A lejárati dátum helyes, ugye?

Hungarian often omits the verb to be in the present tense when the subject is third person singular or plural.

So:

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

There is no separate word for is here, but the meaning is still complete and natural.

Compare:

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

Only the third person present usually drops the copula.

If you changed the tense, the verb would appear:

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

A is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a lejárati dátum = the expiration date

Hungarian uses a / az much like English uses the, though the exact usage does not always match perfectly in every context.

Here it refers to a specific expiration date, probably the one printed on a package or document.

Lejárati dátum means expiration date or expiry date.

It can be broken down like this:

• lejár = to expire, to run out, to come to an end
• lejárat = expiration / expiry in this kind of context
• lejárati = expiration-related, of expiration
• dátum = date

So lejárati dátum is literally something like expiration-related date, but in normal English we simply say expiration date.

The -i ending is very common in Hungarian for making an adjective from a noun:

• iskola = school → iskolai = school-related
• nyár = summer → nyári = summer, summer-related
• lejárat = expiration → lejárati = expiration-related

Good question. In this sentence, helyes is not directly modifying the noun inside the noun phrase. It is the predicate of the sentence.

So this structure is:

• A lejárati dátum = the expiration date
• helyes = correct

Together:

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

If helyes were directly describing the noun, it would come before it:

• a helyes lejárati dátum = the correct expiration date

So compare:

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

Helyes usually means correct, right, or proper.

In this sentence, it means something like:

• correct
• right
• accurate

So the speaker is asking whether the expiration date is the correct one.

Depending on context, helyes can also mean proper or appropriate, but here correct is the most natural understanding.

Ugye is a very common Hungarian particle used to ask for confirmation or show that the speaker expects agreement.

Here it works like:

• right?
• isn't it?
• correct?

So:

• A lejárati dátum helyes, ugye? = The expiration date is correct, right?

But ugye is a little broader than any single English tag question. It often signals:

• You agree, don’t you?
• I’m assuming this is true.
• Please confirm this.

It is extremely common in conversation.

No. That is often a useful translation, but not always the best one.

Depending on the sentence, ugye may be closer to:

• right?
• okay?
• you know
• surely
• I assume

In your sentence, right? is probably the most natural English equivalent.

So it is better to think of ugye as a confirmation-seeking particle, not as a fixed one-to-one match for isn't it?

Because ugye is functioning like a tag or a separate discourse particle at the end of the sentence.

In writing, Hungarian often separates this kind of sentence-final ugye with a comma:

• A lejárati dátum helyes, ugye?

It reflects the pause and intonation you would hear in speech.

Sometimes, yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• helyes = correct, accurate
• jó = good, okay, fine

So:

• A lejárati dátum helyes, ugye? asks whether the date is correct
• A lejárati dátum jó, ugye? sounds more like The expiration date is okay/fine, right?

If you are checking whether the printed date is the right one, helyes is more precise.

In casual speech, however, Hungarians might also use other expressions, such as:

• A lejárati dátum stimmel, ugye? = The expiration date checks out / is correct, right?

Hungarian word order is fairly flexible, but different orders create different emphasis.

The version you have:

• A lejárati dátum helyes, ugye?

is a very natural, neutral way to say:

• The expiration date is correct, right?

You may also hear:

• Ugye a lejárati dátum helyes?

This puts ugye earlier and can sound like the speaker is framing the whole sentence as something they expect to be true.

The original version is probably the clearest and most straightforward for a learner.

A rough pronunciation guide:

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

A few important points:

• á is a long vowel, so dátum and lejárati have a longer aa sound
• ly in modern Hungarian is pronounced like j
• gy is a soft consonant somewhat like the dy in duke for many English speakers

A rough full version:

• aw leh-YAA-rah-tee DAA-toom HEH-yesh, oo-dyeh?

Yes, it is natural and clear.

It sounds like something you might say when checking a label, document, or entry in a system.

A few other natural variants are:

• A lejárati dátum helyes? = Is the expiration date correct?
• A lejárati dátum helyes, ugye? = The expiration date is correct, right?
• A lejárati dátum stimmel, ugye? = The expiration date is correct, right? / It checks out, right?

Your sentence specifically sounds like the speaker already expects the answer to be yes and just wants confirmation.