Breakdown of Ez egy hivatalos bankszámlakivonat.
Questions & Answers about Ez egy hivatalos bankszámlakivonat.
Why is there no word for is in this sentence?
In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense, third person when you are saying that something is something.
So:
- Ez egy hivatalos bankszámlakivonat. = This is an official bank statement.
Hungarian does not need a separate word for is here.
Compare:
- Én tanár vagyok. = I am a teacher.
- Te tanár vagy. = You are a teacher.
- Ő tanár. = He/She is a teacher.
So with he/she/it/this/that in the present tense, Hungarian often drops van in this kind of sentence.
What does egy mean here?
Here, egy means a/an, the indefinite article.
So:
- ez = this
- egy = a/an
- hivatalos bankszámlakivonat = official bank statement
However, egy can also mean one in other contexts. Hungarian uses the same word for both ideas, and the meaning depends on context.
In this sentence, it is most naturally understood as a/an, not one.
Why is it ez egy... and not ez a...?
This is a very common question.
- Ez by itself means this as a pronoun: this is...
- ez a means this + noun: this ...
So:
- Ez egy hivatalos bankszámlakivonat. = This is an official bank statement.
- Ez a hivatalos bankszámlakivonat. = This is the official bank statement or This official bank statement
In other words:
- ez egy... introduces what something is
- ez a... points to a specific noun
Is bankszámlakivonat really just one word?
Yes. Hungarian very often forms long compound nouns, and they are commonly written as one word.
This one can be broken down like this:
- bank = bank
- számla = account / bill
- kivonat = extract / statement
So bankszámlakivonat literally means something like bank-account-statement, which in natural English is bank statement or bank account statement.
This kind of compounding is extremely normal in Hungarian.
Why doesn’t hivatalos change form?
Because Hungarian adjectives do not work like adjectives in many Indo-European languages.
Important points:
- Hungarian has no grammatical gender
- Adjectives do not agree with nouns for gender
- When an adjective comes directly before a noun, it usually stays in its basic form
So:
- hivatalos bankszámlakivonat = official bank statement
- hivatalos bankszámlakivonatok = official bank statements
Notice that hivatalos stays the same.
The plural marker goes on the noun, not usually on the adjective in this position.
How do you pronounce this sentence?
A rough learner-friendly pronunciation would be:
- Ez ≈ ez
- egy ≈ edj or egy with a very soft dy sound
- hivatalos ≈ hee-va-ta-losh
- bankszámlakivonat ≈ bank-saam-la-ki-vo-nat
A few useful pronunciation notes:
- sz is pronounced like English s
- s is pronounced like English sh
- á is a long a, like aah
- gy is a soft consonant sound that English does not match exactly, but dy is a decent approximation for beginners
Also, Hungarian stress usually falls on the first syllable of each word:
- EZ
- Egy
- HIvatalos
- BANKszámlakivonat
What does hivatalos mean exactly here?
Hivatalos usually means official, formal, or authorized, depending on context.
In this sentence, it means that the bank statement is official, not just informal or unofficial.
So it suggests something like:
- an officially issued document
- a formal bank statement
- a document suitable for administrative or legal purposes
It does not mean office-related here. It means official in the sense of recognized or formally issued.
Could I leave out egy and say Ez hivatalos bankszámlakivonat?
You might hear reduced forms in special contexts, but in normal everyday Hungarian, Ez egy hivatalos bankszámlakivonat is the natural standard sentence.
Leaving out egy can sound:
- unnatural
- abrupt
- label-like
- context-dependent
So for learners, the safe and natural version is:
- Ez egy hivatalos bankszámlakivonat.
Use egy when you mean This is an official bank statement.
How would I make this sentence plural?
You would say:
- Ezek hivatalos bankszámlakivonatok. = These are official bank statements.
Changes:
- ez → ezek = this → these
- bankszámlakivonat → bankszámlakivonatok = plural noun
- hivatalos stays the same
And again, there is still no separate word for are in this kind of present-tense third-person sentence.
Can the word order change?
Yes, but Hungarian word order is strongly connected to focus and emphasis, not just grammar.
The neutral, straightforward version is:
- Ez egy hivatalos bankszámlakivonat.
That is the best version for a learner to use.
Other word orders are possible in special contexts, but they can sound marked, literary, contrastive, or unnatural if used without the right situation.
So the simplest rule is:
- learn Ez egy hivatalos bankszámlakivonat. as the normal basic sentence
How would I say This is not an official bank statement?
You would say:
- Ez nem hivatalos bankszámlakivonat.
Here:
- nem = not
Notice that Hungarian still does not add a separate word for is in this type of sentence.
So:
- Ez egy hivatalos bankszámlakivonat. = This is an official bank statement.
- Ez nem hivatalos bankszámlakivonat. = This is not an official bank statement.
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