A körülmény fontos.

The circumstance is important.

Breakdown of A körülmény fontos.

• fontos: important
• az: the
• körülmény: a circumstance

Questions & Answers about A körülmény fontos.

What does a mean here, and why is it a instead of az?

A is the Hungarian definite article, so here it means the.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant
• az before a vowel

Since körülmény begins with k, which is a consonant, the correct form is a körülmény.

Examples:

• a ház = the house
• az autó = the car

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense, third person when the sentence says that something is something or is some quality.

So:

• A körülmény fontos. = The circumstance is important.

But Hungarian does include van or another form of to be in many other situations, for example:

• Én fáradt vagyok. = I am tired.
• Te fáradt vagy. = You are tired.
• A körülmény fontos volt. = The circumstance was important.

So the missing is is completely normal here.