A vezeték és a csatlakozó a dobozban van.

The cable and the connector are in the box.

Breakdown of A vezeték és a csatlakozó a dobozban van.

• lenni: to be
• és: and
• az: the
• doboz: the box

Questions & Answers about A vezeték és a csatlakozó a dobozban van.

Why is van written out here? I thought Hungarian often drops is/are in the present tense.

That is a very common question.

Hungarian often does omit the 3rd-person form of to be in simple identifying or descriptive sentences:

• A doboz nagy. = The box is big.
• Ez egy csatlakozó. = This is a connector.

But in location and existence sentences, van is normally kept:

• A dobozban van. = It is in the box.
• A vezeték a dobozban van. = The wire is in the box.

So in this sentence, van appears because the sentence is saying where something is.

Why does the sentence use van and not vannak, even though there are two things: a vezeték és a csatlakozó?

This is one of the first things an English speaker is likely to notice.

Many learners would expect vannak, and in fact A vezeték és a csatlakozó a dobozban vannak is also a very natural sentence.

The singular van can be used when the two items are being presented together as one set in one location. In practical or technical descriptions, speakers sometimes do this quite naturally.

So the short answer is:

• van = treats them more like a combined set
• vannak = makes the plural agreement more explicit

If you are unsure as a learner, using vannak is often the safer choice when you are thinking of two separate things.