Az ajándékcsomag az asztalon van.

The gift package is on the table.

Breakdown of Az ajándékcsomag az asztalon van.

• lenni: to be
• asztal: the table
• az: the
• ajándékcsomag: a gift package

Questions & Answers about Az ajándékcsomag az asztalon van.

Why does az appear twice in Az ajándékcsomag az asztalon van?

Because there are two separate noun phrases, and each one is definite:

• az ajándékcsomag = the gift package
• az asztalon = on the table

Hungarian uses the definite article with both of them, just as English can say the gift package is on the table.

Also, Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

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

So we get:

• az ajándékcsomag because ajándékcsomag starts with a vowel sound
• az asztalon because asztalon starts with a vowel sound

What is asztalon exactly? Why is on attached to the word?

Asztalon is asztal + -on.

• asztal = table
• -on = a case ending meaning on in the sense of on the surface of

So Hungarian often uses a suffix where English uses a separate preposition.

Here:

• asztalon = on the table

This case is called the superessive case. Its forms are usually:

• -on
• -en
• -ön

Which one appears depends partly on the word and vowel harmony.

Why is the word order different from English?