A lejárati dátum helyes.

In Hungarian, the verb van (to be) is usually left out in the present tense, third person singular when the predicate is a noun, adjective, or adverb.

So:

• A lejárati dátum helyes. = The expiration date is correct.

But in other situations, van does appear, for example:

• A lejárati dátum helyes volt. = The expiration date was correct.
• A lejárati dátum helyes lesz. = The expiration date will be correct.

This missing is is one of the most important patterns for English speakers to get used to in Hungarian.

A is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.

So a lejárati dátum means the expiration date.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before consonant sounds
• az before vowel sounds

Because lejárati begins with a consonant sound, the correct form is a:

• a lejárati dátum

If the next word began with a vowel, you would use az instead.

Lejárati is an adjective meaning something like expiration-related or expiry-related.

It is formed from lejárat (expiration / expiry) with the adjective-forming suffix -i.

So:

• lejárat = expiration, expiry
• lejárati = expiration-related, expiry-related

That gives:

• lejárati dátum = expiration date / expiry date

This -i suffix is very common in Hungarian for making adjectives that mean related to something.

Because they are doing two different jobs.

• lejárati is an attributive adjective: it directly describes the noun dátum, so it comes before the noun.

  • lejárati dátum = expiration date

• helyes is a predicate adjective: it tells you something about the whole subject a lejárati dátum, so it comes in the predicate part of the sentence.

  • A lejárati dátum helyes. = The expiration date is correct.

Compare:

• a helyes lejárati dátum = the correct expiration date
• A lejárati dátum helyes. = The expiration date is correct.

So the position changes depending on whether the adjective is inside the noun phrase or acting as the main description in the sentence.

Yes, you can, but the emphasis changes.

• A lejárati dátum helyes. is a neutral statement: The expiration date is correct.
• Helyes a lejárati dátum. puts more focus on helyes: The expiration date is correct (perhaps contrasting it with something else that is wrong).

Hungarian word order is flexible, and moving something to the front often gives it more emphasis or focus.

So both are possible, but they do not feel exactly the same.

Because lejárati is an adjective, and in Hungarian, an adjective + noun combination is normally written as two words.

So:

• lejárati dátum = correct

This is different from many true compounds in Hungarian, which are often written as one word. Here, though, the structure is simply:

• adjective: lejárati
• noun: dátum

So it stays separate.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• A ≈ short aw
• lejárati ≈ leh-YAA-rah-tee
• dátum ≈ DAA-toom
• helyes ≈ HEH-yesh

A few useful points:

• Stress in Hungarian normally falls on the first syllable of each word.
• á is a long vowel.
• ly in modern Hungarian is pronounced like j.
• s is pronounced like English sh.

So helyes sounds roughly like HEH-yesh.

Yes, helyes is a normal word for correct or right.

In this sentence, it means the expiration date is correct, for example:

• the date was entered correctly
• the printed date is the right one

Depending on context, Hungarian might also use other words in related situations, such as érvényes (valid), but that means something slightly different.

So:

• helyes = correct, right
• érvényes = valid

That is why helyes works well if you want to say the date itself is correct.

Then both the noun and the predicate adjective would normally become plural:

• A lejárati dátumok helyesek. = The expiration dates are correct.

Here:

• dátum → dátumok = dates
• helyes → helyesek = correct (plural)

Just like in the singular present tense, there is still no separate word for are in this kind of sentence.