A portéka régi.

Portéka means something like wares, merchandise, or goods.

A useful nuance: it is not the most neutral modern everyday word in all contexts. It can sound a bit:

• old-fashioned
• folksy
• market-stall-like
• sometimes a little literary

In very neutral modern Hungarian, you might also see words like:

• áru = goods, merchandise
• termék = product

So A portéka régi. is perfectly understandable, but the noun portéka has a bit more flavor than a plain business-style word.

Because a is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a portéka = the merchandise / the wares

Hungarian definite articles do not change for gender, because Hungarian has no grammatical gender like he/she/it nouns in many European languages.

There are two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant
• az before a vowel

So here it is a portéka because portéka starts with p, a consonant.

For comparison:

• a könyv = the book
• az asztal = the table

This is one of the most important features of Hungarian grammar.

In the present tense, in third person sentences like X is Y, Hungarian usually omits the verb to be when the predicate is:

• a noun, or
• an adjective

So:

• A portéka régi. = The merchandise is old.

There is no visible word for is, but the sentence is complete and natural.

However, in other tenses, the verb appears:

• A portéka régi volt. = The merchandise was old.
• A portéka régi lesz. = The merchandise will be old.

And with other persons, the verb also appears:

• Régi vagyok. = I am old.
• Régi vagy. = You are old.

So the missing is here is not accidental; it is a normal rule.

Because here régi is not directly modifying the noun inside a noun phrase. It is the predicate of the sentence.

Compare these:

• A portéka régi. = The merchandise is old.
• A régi portéka = the old merchandise

That is a very important difference.

So:

1. noun + adjective can form a full sentence:

   • A portéka régi.

2. article + adjective + noun forms a noun phrase:

   • A régi portéka

In other words:

• régi after the noun here means is old
• régi before the noun means old as part of the noun phrase

Not exactly.

• A portéka régi. = The merchandise is old.
  This is a complete sentence.

• A régi portéka = the old merchandise
  This is only a noun phrase, not a full sentence by itself.

So the word order changes the grammatical function.

This is a very common thing for English speakers to notice, because English also distinguishes:

• the merchandise is old
• the old merchandise

Hungarian does the same, but without the visible is in the first sentence.

It does not change for gender, because Hungarian has no grammatical gender.

But number is a little more interesting.

With this singular subject:

• A portéka régi.

If the subject is plural and the adjective is used as the predicate, the adjective is usually plural too:

• A portékák régiek. = The wares are old.

But if the adjective comes before the noun as a normal modifier, it usually stays unchanged:

• a régi portékák = the old wares

So compare:

• A portékák régiek. = The wares are old.
• A régi portékák = the old wares

That difference often surprises learners.

Grammatically, portéka is singular.

However, in meaning, it can refer to merchandise or goods in a more collective sense, which is why English might sometimes use a plural-style translation like goods.

So Hungarian can say:

• A portéka régi.

Even if English might naturally think in terms of the goods are old.

If you want an explicitly plural form in Hungarian, you can say:

• A portékák régiek. = The wares / items are old.

So:

• portéka = singular, often collective
• portékák = plural, individual wares/items

Yes, you can, but the emphasis changes.

• A portéka régi. is the more neutral, straightforward statement.
• Régi a portéka. puts more focus on régi.

That second version can sound like:

• The merchandise is old
• or more emphatically, It’s old, the merchandise
• or The merchandise is old, not new

Hungarian word order is strongly connected to focus and emphasis, not just basic grammar.

So both are possible, but they are not identical in tone.

A fairly accurate IPA pronunciation is:

[ɒ ˈporteːkɒ ˈreːɡi]

A few helpful pronunciation points:

• Stress is on the first syllable of each word:

  • A
  • POR-té-ka
  • RÉ-gi

• é is a long vowel, roughly like the vowel in English say, but usually a bit purer and without much glide.

• g in régi is a hard g, like in go, not like j in giant.

A rough English-friendly approximation would be:

• aw POR-tay-kaw RAY-ghee

But the IPA version is more reliable if you know IPA at all.

Both can relate to the idea of old, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

régi often means:

• old = not new
• former
• long-standing

Examples:

• régi ház = an old house
• régi barát = an old / longtime friend
• régi könyv = an old book

öreg is more often used for:

• old in age, especially for people and animals
• something very aged or worn

Examples:

• öreg ember = an old man
• öreg kutya = an old dog

For merchandise, régi is the natural choice, because the idea is basically not new / of old stock / old goods, not elderly merchandise.

You would say:

A portéka nem régi.

Hungarian usually negates this kind of sentence with nem, placed before the predicate:

• A portéka régi. = The merchandise is old.
• A portéka nem régi. = The merchandise is not old.

So if you want to negate an adjective predicate like régi, put nem right before it.