A: Mikor? MIH-kor? When?

B: Szombaton. SOM-baw-ton. On Saturday.

A: És a mozi? AYSH aw MO-zih? And the cinema?

B: Vasárnap. VAW-shahr-nawp. On Sunday.

Review: Chapter 13 Words Cover the English and read these again: szia (hi; bye) · köszönöm (thank you) · kérem (please) · szép (beautiful) · szó (word) · szoba (room) · asztal (table) · busz (bus) · sárga (yellow) · sapka (cap) · zseb (pocket) · rózsa (rose).

✍️ Try It Yourself — Gyakorlatok

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. What sounds do c, cs and j make?

Show answer

c = "ts" · cs = "ch" · j = "y" (as in yes).

2. Read aloud and translate: cipő · macska · csillag

Show answer

TSIH-peuu (shoe) · MAWCH-kaw (cat) · CHIL-lawg (star)

3. Read aloud and translate: ajtó · játék · hajó

Show answer

AWY-toh (door) · YAH-tayk (toy; game) · HAW-yoh (ship)

4. Which day is szombat, which is péntek, and which is hétfő?

Show answer

szombat = Saturday · péntek = Friday · hétfő = Monday.

5. Say "to the left" and "to the right", and "on Monday".

Show answer

balra · jobbra · hétfőn

6. Why is jó pronounced "YOH" and not "JOH"?

Show answer

In Hungarian, j is the "y" of yes, never the English "j" of jam.

Coming Up in Chapter 15 Now the soft consonants: gy (a soft "dy") and ty (a soft "ty"). These two sounds don't exist in English, but they appear in very common words like nagy (big), egy (one) and magyar (Hungarian).