A fogfájás erős, és a fogorvos fogkövet lát.

Because Hungarian very often forms compound nouns.

• fog = tooth
• fájás = pain, aching
• orvos = doctor
• kő = stone

So:

• fogfájás = toothache
• fogorvos = dentist, literally tooth-doctor
• fogkő = tartar / dental calculus, literally tooth-stone

This kind of compounding is extremely common in Hungarian.

A is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.

So:

• A fogfájás = the toothache
• a fogorvos = the dentist

Hungarian repeats the article before each definite noun, just as English does.

Also, Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

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

So you get a fogorvos, but az orvos.

In Hungarian, the verb to be is often left out in the present tense, third person when linking a subject to a noun or adjective.

So:

• A fogfájás erős. = The toothache is severe.

Hungarian does not need a separate word for is here.

But in other persons, the verb does appear:

• Erős vagyok. = I am strong.
• Erős vagy. = You are strong.

And in the past tense it also appears:

• A fogfájás erős volt. = The toothache was severe.

Because Hungarian often uses erős with pain, symptoms, smells, tastes, and similar things where English might prefer strong, intense, or severe, depending on context.

So with pain:

• erős fájdalom = strong pain / severe pain
• A fogfájás erős. = The toothache is severe.

This is a normal and natural Hungarian way to describe pain.

Yes. Fáj means to hurt or to ache.

The noun fájás is built from that verb and means pain or aching. So fogfájás is literally something like tooth-ache or tooth-pain.

This pattern is common in Hungarian: verbs can form nouns with endings like -ás / -és.

Because fogkövet is being used as an indefinite / nonspecific object here.

So the sentence is talking about the dentist seeing tartar or some tartar, not a specifically identified tartar deposit.

Hungarian often leaves the article out in that kind of case.

Compare:

• A fogorvos fogkövet lát. = The dentist sees tartar.
• A fogorvos a fogkövet látja. = The dentist sees the tartar.

The second version points to a specific, definite object.

Because fogkövet is the accusative form, used for the direct object of the verb.

The basic form is:

• fogkő

The direct-object ending is usually -t, but here the word also changes its stem:

• fogkő → fogkövet

So this means tartar as the thing being seen.

This happens because kő is one of those Hungarian nouns that change shape when endings are added. So this is not just a simple + t; the stem changes too.

Hungarian verbs have two main conjugation patterns:

• indefinite conjugation
• definite conjugation

Here, the object is indefinite: fogkövet without a definite article. So the verb is:

• lát = sees

If the object were definite, Hungarian would normally use the definite form:

• látja

Compare:

• A fogorvos fogkövet lát. = The dentist sees tartar.
• A fogorvos a fogkövet látja. = The dentist sees the tartar.

This is a very important feature of Hungarian grammar.

Because Hungarian word order is more flexible than English word order, and in a neutral sentence the object often comes right before the verb.

So:

• A fogorvos fogkövet lát.

is a very natural order.

A rough structural way to see it is:

• A fogorvos = topic / subject
• fogkövet = object
• lát = verb

Changing the order can change the emphasis or information structure, even if the basic meaning stays similar.

A few useful points:

• Hungarian stress is usually on the first syllable of the word.
• á is a long vowel
• ő is also a long vowel
• j in fájás sounds like English y

So:

• fogfájás is roughly FOG-faa-yaash
• erős is roughly EH-roesh

You do not pronounce Hungarian long vowels casually the way English often does; vowel length can matter in Hungarian.