Az ár fontos szempont.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article: a and az.

• a is used before a consonant sound
• az is used before a vowel sound

Since ár begins with á, which is a vowel, you say az ár.

This works a lot like English a/an:

• a house
• an apple

So:

• a könyv = the book
• az ár = the price

In Hungarian, it is very natural to use the definite article with a subject like this. So az ár can mean:

• the price in a specific context, or
• more generally price as a factor under discussion

Hungarian often uses the definite article where English uses a bare noun. So even if the English translation is simply Price is an important consideration, Hungarian still normally says Az ár fontos szempont.

A bare Ár fontos szempont would sound unnatural here.

Because in Hungarian, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense, third person when the predicate is a noun or adjective.

So:

• Az ár fontos. = The price is important.
• Az ár fontos szempont. = The price is an important consideration.

This is completely normal Hungarian.

But in other situations, the verb does appear:

• Én fáradt vagyok. = I am tired.
• Te tanár vagy. = You are a teacher.
• Az ár fontos volt. = The price was important.

So the missing is is not an omission by accident; it is the standard rule here.

In Hungarian, predicate nouns are often used without an article in simple identifying or classifying statements.

So:

• Az ár fontos szempont.

is a very natural neutral sentence.

You can also say:

• Az ár egy fontos szempont.

But adding egy makes it feel a bit more like one important consideration among others. It is slightly more explicit or contrastive.

So the version without egy is often the most straightforward and idiomatic.

This is a very common question.

• ár = price
• ára = its price / the price of it

The form ára contains a possessive ending.

For example:

• A könyv ára magas. = The book’s price is high.
• literally: the book its-price high

But in Az ár fontos szempont, there is no possessed noun mentioned, so plain ár is correct.

The nouns are in the nominative form, which is the basic dictionary form.

• az ár = the subject
• fontos szempont = the predicate noun phrase

Hungarian does not use a special case here for szempont. It stays in the basic form.

Also:

• fontos is an adjective
• it modifies szempont

So the structure is roughly:

• Az ár = subject
• fontos szempont = predicate complement

Because in Hungarian, adjectives normally come before the noun they modify.

So:

• fontos szempont = important consideration
• jó könyv = good book
• nagy ház = big house

That is the standard word order inside the noun phrase.

Here fontos directly modifies szempont, so together they form the phrase fontos szempont.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Az ár fontos szempont.
• roughly: awz aar FON-tosh SEM-pont

A few important details:

• a in Hungarian is not like English a in cat
• á is long, so ár has a long vowel
• sz is pronounced like English s
• s by itself is pronounced like English sh

So:

• szempont begins with an s sound, like send
• fontos ends with sh, not s

A more careful approximation:

• az = ɒz
• ár = aːr
• fontos = fon-tosh
• szempont = sem-pont

Also, Hungarian stress is usually on the first syllable of each word.

Yes, it matters a lot. In Hungarian, vowel length is meaningful.

• a and á are different vowels
• the accent is not optional

So ár must be pronounced with a long á.

In Hungarian, changing vowel length can change the word entirely, so learners should treat it as an important part of the word, not just a spelling detail.

No. Hungarian does not have grammatical gender like many Indo-European languages do.

So:

• ár is not masculine or feminine
• szempont is not masculine or feminine
• fontos does not change for gender

This is one thing English speakers often find pleasantly simple about Hungarian.

Yes, Hungarian word order is flexible, but changes usually affect focus or emphasis.

The neutral version is:

• Az ár fontos szempont.

You could also say:

• Fontos szempont az ár.

This puts more emphasis on fontos szempont, something like:

• Price is an important consideration
• or An important consideration is the price

So both can be correct, but the original sentence is the most neutral and straightforward version.