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Learn Hardcore Hungarian: A meghibásodás komoly. - The malfunction is serious.

Hardcore Hungarian
/Returning a faulty household appliance
/A meghibásodás komoly.

A meghibásodás komoly.

A meghibásodás komoly.

The malfunction is serious.

Breakdown of A meghibásodás komoly.

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Questions & Answers about A meghibásodás komoly.

Does A here mean the or a?

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.

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?

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.

What exactly does meghibásodás mean?

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.

Why is komoly after the noun instead of before it?

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

Does komoly need any special ending here?

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.

Can I change the word order to Komoly a meghibásodás?

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.

Is meghibásodás the same as hiba?

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.

Is this sentence neutral, formal, or technical?

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.

How is the sentence stressed or pronounced?

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.

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