What you can expect from this site:
- Detailed lessons on Hungarian grammar, ranging from level A1 to B2 (C1 content to be added at some point)
- All lessons reviewed and edited by a native Hungarian speaker, appropriately fluent in both Hungarian and English
- Explanations of nuance not found in typical Hungarian textbooks
- Explanations of vocabulary and helpful examples to show context
- Modern and relevant language examples and explanations of different registers of speaking
- Hungarian-English song translations with vocabulary lists
- (currently being implemented) audio samples of example sentences and vocabulary spoken by native speakers
This site is geared toward:
- Anyone self-studying the Hungarian language
- Anyone taking a Hungarian language course who wishes to supplement their learning
- Those who want an in-depth knowledge of Hungarian grammar and understanding of the language as a whole
- Those wishing to live in Hungary – whether for business, pleasure, or to study abroad
Isn’t it Hard?!
I really feel like Hungarian is misrepresented as a language, even by sites claiming to teach it. You search for grammar lessons and are immediately bombarded with “hey, did you know the longest word in Hungarian is “Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért” and it’s like a whole entire sentence?!” or “Look at these 3500+ ways to conjugate Hungarian verbs! Crazy!”
I promise you, with all my heart, Hungarian is not THAT complicated. There are only 4-5 verb tenses in Hungarian (conjugated for 8 different subjects), and those big long impossible “words” are literally never used in daily conversation. It’s just a ridiculous way to show how an agglutinative language works.
If you’re still feeling uneasy, here are some things that actually make Hungarian quite simple to learn:
1. No noun genders. None. Nada.
2. Adjectives don’t have to correspond to nouns in number or gender like they do in romance languages, except in very specific conditions.
3. Phonetic. Everything is pronounced as it’s spelled with very few exceptions.
4. Only 4-5 verb tenses (present, past, conditional, imperative/subjunctive), and there aren’t a whole lot of irregular verbs.
5. There are technically only 4 noun cases in Hungarian (nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive). The other “cases” you can think of more as suffixes that correspond to English prepositions. They just go on the end of nouns instead of in front of them. So while you may hear “Hungarian has 17 cases” and want to run for the hills, it’s really not all that complicated (I promise).
6. While there might be a lot of rules to learn (as with any language), there really aren’t that many exceptions compared to English. Hungarian is a very logical and strict language. Once you learn a rule, you can apply it about 98% of the time.
If you get overwhelmed, don’t sweat it! Take things at your own pace and don’t overburden yourself. Language learning should ultimately be something that you enjoy, and I hope that this site can help you in your journey with Hungarian.
Better Hungarian 