Az ösvény hosszú.

In Hungarian, the present-tense form of to be is usually left out in the third person singular and third person plural when you are simply saying that something is something or is a certain way.

So:

• Az ösvény hosszú = The path is long
• not Az ösvény van hosszú

The verb van can appear in other situations, but not in this basic kind of sentence.

Compare:

• Én fáradt vagyok = I am tired
• Te fáradt vagy = You are tired
• Ő fáradt = He/she is tired

So with ő or with a noun like az ösvény, Hungarian normally omits is.

Here az 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

Because ösvény begins with a vowel sound, Hungarian uses az:

• az ösvény
• but a ház

This is similar to English a/an, but in Hungarian it applies to the definite article instead.

Yes, az can also be a demonstrative meaning that. But in this sentence it is clearly the article the.

Why?

Because with a noun, Hungarian normally expresses that as:

• az az ösvény = that path

The first az means that, and the second az is the article the required before ösvény.

So:

• az ösvény = the path
• az az ösvény = that path

That is why in Az ösvény hosszú, the first word is understood as the, not that.

Ösvény is pronounced approximately ÖSH-vény, with the stress on the first syllable.

A few important sound points:

• ö is like German ö or French eu in peu. There is no exact English equivalent.
• s in Hungarian is pronounced like English sh
• é is a long vowel, roughly like the vowel in say, but cleaner and without much glide
• ny is like the ny sound in canyon

So the word is not pronounced with an English s sound at the beginning of the second part. Hungarian s is always sh.

Hosszú is pronounced roughly HOSS-soo, with stress on the first syllable.

Important details:

• o is a short vowel
• ssz is pronounced like a long s sound
• ú is a long oo sound

So the word has a noticeably long s and a long final vowel.

About the accents:

• ú is not just stress marking; it shows a different vowel length
• Hungarian accents are important and can change the word

For example, u and ú are not the same in Hungarian.

Because hosszú is the predicate adjective in the sentence.

Hungarian distinguishes between:

• an adjective used inside the noun phrase
• an adjective used as the main description in the sentence

Compare:

• a hosszú ösvény = the long path
  Here hosszú comes before the noun because it directly modifies it.

• Az ösvény hosszú = The path is long
  Here hosszú comes after the noun because it is the predicate.

So the position changes depending on the job the adjective is doing.

Hungarian adjectives do not change for gender, because Hungarian has no grammatical gender.

So the same adjective form works for:

• masculine
• feminine
• neuter

In that sense, hosszú is always just hosszú.

Number is a little more nuanced:

• before a noun, the adjective usually stays the same

  • a hosszú ösvény = the long path
  • a hosszú ösvények = the long paths

• as a predicate, it can show plural

  • Az ösvény hosszú = The path is long
  • Az ösvények hosszúak = The paths are long

So there is no gender agreement, but predicate adjectives can take plural marking.

Yes, Hungarian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The sentence Az ösvény hosszú is a neutral statement: it simply says that the path is long.

But you could also say:

• Hosszú az ösvény

This puts more emphasis on hosszú, as if you were stressing It is long or The path is long, not short.

So both are possible, but they do not feel exactly the same:

• Az ösvény hosszú = neutral
• Hosszú az ösvény = more emphasis on long

You add nem before the predicate:

• Az ösvény nem hosszú = The path is not long

This is the normal Hungarian way to negate a sentence like this.

Structure:

• Az ösvény = the subject
• nem hosszú = not long

In writing, you can usually keep the same words and add a question mark:

• Az ösvény hosszú?

You may also hear:

• Hosszú az ösvény?

In speech, intonation helps show that it is a question.

As with statements, word order can affect emphasis a bit, but both versions are understandable as yes-no questions.