A verseny nehéz.

In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense when the subject is third person.

So:

• A verseny nehéz. = The competition is difficult.
• literally: The competition difficult.

This is completely normal Hungarian.

But in other persons, Hungarian does use the verb:

• Nehéz vagyok. = I am difficult / I am hard
• Nehéz vagy. = You are difficult
• A verseny nehéz. = The competition is difficult

So the missing is is not a mistake; it is standard grammar.

A is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a verseny = the competition

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant
• az before a vowel

Examples:

• a verseny = the competition
• az autó = the car

Since verseny begins with v, a consonant, Hungarian uses a.

Verseny usually means competition, contest, or race, depending on context.

It is a general word for something competitive, for example:

• a sports race
• a school contest
• a business competition

In this sentence, A verseny nehéz, the most natural translation is often The competition is difficult or The race is difficult, depending on the situation.

Nehéz most commonly means:

• difficult
• hard
• heavy

Hungarian uses the same word for both physically heavy and mentally difficult, just like English sometimes uses hard in more than one way.

In A verseny nehéz, the intended meaning is normally:

• The competition is difficult
• or The race is hard

Context tells you which sense is meant.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• verseny ≈ VEHR-sheny
• nehéz ≈ neh-HAYZ

A few details:

• Hungarian stress is usually on the first syllable.
  • VER-seny
  • NE-héz
• The s in Hungarian is pronounced like English sh.
  • so verseny has a sh sound
• The ny is a single sound, similar to ny in canyon
• é is a long vowel, pronounced somewhat like ay in say, but cleaner and without much glide

So verseny is approximately VER-sheny, and nehéz is approximately neh-HAYZ.

The accent marks in Hungarian are not optional decoration. They are part of the spelling and change pronunciation.

In nehéz, the é shows that the vowel is long.

Compare:

• e = short vowel
• é = long vowel

Vowel length matters in Hungarian, so learners should try to notice it early.

Also, Hungarian spelling is quite regular, so accents are very useful clues for pronunciation.

No. Hungarian does not have grammatical gender.

That means nouns are not classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter. So verseny is not any of those.

This also means:

• adjectives do not change for gender
• articles do not change for gender
• pronouns work differently from languages like French or German

So you do not need to learn verseny as masculine or feminine. It is simply verseny.

In Hungarian, adjectives do not behave like adjectives in many Indo-European languages.

In this sentence, nehéz is a predicate adjective: it describes the subject after an implied is.

• A verseny nehéz. = The competition is difficult.

Here, nehéz stays the same. It does not change for:

• gender
• person
• usually not number in the same way English learners might expect from other languages

Hungarian is much simpler than languages with adjective agreement systems based on masculine/feminine forms.

Yes, you could also say Nehéz a verseny.

Both are grammatical, but the emphasis is different.

• A verseny nehéz. = neutral statement, The competition is difficult.
• Nehéz a verseny. = puts more emphasis on difficult

Hungarian word order is often influenced by focus and emphasis, not just by a fixed subject-verb-object pattern.

So the version with A verseny first is the most neutral basic form for learners.

In the past and future, Hungarian does use the verb to be.

Examples:

• A verseny nehéz volt. = The competition was difficult.
• A verseny nehéz lesz. = The competition will be difficult.

So the omission of is happens specifically in the present tense, third person.

That would be:

• A versenyek nehezek.

Breakdown:

• a = the
• versenyek = competitions
• nehezek = difficult in the plural predicate form

Hungarian still leaves out are here, because it is also third person present.

So:

• A verseny nehéz. = The competition is difficult.
• A versenyek nehezek. = The competitions are difficult.