Az egyetemi uszoda nagy.

Both a and az mean the in Hungarian.

The choice depends on the sound that follows:

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

The next word here is egyetemi, which begins with a vowel sound, so Hungarian uses az:

• az egyetemi uszoda
• but a nagy uszoda

This is similar to the difference between a and an in English, although Hungarian is doing this with the definite article the.

Egyetemi is an adjective meaning university / university-related.

It comes from the noun egyetem, meaning university, plus the suffix -i, which often turns a noun into an adjective.

So:

• egyetem = university
• egyetemi = university, university-related

This -i suffix is very common in Hungarian:

• budapesti = from Budapest / Budapest
• iskolai = school / school-related
• magyarországi = from Hungary / in Hungary

So egyetemi uszoda literally means something like university swimming pool.

In Hungarian, adjectives usually come before the noun they describe when they are part of the noun phrase.

So:

• egyetemi uszoda = university swimming pool
• nagy uszoda = big swimming pool

This is similar to English, where we also say big house, not house big.

Here, egyetemi is directly describing uszoda, so it goes before it.

Uszoda means swimming pool or swimming baths / swimming facility.

It usually refers to a place intended for swimming, often a public or indoor swimming pool complex, not just any pool of water.

So in many contexts, uszoda is best understood as:

• swimming pool
• swimming facility
• sometimes natatorium in very formal English

A learner may notice that Hungarian often has very specific everyday words like this, where English can be broader.

Because here nagy is not part of the noun phrase egyetemi uszoda. It is the predicate adjective: it tells you what the swimming pool is like.

Compare:

• a nagy uszoda = the big swimming pool
  Here nagy comes before the noun because it directly modifies it inside the noun phrase.

• Az egyetemi uszoda nagy. = The university swimming pool is big.
  Here nagy comes after the subject because it is the main description in the sentence.

So the structure is:

• Az egyetemi uszoda = the university swimming pool
• nagy = big

In this sentence, it is not expressed.

Hungarian usually leaves out the verb to be in the present tense, third person when the sentence is simple and equational/descriptive.

So:

• Az egyetemi uszoda nagy. = The university swimming pool is big.

But Hungarian does use forms of to be in other persons:

• Én nagy vagyok. = I am big.
• Te nagy vagy. = You are big.

And in past or future:

• nagy volt = was big
• nagy lesz = will be big

So the missing is is completely normal here.

No, not in this kind of sentence.

Hungarian adjectives do not agree with nouns in gender, because Hungarian has no grammatical gender. They also usually do not change form in simple descriptive use like this.

So:

• a ház nagy = the house is big
• az uszoda nagy = the swimming pool is big

Even if the noun changes, nagy stays nagy.

This is much simpler than in many Indo-European languages. English speakers often find that helpful.

No. Hungarian does not have grammatical gender.

That means:

• nouns are not masculine, feminine, or neuter
• adjectives do not change for gender
• articles do not change for gender

So uszoda is not grammatically feminine or masculine. It is just a noun.

This is one of the biggest differences from languages like German, French, or Spanish.

Yes. It is a single noun phrase:

• az = the
• egyetemi = university
• uszoda = swimming pool

Together, they form the university swimming pool.

The full sentence then says something about that noun phrase:

• nagy = big

So the sentence divides naturally like this:

• Az egyetemi uszoda | nagy.

Subject | description

Yes, Hungarian word order is flexible, but different orders usually change the emphasis.

The neutral, straightforward order here is:

• Az egyetemi uszoda nagy.

That is the most natural way to say it as a plain statement.

If you change the order, it may sound emphatic, contrastive, or poetic, and it may not be the best form for a beginner to copy.

So for learning purposes, treat this as the standard basic pattern:

• subject + predicate adjective

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Az ≈ uz
• egyetemi ≈ eh-dyeh-teh-mee
• uszoda ≈ oo-so-daw
• nagy ≈ nodj or nawdy, with a soft dy-like sound at the end

A more connected rough version:

• uz eh-dyeh-teh-mee oo-so-daw nodj

A few useful sound notes:

• gy is a special Hungarian sound, somewhat like a very soft dy
• sz is pronounced like English s
• s by itself in Hungarian is pronounced like English sh
• stress is always on the first syllable of each word:
  • AZ
  • Egyetemi
  • Uszoda
  • NAGY

Because Hungarian normally needs the adjective form egyetemi here, not the bare noun egyetem.

English often allows noun + noun combinations:

• university pool
• school bus
• office building

Hungarian usually does this differently. It often uses:

• an adjective with -i, or
• another grammatical structure

So:

• egyetemi uszoda = university swimming pool

Using just egyetem uszoda would not be the normal standard form.

Yes. Nagy basically means big / large, but like English big, it can sometimes be used more broadly depending on context.

For example, in other sentences it might suggest:

• physically large
• important
• great

But in this sentence, the most natural meaning is simply that the swimming pool is large.