A település a hegy mellett van.

Település is a general word meaning settlement, locality, or inhabited place. It is broader and more neutral than words like:

• falu = village
• város = town/city

So település is very common in official, geographical, administrative, or neutral contexts. In everyday conversation, people often use a more specific word if they know what kind of place it is.

Because a is the definite article the, and both nouns are definite here:

• A település = the settlement
• a hegy mellett = next to the mountain

Hungarian often uses the definite article in places where English also does, though the exact usage does not always match perfectly in every sentence.

Also, Hungarian has two forms of the:

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

So here it is a település and a hegy, because both words begin with consonant sounds.

Mellett means next to, beside, or by.

In this sentence, a hegy mellett means next to the mountain or beside the mountain.

It shows location, not movement. So the sentence describes where the settlement is.

Because mellett is a postposition, not a preposition.

English says:

• next to the mountain

Hungarian says:

• the mountain next to
• a hegy mellett

So in Hungarian, many location words come after the noun they belong to.

This is very common. Other examples:

• a ház előtt = in front of the house
• az iskola mögött = behind the school
• az asztal alatt = under the table

These three form a location-direction pair set:

• mellett = next to / beside → location
• mellé = to beside / to next to → movement toward
• mellől = from beside → movement away

Examples:

• A település a hegy mellett van. = The settlement is next to the mountain.
• A településhez a hegy mellé megyünk. = We are going to a place next to the mountain.
• A hegy mellől jönnek. = They are coming from beside the mountain.

This location-vs-direction contrast is very important in Hungarian.

That is a very common question. Hungarian often leaves out van in the third person singular present when the predicate is a noun or adjective:

• A település kicsi. = The settlement is small.
• A település falu. = The settlement is a village.

But when you are expressing location, Hungarian normally uses van:

• A település a hegy mellett van. = The settlement is next to the mountain.

So:

• descriptive identity/quality → often no van
• location/existence → usually van

Yes, this is a very normal, neutral word order.

• A település = topic, what we are talking about
• a hegy mellett van = what we say about it

A different word order is possible if you want a different emphasis. For example:

• A hegy mellett van a település.

This puts more focus on the location, as if answering Where is the settlement?

So the original sentence is neutral and natural, but Hungarian word order is flexible and often reflects emphasis.

Because mellett is a separate word, a postposition.

So Hungarian builds this phrase as:

• a hegy
  • mellett

The noun does not need an extra case ending here.

This is different from forms where Hungarian uses a case suffix directly on the noun, such as:

• a hegyen = on the mountain
• a hegyhez = to the mountain
• a hegytől = from the mountain

So mellett works as its own word rather than as a suffix.

A rough guide:

• település ≈ te-le-püü-laysh

A few important points:

• ü is a front rounded vowel, which English does not really have
• é is a long vowel, roughly like ay in say, but purer
• s in Hungarian sounds like English sh

So the end -lés sounds like laysh, not like English less.

Hegy is roughly pronounced like hedy, but the gy is a special Hungarian sound.

The gy is a soft consonant, somewhat like the d sound in British pronunciation of duke or during, though not exactly the same.

So:

• hegy is not pronounced like English heg
• it is closer to he-dy

This is a very common Hungarian sound, and it takes practice.

Yes. Depending on the meaning, you could replace it with a more specific noun:

• A falu a hegy mellett van. = The village is next to the mountain.
• A város a hegy mellett van. = The town/city is next to the mountain.

Using település keeps the sentence general. It does not tell you whether the place is a village, town, or something else.

Not necessarily. Mellett usually means beside, next to, or by, but in real usage it can be a little flexible depending on context.

So it may mean:

• directly beside it
• along its side
• in an area adjacent to it

If you want to say simply near the mountain, Hungarian might also use a hegy közelében or közel a hegyhez, depending on the exact meaning. So mellett usually suggests closer adjacency than just near.