A második kör rövid.

In Hungarian, the present-tense forms of to be are usually omitted in sentences like this when the predicate is a noun or adjective.

So:

• A második kör rövid.
• literally: The second round short
• natural English: The second round is short.

This is completely normal Hungarian grammar, not a shortened or informal version.

A is the definite article, so here it means the.

• a = the
• az = also the

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before words beginning with a consonant
• az before words beginning with a vowel

Since második starts with m, Hungarian uses a:

• a második kör = the second round

Yes. Második is the ordinary Hungarian word for second as an ordinal number.

Hungarian distinguishes between:

• cardinal numbers: one, two, three
• ordinal numbers: first, second, third

So:

• kettő / két = two
• második = second

This is normal and must simply be learned; it is not built directly from kettő in the same way English builds second from neither two nor a regular pattern.

Because they do two different jobs.

• második is an attributive adjective: it directly describes the noun inside the noun phrase.
  • a második kör = the second round
• rövid is the predicate adjective: it tells you something about the subject.
  • A második kör rövid. = The second round is short.

So the structure is:

• A második kör = subject
• rövid = predicate adjective

This is very similar to English:

• the second round
• the second round is short

Yes. In this sentence, második functions like an adjective modifying kör.

It tells you which round:

• első kör = first round
• második kör = second round
• harmadik kör = third round

So második behaves like an ordinal adjective.

Not in the way an English speaker might expect. Hungarian does not have grammatical gender, so adjectives do not change for masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Here:

• kör is singular
• rövid stays in its basic form

So:

• A kör rövid. = The round is short.

If the subject were plural, the predicate adjective would usually be plural too:

• A körök rövidek. = The rounds are short.

But in the singular, rövid stays just rövid.

They are in the basic dictionary form, which is nominative.

• a második kör is the subject
• rövid is the predicate adjective

There is no extra case ending here because the sentence is simply making a statement about the subject.

So this is a very basic sentence pattern:

• [subject] + [predicate adjective]

Yes, Hungarian word order is flexible, but changing it usually changes the focus or emphasis.

The neutral version is:

• A második kör rövid.

You may also see:

• Rövid a második kör.

This still means The second round is short, but it puts more emphasis on short.

So the original sentence is a straightforward, neutral way to say it.

A rough guide:

• második ≈ maa-sho-dik
• kör ≈ something like kur but with a rounded vowel; the ö has no exact English equivalent
• rövid ≈ reu-vid with the same kind of ö sound at the start

A few important points:

• á is a long vowel
• ö is a front rounded vowel, similar to German ö if you know it
• Hungarian stress normally falls on the first syllable of each word:
  • MÁsodik
  • KÖR
  • RÖvid

It can mean both, depending on context.

Common meanings of kör include:

• a circle
• a round
• a turn
• a circuit

So in a sentence like A második kör rövid, the meaning round is perfectly natural. This kind of multiple meaning is very common in Hungarian, just as in English words like round can have several related uses.