A lejtő meredek.

A is the Hungarian definite article, so it means the.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

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

So:

• a lejtő = the slope
• az út = the road

Unlike English, Hungarian articles do not change for gender.

In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense, 3rd person, when the predicate is a noun or adjective.

So English The slope is steep becomes simply:

• A lejtő meredek.

This is completely normal Hungarian.

Compare:

• A lejtő meredek. = The slope is steep.
• A lejtő meredek volt. = The slope was steep.

In the past tense, volt appears, but in the simple present it is omitted.

Hungarian adjectives come before the noun when they directly describe it inside a noun phrase:

• a meredek lejtő = the steep slope

But in A lejtő meredek, meredek is not part of the noun phrase. It is the predicate adjective, equivalent to English is steep.

So the difference is:

• a meredek lejtő = the steep slope
• a lejtő meredek = the slope is steep

Yes. Meredek a lejtő is also grammatical.

The difference is mainly focus or emphasis:

• A lejtő meredek. = neutral statement
• Meredek a lejtő. = puts more emphasis on steep

The second version can sound more like answering a question such as What is the slope like?

Hungarian word order is quite flexible, and changing the order often changes what is being highlighted.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• lejtő ≈ LEHY-tő
• meredek ≈ MEH-reh-dek

A few important points:

• Stress is on the first syllable in Hungarian.
• j is pronounced like English y in yes.
• ő is a long vowel, different from plain o or ö.

If you like IPA:

• lejtő = [ˈlɛjtøː]
• meredek = [ˈmɛrɛdɛk]

There is no grammatical gender in Hungarian, so adjectives do not change for masculine, feminine, or neuter.

In this sentence, meredek stays the same because the subject is singular.

With a plural subject, you would normally use:

• A lejtők meredekek. = The slopes are steep.

So Hungarian does show plurality here, but not gender.

Also compare:

• meredek lejtő = steep slope
• meredek lejtők = steep slopes

When the adjective is directly before the noun, it does not take a plural ending.

Lejtő is in the nominative form, which is the basic dictionary form.

It is the subject of the sentence, so no extra case ending is needed:

• A lejtő meredek.

If you wanted a different meaning, you would add a suffix:

• lejtőn = on the slope
• lejtőről = from the slope
• lejtőre = onto the slope

So the form in this sentence is the simple base form.

No. In Hungarian, accents usually mark vowel quality and/or length, not stress.

So ő is a separate vowel sound, and it is long. It is not the same as ö, and it is definitely not optional.

This means:

• ö and ő are different vowels
• the accent is part of the spelling
• stress still stays on the first syllable of the word, not on the accented vowel

So in lejtő, the final ő must be pronounced clearly and long.