A vízóra a pincében van.

Because Hungarian uses the definite article before both noun phrases here:

• a vízóra = the water meter
• a pincében = in the cellar / in the basement

This works much like English: the water meter is in the basement. The article stays a separate word, while the location ending -ben attaches to the noun.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant sound
• az before a vowel sound

Here both following words begin with consonants:

• vízóra starts with v
• pincében starts with p

So both take a.

Examples:

• a ház = the house
• az ablak = the window

It is a compound noun:

• víz = water
• óra = clock, watch, hour; in compounds it can also mean a meter

So vízóra literally looks like water-meter. Hungarian forms a lot of everyday nouns this way, by joining smaller words into one compound.

Because Hungarian often uses a case ending instead of a separate preposition.

Here:

• pince = cellar, basement
• pincében = in the cellar / basement

The ending -ban/-ben means in. So Hungarian expresses the idea of in by adding a suffix to the noun, rather than putting a separate word before it.

Two things are happening:

1. Vowel harmony
   Hungarian chooses between -ban and -ben depending on the vowels in the word.
   pince has front vowels, so it takes -ben.

2. Final -e changes to -é before many suffixes
   So pince + ben becomes pincében, not pinceben.

This kind of change is very common in Hungarian.

That is a very common question, and the short answer is: Hungarian often omits van in the present tense, but not in this kind of sentence.

Compare:

• A vízóra új. = The water meter is new.
  Here van is omitted.

But:

• A vízóra a pincében van. = The water meter is in the basement.
  Here van is normally used.

So in present-tense location sentences, van is usually required.

That word order is very natural in Hungarian.

A simple way to read the structure is:

• A vízóra = the topic, what we are talking about
• a pincében van = what we are saying about it

In a neutral statement, putting van at the end sounds normal. Hungarian word order is flexible, though, and changing it changes emphasis.

For example:

• A vízóra a pincében van. = neutral statement
• A pincében van a vízóra. = emphasis on in the basement

This is the difference between location and movement:

• pincében = in the basement / cellar
• pincébe = into the basement / cellar

So:

• A vízóra a pincében van. = The water meter is in the basement.
• Bemegyek a pincébe. = I am going into the basement.

English often uses in vs into for this same contrast.

A rough English-style guide is:

aw VEE-zoh-rah aw PEEN-tseh-bayn vawn

A few helpful points:

• víz has a long í
• ó and é are also long vowels
• Hungarian c is always like ts
• Stress is always on the first syllable of each word:
  • VÍZóra
  • PINcében

So the sentence sounds roughly like:

A VÍZóra a PINcében van.