The 100 Most Common Hungarian Words

These are the 100 most common Hungarian words, ranked by how often they appear in real Hungarian text and speech, drawn from published word-frequency research. Frequency-first learning works: a small core of high-frequency words does most of the work in everyday sentences, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	a	aw	the (definite article)
2	és	aysh	and
3	van	vawn	is
4	hogy	hohdy	that (conjunction)
5	nem	nem	no
6	egy	edy	one
7	ez	ez	this
8	az	awz	that
9	én	ayn	I
10	ő	ur	he / she
11	mi	mee	we
12	te	teh	you
13	ki	kee	who
14	de	deh	but
15	is	eesh	too
16	még	mayg	still
17	már	mahr	already
18	csak	chawk	only
19	nagy	nawdy	big
20	év	ayv	year
21	idő	EE-dur	time
22	nap	nawp	day
23	jó	yoh	good
24	ember	EM-behr	person
25	tud	tood	know
26	mond	mohnd	say
27	lát	laht	see
28	megy	medy	go
29	ad	awd	give
30	új	ooy	new
31	dolog	DOH-lohg	thing
32	sok	shohk	many
33	kettő	KET-tur	two
34	első	EL-shur	first
35	akar	AW-kawr	want
36	hol	hohl	where
37	mert	mehrt	because
38	akkor	AWK-kohr	then
39	ott	oht	there
40	együtt	EDY-ewt	together
41	munka	MOON-kaw	work
42	vagy	vawdy	or
43	élet	AY-let	life
44	kell	kel	must
45	minden	MIN-den	all
46	más	mahsh	other
47	itt	eet	here
48	most	mohsht	now
49	nagyon	NAW-dyohn	very
50	világ	VEE-lahg	world
51	ha	haw	if (condition)
52	mint	meent	as, than
53	lesz	lehs	will be, become
54	több	turb	more, several
55	olyan	OH-yawn	such, like that
56	ilyen	EE-yen	such, like this
57	aki	AW-kee	who (relative)
58	ami	AW-mee	which, what (relative)
59	amely	AW-mey	which (relative, formal)
60	úgy	oody	so, in that way
61	így	eedy	so, in this way
62	majd	mawyd	then, later
63	pedig	PEH-deeg	however, whereas
64	vesz	vehs	take, buy
65	tesz	tehs	do, put
66	kap	kawp	get, receive
67	jön	yurn	come
68	néz	nayz	look, watch
69	áll	ahl	stand
70	marad	MAW-rawd	remain, stay
71	kezd	kehzd	begin
72	talál	TAW-lahl	find
73	él	ayl	live
74	hisz	heess	believe
75	gondol	GOHN-dohl	think
76	beszél	BEH-sayl	speak
77	szeret	SEH-ret	love, like
78	kér	kayr	ask for, request
79	vár	vahr	wait
80	ír	eer	write
81	hall	hawl	hear
82	után	OO-tahn	after (postposition)
83	előtt	EH-lurt	before, in front of (postposition)
84	között	KUR-zurt	between (postposition)
85	alatt	AW-lawt	under, during (postposition)
86	szerint	SEH-reent	according to (postposition)
87	miért	MEE-ayrt	why (question word)
88	mikor	MEE-kohr	when (question word)
89	hogyan	HOH-dyawn	how (question word)
90	valami	VAW-law-mee	something
91	valaki	VAW-law-kee	someone
92	mindenki	MEEN-den-kee	everyone
93	másik	MAH-sheek	the other (one)
94	ország	OHR-sahg	country, nation
95	város	VAH-rohsh	city, town
96	ház	hahz	house
97	gyerek	DYEH-rek	child
98	nő	nur	woman
99	férfi	FAYR-fee	man, adult male
100	szó	soh	word (unit of language)

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

Ranked by lemma frequency in published Hungarian corpus research; proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

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Frequently asked questions about Hungarian words

How many Hungarian words do you need for a basic conversation?

Frequency research shows the 1,000 most common words cover roughly 85 percent of everyday speech, and the top 100 alone appear in almost every sentence. You can manage simple exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak Hungarian?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, grow toward the most common 1,000 words and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Hungarian word list come from?

From published Hungarian word-frequency research: lemma-ranked corpus lists cleaned for learners, with proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Rankings are approximate, since real usage varies by region and register, but the core is stable across corpora.