A kenu külső oldala nedves.

The outside of the canoe is wet.

Breakdown of A kenu külső oldala nedves.

• az: the
• nedves: wet
• kenu: a canoe
• oldal: a side or page

Questions & Answers about A kenu külső oldala nedves.

Why does the sentence start with a?

A is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a kenu = the canoe
• a kenu külső oldala = the canoe’s outer side / the outer side of the canoe

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before consonant sounds
• az before vowel sounds

Since kenu starts with a consonant sound, it takes a.

What does kenu mean, and is it a native Hungarian word?

Kenu means canoe. It is a loanword, and it behaves like an ordinary Hungarian noun.

In this sentence, it appears in its basic dictionary form.

Why is it oldala and not just oldal?

Because oldala means its side or the side of it.

Breakdown:

• oldal = side
• oldala = its side

This is a possessive form. Hungarian often expresses possession directly on the possessed noun with a suffix.

So in:

• a kenu külső oldala

the structure is literally something like:

• the canoe outer side-its

Natural English equivalents are:

• the canoe’s outer side
• the outside of the canoe
• the outer side of the canoe