A verseny holnap kezdődik.

• a = the
• verseny = competition, race, or contest depending on context
• holnap = tomorrow
• kezdődik = starts / begins

So the sentence is literally The competition tomorrow starts, which in natural English is The competition starts tomorrow.

In Hungarian, a and az are the definite articles, meaning the.

• a is used before words that begin with a consonant
• az is used before words that begin with a vowel

Since verseny starts with v, Hungarian uses a: a verseny = the competition.

Hungarian often uses the present tense to talk about future events when the time is already clear from the context.

Here, holnap already tells you the action is in the future, so kezdődik can naturally mean starts tomorrow.

This is similar to English sentences like:

• The train leaves tomorrow.
• School starts next week.

So Hungarian does not need a separate word for will here.

Kezdődik is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb kezdődik, meaning to begin or to start.

So:

• A verseny kezdődik = The competition starts / is beginning

The subject is a verseny, which is singular, so the verb is also singular.

This is a very useful distinction.

• kezd = to start something
  
  • Example: A tanár kezdi az órát. = The teacher starts the lesson.
• kezdődik = to start / begin by itself, or to begin
  
  • Example: Az óra kezdődik. = The lesson starts.

So in A verseny holnap kezdődik, the competition is the thing that begins, so kezdődik is the natural choice.

Yes, Hungarian word order is quite flexible, and it often changes based on focus or emphasis rather than strict grammatical rules.

These are all possible:

• A verseny holnap kezdődik.
  Neutral: The competition starts tomorrow.

• Holnap kezdődik a verseny.
  This puts more focus on tomorrow.

• A verseny kezdődik holnap.
  Possible, but less neutral in many contexts.

The version you were given is a very natural, standard sentence.

No. Holnap is a standalone adverb meaning tomorrow, so it does not need any extra ending here.

Hungarian often uses simple time adverbs without case endings:

• ma = today
• holnap = tomorrow
• tegnap = yesterday

So holnap works on its own.

A simple English-friendly approximation is:

VEHR-shehn(y)

A few helpful notes:

• v is like English v
• e is like e in bed
• s in Hungarian sounds like English sh
• ny is a soft sound, like the ny in canyon

So verseny does not sound like English ver-sen-ee.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

KEHZ-doe-dik

More precisely:

• k = like English k
• e = like e in bed
• sz = English s
• dő has a long rounded vowel that English does not have exactly
• dik is pronounced pretty much as written

Also remember:

• sz = English s
• s = English sh

So kezdődik is not pronounced the way an English speaker might first guess from the spelling.

Not always. Verseny can mean different things depending on context, such as:

• competition
• race
• contest

For example:

• futóverseny = running race
• énekverseny = singing competition
• verseny in a business context can even mean competition in the sense of rivalry

So the best translation depends on what kind of event is being talked about.