A nyom a falon van.

The clue is on the wall.

Breakdown of A nyom a falon van.

• lenni: to be
• fal: the wall
• az: the
• nyom: a clue

Questions & Answers about A nyom a falon van.

Why are there two a words in A nyom a falon van?

Because Hungarian uses the definite article before nouns, much like English the.

• a nyom = the mark / the trace
• a falon = on the wall literally on the wall

So both nouns are definite here. Hungarian often repeats the article where English also would:

• the mark
• the wall

Also, Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant
• az before a vowel

So here it is a nyom and a falon, because nyom and falon begin with consonant sounds.

Why is it falon and not just fal?

Because Hungarian usually adds a case ending to the noun instead of using a separate preposition like English does.

• fal = wall
• falon = on the wall

The ending -on here expresses on. This is called the superessive case.

So English says:

• on the wall

but Hungarian says something more like:

• the wall-on

Why is the ending -on used here? Why not some other ending?