Questions & Answers about A király holnap érkezik.
Why is it a király and not just király?
A is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.
So:
- a király = the king
- király by itself = king in a more general or dictionary-like sense
In a normal sentence, Hungarian usually uses the article where English would use the. Since we are talking about a specific king, a király is natural.
Why is the article a and not az?
Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:
- a before words that begin with a consonant
- az before words that begin with a vowel
Since király starts with k, which is a consonant, it takes a:
- a király
- but az ember = the person
This is similar in spirit to a/an in English, but in Hungarian both forms mean the, not a/an.
Does király have grammatical gender? Is it masculine because it means king?
No. Hungarian does not have grammatical gender.
So while király refers to a male ruler in meaning, the noun itself is not grammatically masculine in the way nouns can be in languages like German, French, or Spanish.
This means:
- there is no special masculine article
- adjectives do not change for gender
- verbs do not change for gender
Gender in Hungarian is mostly about real-world meaning, not grammar.