100 Essential Hungarian Words for Beginners (with English Translations)

Greetings & basics

16 words

English	Hungarian	Type
hello	jó napot	interjection
goodbye	viszontlátásra	interjection
yes	igen	interjection
no	nem	interjection
please	kérem	interjection
thank you	köszönöm	interjection
sorry	bocsánat	interjection
and	és	conjunction
but	de	conjunction
or	vagy	conjunction
because	mert	conjunction
here	itt	adverb
there	ott	adverb
always	mindig	adverb
never	soha	adverb
together	együtt	adverb

People & family

14 words

English	Hungarian	Type
man	férfi	noun
woman	nő	noun
boy	fiú	noun
girl	lány	noun
friend	barát	noun
mother	anya	noun
father	apa	noun
brother	báty	noun
sister	húg	noun
child	gyerek	noun
husband	férj	noun
wife	feleség	noun
parent	szülő	noun
grandmother	nagymama	noun

Everyday verbs

16 words

English	Hungarian	Type
to be	lenni	verb
to have	van neki	verb
to do	csinálni	verb
to go	menni	verb
to come	jönni	verb
to eat	enni	verb
to drink	inni	verb
to want	akarni	verb
to need	szüksége van	verb
to know	tudni	verb
to speak	beszélni	verb
to read	olvasni	verb
to write	írni	verb
to listen	hallgatni	verb
to work	dolgozni	verb
to buy	venni	verb

Describing words

10 words

English	Hungarian	Type
good	jó	adjective
bad	rossz	adjective
new	új	adjective
old	idős	adjective
young	fiatal	adjective
tall	magas	adjective
short	alacsony	adjective
nice	kedves	adjective
kind	jószívű	adjective
shy	szégyenlős	adjective

Colors

8 words

English	Hungarian	Type
red	piros	adjective
blue	kék	adjective
green	zöld	adjective
yellow	sárga	adjective
black	fekete	adjective
white	fehér	adjective
orange	narancssárga	adjective
purple	lila	adjective

Numbers

12 words

English	Hungarian	Type
one	egy	number
two	kettő	number
three	három	number
four	négy	number
five	öt	number
six	hat	number
seven	hét	number
eight	nyolc	number
nine	kilenc	number
ten	tíz	number
zero	nulla	number
twenty	húsz	number

Time

10 words

English	Hungarian	Type
today	ma	adverb
tomorrow	holnap	adverb
yesterday	tegnap	adverb
morning	reggel	noun
afternoon	délután	noun
evening	este	noun
night	éjszaka	noun
day	nap	noun
month	hónap	noun
year	év	noun

Food & drink

10 words

English	Hungarian	Type
water	víz	noun
coffee	kávé	noun
tea	tea	noun
milk	tej	noun
bread	kenyér	noun
cheese	sajt	noun
fruit	gyümölcs	noun
apple	alma	noun
egg	tojás	noun
rice	rizs	noun

Home

4 words

English	Hungarian	Type
house	ház	noun
door	ajtó	noun
window	ablak	noun
bed	ágy	noun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Learn these Hungarian words for good

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

A list is where learning starts, not where it ends. Watch Your Language puts Hungarian words like these on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, so you see a few every time you check the time, and it schedules the repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

You can add your own words too, from a photo, a page of notes or a spreadsheet.

Keep going with Hungarian

Hungarian vocabulary by topicLonger word lists, one topic at a time

Hungarian for beginners questions

What are the first Hungarian words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For Hungarian that means words like jó napot (hello), köszönöm (thank you), víz (water) and enni (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

How is Hungarian written?

Hungarian uses the Latin alphabet, so you can read the words above without learning a new script. 51 of the 100 words contain a letter or mark outside plain a–z, so learn those alongside the spelling.

Is 100 words enough to speak Hungarian?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these Hungarian words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.