A köret meleg.

In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense, third person when you are saying something like X is Y.

So:

• A köret meleg. = The side dish is warm.

But in other persons, van or another form of to be does appear:

• Meleg vagyok. = I am warm.
• Meleg vagy. = You are warm.
• A köret meleg. = The side dish is warm.

This omission is completely normal and one of the first things English speakers notice in Hungarian.

A is the definite article, so it means the.

• a köret = the side dish

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a
• az

Which one is used depends on the sound that follows:

• use a before a word beginning with a consonant
• use az before a word beginning with a vowel

So:

• a köret
• az étel

Since köret starts with k, the correct form is a.

Here meleg is not directly describing the noun inside a noun phrase like warm side dish. Instead, it is the predicate of the sentence:

• A köret meleg. = The side dish is warm.

That is why the structure is:

• subject
  • predicate adjective

If you wanted to say warm side dish as a noun phrase, the adjective would come before the noun:

• meleg köret = warm side dish

So compare:

• meleg köret = warm side dish
• A köret meleg. = The side dish is warm.

A simple English-friendly approximation is:

• köret ≈ KUH-ret, but with a rounded vowel in the first syllable

More precisely:

• ö is like the vowel in German schön or French peu
• e is like e in bed
• stress is on the first syllable in Hungarian

So the stress is:

• KÖ-ret

The ö is important, because it is not the same as o.

It is pronounced roughly:

• MEH-leg

Details:

• stress is on the first syllable
• both e sounds are short, like e in bed
• the final g is pronounced normally

So:

• ME-leg

Usually meleg means warm, and sometimes more generally warm/hot depending on context.

For food, meleg often means it is warm or served hot, as opposed to cold. But if you specifically want to say something is very hot, Hungarian often uses:

• forró = hot

So:

• A köret meleg. = The side dish is warm / served warm.
• A leves forró. = The soup is hot.

In many everyday situations, meleg is the more natural word unless you want to emphasize strong heat.

Yes, A köret meleg is a normal, neutral sentence.

But Meleg a köret is also possible. Hungarian word order is flexible, and changing the order often changes the focus or emphasis.

• A köret meleg. = neutral statement: The side dish is warm.
• Meleg a köret. = emphasis on warm; something like The side dish is warm / It’s the side dish that is warm.

So both are grammatical, but they are not always identical in tone.

It is in the basic dictionary form, which is the nominative (subject form).

In this sentence, a köret is the subject:

• A köret meleg.

No special case ending is needed because it is simply the thing being talked about.

If Hungarian needed another role, you would often see a case ending added. For example:

• köretet = side dish, as a direct object
• körettel = with a side dish

But in your sentence, plain köret is correct.

You add nem before the predicate:

• A köret nem meleg. = The side dish is not warm.

This is the normal way to negate this kind of sentence.

In speech, you can often keep the same word order and use rising intonation:

• A köret meleg? = Is the side dish warm?

Hungarian does not always need a special helping verb like English is to form a question. Intonation is often enough.

You could also ask more explicitly in a longer sentence, but for this simple sentence, rising intonation works perfectly.