Hungarian typing practice
Learn to touch type in Hungarian, free in your browser: lessons built from real Hungarian words, passages from A Pál-utcai fiúk and other classics, and the keys for all nine accented vowels on a Hungarian, US or UK keyboard.
What you can practise
Smart Lessons in Hungarian
Real Hungarian words, built around your slowest key. You start on six keys, and Hungarian's own letters join as the others come up to speed.
The Hungarian alphabet
Every letter in order against the clock, with how to type each Hungarian letter on your keyboard.
Typing games in Hungarian
Pilot and Spaceship: steer through the gaps or shoot down enemy ships by typing Hungarian words.
6 Hungarian books
Classic Hungarian books, out of copyright, typed a passage at a time.
Hungarian letters
Hungarian adds nine accented vowels to a to z: á, é, í, ó and ú with an acute, ö and ü with two dots, and ő and ű with the double acute, a mark almost no other language uses. Each is a letter of its own, and length changes meaning: "kor" (age), "kór" (illness), "kör" (circle) and "kőr" (hearts, in cards) are four different words. The pangram "Árvíztűrő tükörfúrógép" has all nine.
The Hungarian keyboard is QWERTZ, with 0 to the left of 1 and every accented letter on a key of its own: ö, ü and ó after 9, ő and ú to the right of P, é and á to the right of L, ű by Enter and í between the left Shift and Y. On a US or UK keyboard, US-International types the acute with ' and ö and ü with ", but not ő or ű; on a Mac, ABC – Extended types those with Option J.
On a Hungarian keyboard
Windows: Hungarian · macOS: Hungarian · Linux: Hungarian
Add it in Windows under Settings > Time & language > Language & region, in macOS under System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources, in Linux under Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources.
| Letter | Windows | macOS | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| á | Á | Á | Á |
| é | É | É | É |
| í | Í | Í | Í |
| ó | Ó | Ó | Ó |
| ö | Ö | Ö | Ö |
| ő | Ő | Ő | Ő |
| ú | Ú | Ú | Ú |
| ü | Ü | Ü | Ü |
| ű | Ű | Ű | Ű |
On a US or UK keyboard
Windows: United States-International · macOS: ABC – Extended · Linux: English (US, intl., with dead keys)
Add it the same way. On US-International ' and " become dead keys: type a space after one for the mark itself.
| Letter | Windows | macOS | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| á | 'then A | Option Ethen A | 'then A |
| é | 'then E | Option Ethen E | 'then E |
| í | 'then I | Option Ethen I | 'then I |
| ó | 'then O | Option Ethen O | 'then O |
| ö | Shift 'then O | Option Uthen O | Shift 'then O |
| ő | Not on this layout | Option Jthen O | Shift AltGr 2then O |
| ú | 'then U | Option Ethen U | 'then U |
| ü | Shift 'then U | Option Uthen U | Shift 'then U |
| ű | Not on this layout | Option Jthen U | Shift AltGr 2then U |
Tips for typing Hungarian
Zero is left of 1
Hungarian moves 0 to the far left of the number row, for the left little finger, to make room for ö, ü and ó. Numbers such as 10 and 2020 are where the move catches people out.
Most accents are on the right
Ö, ü, ó, ő, ú, é, á and ű all sit on the right edge of the keyboard, mostly for the right little finger. Reach and come back to the home row each time rather than letting the hand drift right.
Í is on the left
The one accent on the left hand is í, between the left Shift and Y. It is easy to forget it is there; "így" and "író" are short words that train the reach.
Y is in every gy, ly, ny and ty
On QWERTZ the Y moves to the bottom left and Z takes its place, typed with the right index finger. Hungarian uses y far more than English, in "nagy", "egy" and "hogy", so learn its new place early.