A pontszám tíz.

In Hungarian, the verb to be is often left out in the present tense, third person when the sentence means X is Y.

So:

• A pontszám tíz. = The score is ten.

This is completely normal Hungarian.

Compare:

• Én fáradt vagyok. = I am tired.
• Te fáradt vagy. = You are tired.
• Ő fáradt. = He/she is tired.

In the third person singular, Hungarian often drops van in this kind of sentence.

A is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a pontszám = the score

Hungarian has two forms of the:

• a
• az

The choice depends on the following sound:

• a before most consonants
• az before vowels

Since pontszám begins with p, Hungarian uses a:

• a pontszám

Pontszám means score, point total, or sometimes number of points, depending on context.

It is a compound word:

• pont = point
• szám = number

So the literal idea is something like point-number.

This is very natural in Hungarian, where compounds are extremely common.

A pontszám tíz is the most neutral, straightforward way to say The score is ten.

Hungarian word order is more flexible than English word order, but different orders can change emphasis.

For example:

• A pontszám tíz. = neutral statement: The score is ten.
• Tíz a pontszám. = puts more focus on ten

So the version you have is the plain, unmarked order.

Usually, if you mean the score, you would say a pontszám.

So:

• A pontszám tíz. = The score is ten.

Without the article, Pontszám tíz sounds incomplete or unnatural in most normal contexts.

Hungarian uses the definite article quite often when talking about a specific, known thing.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• pontszám ≈ PONT-saam

A few important spelling points:

• sz is pronounced like English s in see
• Hungarian s by itself is pronounced like English sh
• á is a long vowel, somewhat like a longer a
• Stress in Hungarian usually falls on the first syllable

So:

• PONT-szám

with the stress on pont.

Tíz is pronounced approximately like teez.

Notes:

• í is a long ee sound
• z is pronounced like English z

So:

• tíz ≈ teez

The accent marks in Hungarian are not optional. They are part of the spelling and they change pronunciation.

Here:

• á is different from a
• í is different from i

These marks usually show that the vowel is longer, and often slightly different in quality as well.

So:

• szam and szám are not the same spelling
• tiz and tíz are not the same spelling

When writing Hungarian, it is important to include the accents correctly.

It is neutral and can be used in both formal and informal situations.

• A pontszám tíz.

There is nothing especially casual, slangy, or overly formal about it. It is just a plain statement.

Not in this exact present-tense sentence.

You would normally say:

• A pontszám tíz.

not:

• A pontszám tíz van. ✗

However, forms of to be do appear in other situations, for example in other tenses:

• A pontszám tíz volt. = The score was ten.
• A pontszám tíz lesz. = The score will be ten.

So the verb is not gone forever; it is just omitted here because this is a present-tense third-person equational sentence.

Sometimes, but not always exactly.

In English, points can mean:

• individual points
• a score total

In Hungarian:

• pont = a point / points
• pontszám = score, point total

So if you mean the total score, pontszám is often the better word.

For example:

• A pontszám tíz. = The score is ten.

If you are talking about ten individual points more directly, you might use pont in another kind of sentence, depending on context.