A tanú is itt van.

to be

Breakdown of A tanú is itt van.

• itt: here
• is: too
• az: the

Questions & Answers about A tanú is itt van.

Why is the article a here, and not az?

Both a and az mean the.

Hungarian uses:

• a before a consonant sound
• az before a vowel sound

Since tanú begins with t, you say a tanú = the witness.

Examples:

• a tanú = the witness
• az ember = the person

This has nothing to do with gender; Hungarian articles do not change for masculine/feminine.

Is is here the same as English is?

No. This is one of the easiest things to confuse.

In A tanú is itt van, the word is means also / too / as well.

The actual verb is / is present is van.

So the sentence breaks down like this:

• a tanú = the witness
• is = also, too
• itt = here
• van = is

So is is a particle, not the verb.

Why does is come after tanú?