A lufi piros.

The balloon is red.

Breakdown of A lufi piros.

• az: the
• piros: red
• lufi: a balloon

Questions & Answers about A lufi piros.

Why does the sentence start with a? Doesn’t a usually mean a/an in English?

In Hungarian, a here means the, not a/an.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant
• az before a vowel

So:

• a lufi = the balloon
• az alma = the apple

This often confuses English speakers because Hungarian a looks like English a, but it functions differently.

What does lufi mean exactly?

Lufi means balloon.

It is a very common everyday word, especially in spoken language and in contexts involving children or parties. You may also come across other words for balloon in specific contexts, but lufi is the normal simple word most learners will want first.

Why is piros after lufi instead of before it?

Because in this sentence piros is not directly describing the noun inside a noun phrase like red balloon. Instead, it is the predicate: The balloon is red.

So:

• A lufi piros. = The balloon is red.
• A piros lufi = the red balloon

This is an important pattern in Hungarian:

• adjective before noun = attributive adjective
• adjective after noun = usually part of the predicate