Breakdown of A bérelhető bútorozott lakás olyan drága, mint a felújított ingatlan.
Questions & Answers about A bérelhető bútorozott lakás olyan drága, mint a felújított ingatlan.
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.
So instead of saying something like A lakás olyan drága, mint... with an explicit is, Hungarian simply says:
A lakás olyan drága, mint...
This is completely normal and means:
The apartment is as expensive as...
You would only normally see the verb van if:
- it is not third person singular/plural in the present tense, or
- you need it for emphasis or a special structure.
For example:
- Én fáradt vagyok. = I am tired.
- A lakás drága. = The apartment is expensive.
How does olyan ... mint work?
Olyan ... mint is the standard Hungarian pattern for as ... as comparisons.
Structure:
- olyan = so / such / as
- adjective
- mint = than / as
In this sentence:
olyan drága, mint ...
means:
as expensive as ...
So:
- A ház olyan nagy, mint az iskola. = The house is as big as the school.
- Ez olyan jó, mint az. = This is as good as that.
A useful way to remember it:
- olyan + adjective + mint = as + adjective + as
Why are there two a words in the sentence?
Because Hungarian uses the definite article a / az separately with each definite noun phrase.
Here you have:
- A bérelhető bútorozott lakás
- a felújított ingatlan
Each one is its own noun phrase, so each gets its own article.
A few useful points:
- a and az both mean the
- Hungarian has no grammatical gender, so the article does not change for masculine/feminine/neuter
- a is used before consonant sounds
- az is used before vowel sounds
So:
- a lakás = the apartment
- az ingatlan would only happen if the next word began with a vowel sound, but felújított begins with f, so it is a felújított ingatlan
What does bérelhető mean, and how is it formed?
Bérelhető means something like rentable, available for rent, or that can be rented.
It comes from:
- bérel = to rent / to lease
- -hető / -ható = a suffix meaning can be ...-ed, able to be ...-ed
So:
- bérel → bérelhető
- literally: can be rented
This suffix is very common in Hungarian:
- olvasható = readable / can be read
- érthető = understandable
- iható = drinkable
Which form appears, -ható or -hető, depends on vowel harmony and the shape of the stem.
What does bútorozott mean?
Bútorozott means furnished.
It is related to bútor = furniture.
The verb bútoroz means to furnish, and bútorozott is the participial/adjectival form meaning furnished.
So:
- bútorozott lakás = a furnished apartment
This -ott / -ett / -ött type of form often works like a past participle in English:
- zárt ajtó = closed door
- sült hús = roast meat / cooked meat
- felújított ingatlan = renovated property
What does felújított mean, and why does it look similar to a past tense form?
Felújított means renovated or refurbished.
It comes from:
- felújít = to renovate
The form felújított is a participial adjective, similar to English renovated.
So:
- a felújított ingatlan = the renovated property
It may look a bit like a past tense form because Hungarian often uses forms ending in -ott / -ett / -ött as adjective-like participles.
Compare:
- megírt levél = written letter
- sütött kenyér = baked bread
- felújított ingatlan = renovated property
Why are all the describing words placed before the noun?
In Hungarian, adjectives and adjective-like modifiers normally come before the noun.
So:
- bérelhető bútorozott lakás literally follows the pattern:
- rentable furnished apartment
This is normal Hungarian word order inside a noun phrase.
English also often puts adjectives before the noun, but Hungarian does this very consistently with simple modifiers:
- nagy ház = big house
- piros autó = red car
- felújított ingatlan = renovated property
Why is the order bérelhető bútorozott lakás and not bútorozott bérelhető lakás?
Both are grammatically possible, but the order can affect what sounds most natural or what gets slightly more emphasis.
In Hungarian, when several modifiers come before a noun, the order is somewhat flexible, but not completely random. Speakers usually choose the order that sounds most natural in context.
Here:
- bérelhető bútorozott lakás
can feel like:
- a furnished apartment that is for rent / rentable
If you switch it to:
- bútorozott bérelhető lakás
it is still understandable, but it may sound a bit less natural in some contexts.
The most important thing for a learner is:
- both modifiers go before the noun
- modifier order in Hungarian can be flexible
- naturalness often depends on usage and emphasis more than on a strict fixed rule
Why is drága not changed in any way?
Because drága is a predicate adjective here, and in Hungarian predicate adjectives usually appear in the basic form.
So:
- A lakás drága. = The apartment is expensive.
- A lakás olyan drága, mint... = The apartment is as expensive as...
Hungarian does not add anything like English -er here, because the comparison is made with olyan ... mint, not by changing the adjective itself.
Also, Hungarian adjectives do not agree with the noun in gender, and there is no special form here just because the noun is singular.
Why don’t the adjectives agree with the noun?
Because in Hungarian, adjectives before a noun usually do not agree in number or gender.
For example:
- drága lakás = expensive apartment
- drága lakások = expensive apartments
Notice that drága stays the same. Only the noun changes:
- lakás
- lakások
This is different from many Indo-European languages. Hungarian has:
- no grammatical gender
- no adjective agreement in the usual pre-noun position
So:
- bútorozott lakás
- bútorozott lakások
Again, bútorozott stays the same.
What is the difference between lakás and ingatlan?
They are related but not identical.
- lakás = apartment / flat
- ingatlan = property / real estate
So in this sentence, the speaker is comparing:
- a specific kind of apartment with
- a renovated property
That may sound slightly broader in English, but it is perfectly fine in Hungarian. Ingatlan is a more general real-estate word, while lakás is more specific.
Why is there no case ending after mint?
Because in this sentence mint introduces the second half of the comparison directly.
The pattern is simply:
- olyan + adjective + mint + noun phrase
So:
- olyan drága, mint a felújított ingatlan
There is no special comparison case added here. The noun phrase after mint stays in its normal form.
Compare:
- Ez olyan nehéz, mint az a doboz. = This is as heavy as that box.
- A kocsi olyan gyors, mint a vonat. = The car is as fast as the train.
Is bérelhető the same as bérelt?
No, they are different.
- bérelhető = rentable / can be rented / available to rent
- bérelt = rented / leased
So:
- bérelhető lakás = an apartment that can be rented
- bérelt lakás = a rented apartment (someone is already renting it)
That is an important difference:
- -hető / -ható = possibility
- -t / -tt participle = completed or resulting state
Can Hungarian leave out nouns the way English sometimes does in comparisons?
Sometimes yes, but in this sentence the full noun phrase is stated clearly:
- a felújított ingatlan
Hungarian often keeps the comparison explicit, especially in neutral written style.
For example:
- Ez olyan drága, mint az. = This is as expensive as that.
- Ez olyan drága, mint a másik lakás. = This is as expensive as the other apartment.
So Hungarian can be shorter, but here the full form is natural and clear.
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