A szakkönyv részletes.

The specialist book is detailed.

Breakdown of A szakkönyv részletes.

• az: the
• részletes: detailed
• szakkönyv: a specialist book

Questions & Answers about A szakkönyv részletes.

Why is there no word for is in A szakkönyv részletes?

Because Hungarian usually omits the verb to be in the present tense, third person when the predicate is a noun or an adjective.

So:

• A szakkönyv részletes. = The professional/technical book is detailed.

But in other persons or tenses, the verb does appear:

• A szakkönyv részletes volt. = The book was detailed.
• Én részletes vagyok. = I am detailed (grammatically possible, though not very natural in meaning)

This is one of the first things English speakers notice, because English requires is, but Hungarian often does not here.

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

A is the definite article, so it means the.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

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

So:

• a szakkönyv = the technical/professional book
• az iskola = the school

Since szakkönyv begins with sz, which is a consonant sound, a is the correct form.

Is one word? Why is it written like that?