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Learning Hungarian for a Move to Hungary: What Makes It Different and Where to Start
By Language Lab editorial team
Moving to Budapest? How hard Hungarian is, why it's unlike other European languages, the phrases to learn first, and a realistic plan for newcomers.
Hungarian isn't related to its neighbours' languages — it's Uralic, like Finnish and Estonian — so English and German won't give you much of a head start. The US Foreign Service Institute puts it in Category III, about 44 weeks (1,012 class hours) of full-time training to professional working proficiency. It builds words by adding endings, uses vowel harmony and has many cases, but its spelling is phonetic and stress always falls on the first syllable. Start with pronunciation, politeness and numbers, then learn endings through real phrases.
Do you need Hungarian to live in Hungary?
In Budapest's international workplaces, universities and among younger people, English is common. But offices, doctors, landlords, utilities and most of life outside the capital run in Hungarian, and official letters are in Hungarian. Even basic Hungarian changes how people respond to you — it's a language few foreigners attempt, and the effort is noticed.
What makes Hungarian different
- Agglutination: meaning is built by stacking endings onto a word. Ház (house), házban (in the house), házaimban (in my houses).
- Vowel harmony: endings change their vowels to match the word — házban but kertben (in the garden).
- Many cases: Hungarian expresses "in", "on", "to", "from" and more with endings rather than prepositions, which is why grammars list around 18 cases.
- No grammatical gender: ő means both "he" and "she".
- Two verb conjugations: one for when the object is definite (látom a házat — I see the house) and one for indefinite objects (látok egy házat — I see a house).
The good news: sounds and spelling
Hungarian spelling is phonetic, so once you learn the letters you can read aloud accurately. Stress always falls on the first syllable. A few letter combinations need learning: sz is English "s", s is "sh", cs is "ch", zs is the "s" in "measure", gy is roughly "dy", and ny is like the "ny" in "canyon". Accents mark long vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú), and ö, ü, ő and ű are front rounded vowels like German ö and ü.
Phrases to learn first
| Hungarian | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Jó napot (kívánok) | Good day (polite) |
| Szia | Hi / bye (informal) |
| Köszönöm | Thank you |
| Kérem / Kérek… | Please / I'd like… |
| Elnézést | Excuse me / sorry |
| Nem értem | I don't understand |
| Beszél angolul? | Do you speak English? (polite) |
| Mennyibe kerül? | How much is it? |
A realistic plan
- Weeks 1–2: pronunciation and letter combinations; read signs aloud.
- Months 1–3: politeness, numbers, shopping, directions and the most common location endings.
- Months 3–6: past tense, appointments and the definite vs indefinite verb forms.
- Learn endings in phrases, not tables: a boltban (in the shop), a boltba (into the shop), a boltból (from the shop).
- Practise speaking with Language Lab's Hungarian course, which uses voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor.
Everyday Hungarian in context
| Situation | Hungarian | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| At the shop | Kártyával fizethetek? | Can I pay by card? |
| On the tram | Hol lehet jegyet venni? | Where can I buy a ticket? |
| At the pharmacy | Valamit szeretnék fejfájásra. | I'd like something for a headache. |
| With the landlord | Nem működik a fűtés. | The heating doesn't work. |
| At the doctor | Két napja lázas vagyok. | I've had a fever for two days. |
Common mistakes
- Reading sz as English "z" or s as "s": in Hungarian sz is "s" and s is "sh" — so Budapest sounds like "Budapesht".
- Ignoring long vowels and double consonants: they change meaning — kor (age) and kór (disease).
- Using informal forms with strangers: use the polite forms (Ön, and verbs like beszél, not beszélsz).
- Trying to memorise every case at once: learn the location endings first, as phrases.
Frequently asked
Is Hungarian the hardest language in Europe?
It's hard for English speakers, but the US Foreign Service Institute puts it in the same Category III as Polish, Czech, Greek and Finnish — about 44 weeks of full-time training — not in the hardest category with Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean.
How many cases does Hungarian have?
Grammars usually list around 18, because Hungarian uses endings for meanings English expresses with prepositions such as in, on, into and from.
Is Hungarian related to Finnish?
Yes, distantly. Both are Uralic languages, but they're not mutually intelligible.
Can I live in Budapest with only English?
Many people manage day to day in international settings, but offices, healthcare, rentals and life outside the capital are much easier with Hungarian.
Sources: US Department of State, Foreign Service Institute — language difficulty categories. Checked 26 September 2026. Photo: the Hungarian Parliament Building on the Danube, Budapest — Jorge Franganillo / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
