A társasjáték az asztalon van.

No. Hungarian a / az means the, not a/an.

So:

• a társasjáték = the board game
• egy társasjáték = a board game

This often confuses English speakers because Hungarian a looks like English a, but it does a different job.

A and az are just two forms of the same definite article: the.

• a is used before a consonant sound: a társasjáték
• az is used before a vowel sound: az asztalon

Since társasjáték starts with t, you use a. Since asztalon starts with a, you use az.

Because Hungarian often uses a suffix instead of a separate preposition.

Here:

• asztal = table
• asztalon = on the table

The ending -on carries the meaning on. This is called the superessive case.

So instead of English on the table, Hungarian says something more like the-table-on.

The noun asztal takes the location ending -on to mean on the table.

Hungarian has several related forms for this ending, such as:

• -on
• -en
• -ön

Which one appears depends partly on vowel harmony and partly on the individual word. So with asztal, the correct form is:

• asztalon

You cannot always predict the exact form perfectly from English, so it is good to learn common nouns together with their location forms.

Because the article and the suffix do different things.

• az shows definiteness: the
• -on shows location: on

So az asztalon means on the table, where the table is definite or known.

Hungarian often combines articles with case endings like this:

• az asztalon = on the table
• a házban = in the house
• a széken = on the chair

Van means is. It is the 3rd person singular form of lenni, which means to be.

So:

• A társasjáték az asztalon van.
• The board game is on the table.

That is a very common question.

In Hungarian, the present-tense is is often omitted in 3rd person sentences with a noun or adjective:

• A társasjáték új. = The board game is new.
• Péter tanár. = Péter is a teacher.

But with location, Hungarian normally keeps van:

• A társasjáték az asztalon van. = The board game is on the table.

So a good beginner rule is:

• identity / description → often no van
• location / existence → usually use van

Yes. It is a compound word.

It is made from:

• társas = social, company-related
• játék = game

Hungarian very often writes compounds as one word, so társasjáték is normal spelling.

Depending on context, it can mean board game or more broadly a tabletop/social game.

Not completely. Hungarian word order is more flexible than English word order.

A társasjáték az asztalon van is a natural sentence. It presents the board game as the topic, then says where it is.

You can also hear:

• Az asztalon van a társasjáték.

That version gives more prominence to the location, roughly like The board game is on the table with stronger attention on on the table.

So the words can move, but the nuance changes.

To make it negative, Hungarian uses nincs instead of van:

• A társasjáték nincs az asztalon. = The board game is not on the table.

To make it a yes/no question, you can keep the same word order and use question intonation:

• A társasjáték az asztalon van? = Is the board game on the table?

You can also ask a where question:

• Hol van a társasjáték? = Where is the board game?

A simple approximation is:

• A TÁR-shosh-YAA-tayk az AHS-ta-lon van

A few useful points:

• Stress is normally on the first syllable of each word.
• á is a long vowel.
• j sounds like English y.
• sz sounds like English s.
• s by itself sounds like English sh.

So in társasjáték:

• tár has a long á
• s sounds like sh
• j sounds like y

That gives something close to TÁR-shosh-yá-ték.