A fűszernövény virágcserepe kicsi.

In Hungarian, the present-tense verb to be is usually omitted in the third person singular and plural when the predicate is a noun or adjective.

So:

• A fűszernövény virágcserepe kicsi. = The herb’s flowerpot is small.

Hungarian does not normally say van here.

But in other tenses, or with other persons, the verb appears:

• A virágcserép kicsi volt. = The flowerpot was small.
• Kicsi vagyok. = I am small.

Virágcserép is the basic dictionary form, meaning flowerpot.

Virágcserepe is a possessed form meaning roughly its flowerpot or the flowerpot of it.

Here, the possessor is a fűszernövény:

• a fűszernövény virágcserepe = the herb’s flowerpot

So the possessive ending on virágcserepe is what shows the relationship.

Because in Hungarian, possession is usually marked on the possessed noun, not mainly on the possessor.

So in:

• a fűszernövény virágcserepe

the noun virágcserepe carries the possessive marking, and the noun before it, fűszernövény, is understood as the possessor:

• the herb’s flowerpot

This is a very common Hungarian pattern:

• a fiú könyve = the boy’s book
• a nő táskája = the woman’s bag

Because a fűszernövény virágcserepe is one noun phrase.

Hungarian usually puts the definite article at the front of the whole possessive phrase:

• a fűszernövény virágcserepe

not before each noun.

Also, kicsi is not a noun here; it is the predicate adjective, so it does not take an article.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

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

Since fűszernövény begins with the consonant f, the correct form is:

• a fűszernövény

If the next word began with a vowel, you would use az.

Because kicsi is being used predicatively, not attributively.

Compare:

• A fűszernövény virágcserepe kicsi. = The herb’s flowerpot is small.

Here kicsi means is small, so it comes after the subject.

But if you want to say the small flowerpot, the adjective goes before the noun:

• a kicsi virágcserép

So:

• kicsi after the noun phrase = is small
• kicsi before the noun = small as a noun modifier

Yes. Hungarian word order is flexible, and changing it often changes the focus or emphasis.

The sentence as given:

• A fűszernövény virágcserepe kicsi.

is a neutral statement.

You could also say:

• Kicsi a fűszernövény virágcserepe.

This puts more focus on kicsi: It is small, the herb’s flowerpot.

So the original order is natural and neutral, but not the only possibility.

They are basically in the unmarked nominative form.

English uses ’s or of to show this relationship:

• the herb’s flowerpot
• the flowerpot of the herb

Hungarian often does it differently:

• the possessor can stay unmarked
• the possessed noun gets a possessive ending

So there is no special equivalent of English ’s attached to fűszernövény here.

This is a stem change that happens with some Hungarian nouns when endings are added.

So:

• cserép → cserep-
  • possessive ending

That is why you get:

• virágcserép
• virágcserepe

This kind of vowel shortening is common enough that learners usually just get used to it by seeing examples.

Yes. Hungarian forms compounds very freely.

• fűszer = spice
• növény = plant
• fűszernövény = herb / spice plant

Likewise:

• virág = flower
• cserép = pot
• virágcserép = flowerpot

So this sentence contains two compounds:

• fűszernövény
• virágcserép

But the whole sequence fűszernövény virágcserepe is not one giant compound; it is a possessive phrase.

No. In this sentence, kicsi describes the whole subject phrase whose head is virágcserepe.

So the thing that is small is the flowerpot, not the herb.

If you want to say The herb is small, you would say:

• A fűszernövény kicsi.

A few useful sound notes:

• sz = English s
• cs = English ch
• ny = roughly ny in canyon or Spanish ñ
• ű is a long front rounded vowel, which English does not really have
• kicsi sounds roughly like ki-chi, with short vowels

So:

• fűszernövény has sz = s, and ny near the end
• virágcserepe has cs = ch
• kicsi has two i sounds and cs = ch

A rough English-style approximation would be:

• uh FYOO-ser-no-vayne vee-raag-che-re-peh KI-chi

But that is only approximate, not true Hungarian pronunciation.