A fogszuvasodás súlyos.

In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense, third person singular and plural, when one noun or adjective is being linked to another.

So Hungarian says:

A fogszuvasodás súlyos.
literally: The tooth decay serious.

But in English, you must say is: The tooth decay is serious.

The verb does appear in other situations, for example:

• A fogszuvasodás súlyos volt. = The tooth decay was serious.
• A fogszuvasodás súlyos lesz. = The tooth decay will be serious.
• Én beteg vagyok. = I am sick.

So the missing is is completely normal here.

A is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a = the
• az = also the, but used before vowel sounds

Examples:

• a fog = the tooth
• az orvos = the doctor

In this sentence, a fogszuvasodás can mean the tooth decay in a specific context, but Hungarian also often uses the definite article in places where English might be more flexible, especially with general concepts or conditions.

Also, this a is not the English article sound uh. In Hungarian it is pronounced more like a short rounded vowel.

Yes. Hungarian very often builds longer ideas into one compound word.

fogszuvasodás can be understood as:

• fog = tooth
• szuvasodás = decay / becoming decayed

So Hungarian packages the whole idea into one word.

This is very normal in Hungarian. English often uses separate words where Hungarian prefers compounds.

A learner should get used to the idea that what feels like a whole phrase in English may be a single word in Hungarian.

Because here súlyos is the predicate adjective: it is telling you what the subject is like.

Structure:

• A fogszuvasodás = the subject
• súlyos = the predicate adjective, serious

This is the normal pattern for a sentence like X is serious.

Compare:

• A fogszuvasodás súlyos. = The tooth decay is serious.
• A súlyos fogszuvasodás... = The serious tooth decay...

So:

• after the noun = part of the sentence predicate
• before the noun = directly modifying the noun

Yes. That is also correct.

Hungarian word order is flexible and often shows focus or emphasis.

• A fogszuvasodás súlyos. = neutral statement
• Súlyos a fogszuvasodás. = emphasis on serious

The second version can sound like:

• The tooth decay is serious
• or even It is serious, the tooth decay

So both are grammatical, but the emphasis is a little different.

No. Hungarian has no grammatical gender, so adjectives do not change for masculine, feminine, or neuter.

That means súlyos stays the same regardless of whether the noun refers to a male, female, object, or abstract concept.

Examples:

• A betegség súlyos. = The illness is serious.
• A probléma súlyos. = The problem is serious.

No gender agreement is needed.

Yes, but not for gender.

In this sentence it stays as súlyos because the subject is singular.

If the subject were plural, a predicate adjective usually becomes plural too:

• A betegségek súlyosak. = The illnesses are serious.

So:

• singular: súlyos
• plural predicate: súlyosak

But when the adjective comes before a noun, it usually does not take a plural ending:

• súlyos betegség = serious illness
• súlyos betegségek = serious illnesses

That difference is important.

It is in the nominative, which is the basic dictionary form.

There is no visible case ending here. It is simply the subject of the sentence:

• A fogszuvasodás = the tooth decay

If Hungarian wanted another case, you would usually see a suffix added.

For example, Hungarian often marks cases directly on the noun, but here none is needed because the noun is just the subject.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

aw FOG-soo-vaw-sho-daash SHOO-yosh

A few key points:

• Stress is on the first syllable of each word.
• sz is pronounced like English s
• s is pronounced like English sh
• ly is pronounced like y
• á and ú are long vowels

So:

• fogszuvasodás ≈ FOG-soo-vaw-sho-daash
• súlyos ≈ SHOO-yosh

They matter a lot. Hungarian accents are not optional spelling marks; they show real vowel differences.

In this sentence:

• á is a long vowel, different from a
• ú is a long vowel, different from u

So:

• dás is not the same as das
• súlyos is not the same as sulyos

In Hungarian, changing vowel length can change pronunciation and sometimes meaning, so it is important to learn the accented forms correctly.

It can be either, depending on context.

Hungarian often uses the definite article a in ways that do not map perfectly onto English article usage.

So A fogszuvasodás súlyos could mean:

• a general statement about tooth decay, depending on context
• or a specific case already known in the conversation

In real use, context tells you which meaning is intended. The presence of a does not automatically force a very narrow, specific meaning the way an English learner might expect.