Hungarian is one of the few Finno-Ugric languages in Europe. The others are Finnish and Estonian. However the break with Finnish was several thousand years ago so German and English are much, much closer than Hungarian and Finnish! (I asked the Finns on the course - it was all Greek to them)
There are 44 letters (betű) in the greater Hungarian alphabet. Of these four (q, w, x, y) are only used in foreign words.
Hungarian uses an extended Latin alphabet. For the vowels it uses accents but unlike some European languages which modify the letters for consonants, Hungarian uses di- and tri-graphs ie two or three "normal" characters to represent a single sound (green on the right).
Characteristics of the language includes vowel harmony (used when deciding what endings to put on a word); words are built up from parts to create new words, meanings or parts of speech; and words need endings to show how they function in a sentence (ie case endings).
For instance a noun has a different ending if it is the thing doing the action or having it done to them or if it is a possession.
Verbs change depending on whether they are used in singular or plural, first, second or third person, formal or informal, with a definite or indefinite object, and depending on the tense and mood!
