Az úszósapka kicsi.

In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense, third person when it links the subject to a noun or adjective.

So:

Az úszósapka kicsi.
literally: The swim cap small.
natural English: The swim cap is small.

This is completely normal Hungarian grammar. A form of van (is) would appear in other situations, such as in the past or future, or in some special structures.

Az is the definite article, meaning the.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

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

Because úszósapka begins with the vowel ú, the correct form is:

az úszósapka

Compare:

• a sapka = the cap
• az úszósapka = the swim cap

Hungarian very often forms compound nouns by joining words together.

Here:

• úszó = swimming / swimmer / swim-related
• sapka = cap

Together:

• úszósapka = swim cap

Writing compounds as one word is very common in Hungarian, much more than in English.

A rough pronunciation is:

OO-soh-shop-kaw

A few important pronunciation points:

• ú is a long u sound
• ó is a long o sound
• sz is pronounced like English s
• s is pronounced like English sh

So the middle of the word can be surprising to English speakers:

• sz = s
• s = sh

Also, Hungarian stress normally falls on the first syllable:

Úszósapka

Yes, that is a very normal word order.

In a neutral sentence, Hungarian often puts the topic first and the new information after it:

• Az úszósapka = what we are talking about
• kicsi = what we are saying about it

So:

Az úszósapka kicsi. = The swim cap is small.

Hungarian word order is flexible, though. If you say:

Kicsi az úszósapka.

that can sound more like The swim cap is SMALL or put extra focus on small.

No. Hungarian has no grammatical gender, so adjectives do not change for masculine, feminine, or neuter.

So kicsi stays the same regardless of whether the noun refers to a male, female, object, or anything else.

That is much simpler than in many Indo-European languages.

Yes, it can.

With a singular subject:

• Az úszósapka kicsi. = The swim cap is small.

With a plural subject:

• Az úszósapkák kicsik. = The swim caps are small.

Here:

• úszósapkák = plural noun
• kicsik = plural adjective used as the predicate

So unlike English, the predicate adjective can show plural in Hungarian.

They are closely related, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

In this sentence, kicsi is the natural form because it comes after the noun as the predicate:

• Az úszósapka kicsi. = The swim cap is small.

Before a noun, Hungarian often uses kis:

• a kis úszósapka = the small swim cap

A useful simple rule is:

• kis often comes before a noun
• kicsi often appears after the noun, or stands on its own

No. It is in the basic dictionary form, often called the nominative.

Hungarian marks many relationships with case endings, but the subject of a sentence usually has no ending.

So in:

Az úszósapka kicsi.

úszósapka is simply the subject in its basic form.

You add nem before the adjective:

Az úszósapka nem kicsi.
= The swim cap is not small.

This is the normal way to negate a sentence like this in Hungarian.