A meghibásodás komoly.

It means the.

In Hungarian, the definite article is a/az, and the indefinite article is egy.

• a is used before a consonant
• az is used before a vowel

So:

• a meghibásodás = the malfunction / the breakdown
• egy meghibásodás = a malfunction / a breakdown

This often confuses English speakers because Hungarian a looks like English a, but here it actually means the.

Because Hungarian usually leaves out the verb to be in the present tense when the subject is third person and the predicate is a noun or adjective.

So:

• A meghibásodás komoly. = The malfunction is serious.

Hungarian does not need van here.

Compare:

• Komoly vagyok. = I am serious.
• Komoly vagy. = You are serious.
• A meghibásodás komoly volt. = The malfunction was serious.

So in this kind of sentence, present-tense is is simply understood.

Meghibásodás is a noun meaning something like:

• malfunction
• breakdown
• failure

The best English translation depends on context.

It is related to the verb meghibásodik, meaning to break down or to malfunction.

A useful way to think about it is:

• hiba = fault / error / defect
• meghibásodás = the event or fact of breaking down / malfunctioning

So meghibásodás often sounds a bit more technical or process-focused than hiba.

Because here komoly is not directly describing the noun inside a noun phrase. It is the predicate of the sentence.

Compare:

• komoly meghibásodás = a serious malfunction

  • here komoly is an attributive adjective, placed before the noun

• A meghibásodás komoly. = The malfunction is serious.

  • here komoly is the predicate adjective, so it comes after the subject

This is very similar to the difference in English between:

• a serious malfunction
• the malfunction is serious

Not in this sentence.

Here the subject is singular, so komoly stays in its basic form.

With a plural subject, the predicate adjective is usually plural too:

• A meghibásodások komolyak. = The malfunctions are serious.

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

• komoly meghibásodások = serious malfunctions

So:

• predicate position: komolyak
• before the noun: komoly

That difference is very important in Hungarian.

Yes, you can, but the emphasis changes.

• A meghibásodás komoly. is the more neutral, straightforward version.
• Komoly a meghibásodás. puts more focus on komoly: The malfunction is serious / The malfunction is indeed serious.

Hungarian word order is flexible, but it is not random. Moving a word toward the front often gives it emphasis, contrast, or special focus.

So both are possible, but they do not sound exactly the same.

Not exactly.

They are related, but they are not perfect synonyms.

• hiba usually means fault, error, or defect
• meghibásodás usually means malfunction or breakdown

For example:

• Van egy hiba a rendszerben. = There is a fault/error in the system.
• A rendszer meghibásodása komoly. = The system’s malfunction/breakdown is serious.

So hiba can refer to a flaw or problem in general, while meghibásodás often suggests that something has stopped working properly.

It sounds fairly neutral, but meghibásodás often feels somewhat technical or formal, especially compared with simpler everyday wording.

For example:

• A gép elromlott. = The machine broke down.
  
  • more everyday
• A gép meghibásodása komoly. = The machine’s malfunction is serious.
  
  • more technical or report-like

So A meghibásodás komoly. would fit well in technical, mechanical, medical, or official contexts.

In Hungarian, the stress is normally on the first syllable of each word.

So the main stress pattern is:

• A meghi-básodás komoly
• more exactly: A MEGhibásodás KOmoly

A rough English-style pronunciation guide could be:

• a MEGH-hee-baa-sho-daash KO-moy

A few helpful points:

• á is a long vowel
• s is pronounced like English sh
• ly in modern Hungarian sounds like j/y

So komoly sounds roughly like KO-moy, not like English kom-ol-ee.