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Learn Hardcore Hungarian: Az ár fontos szempont. - The price is an important consideration.

Hardcore Hungarian
/Browsing a flea market with a friend
/Az ár fontos szempont.

Az ár fontos szempont.

Word

Az ár fontos szempont.

Meaning

The price is an important consideration.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Hungarian

Lesson

Browsing a flea market with a friend

Breakdown of Az ár fontos szempont.

an aspect or consideration

Questions & Answers about Az ár fontos szempont.

Why is it az ár and not a ár?

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

Why is there a definite article before ár if English can just say Price is an important consideration?

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.

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?

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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.

Why is there no egy before fontos szempont?

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.

What is the difference between ár and ára?

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.

What case are the words in here?

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

Why does fontos come before szempont?

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.

How is the sentence pronounced?

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.

Does the accent in ár matter, or is it just spelling?

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.

Is there any grammatical gender here, like masculine or feminine?

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.

Can the word order change?

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.

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