A vőlegény is boldog.

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

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant
• az before a vowel

Since vőlegény starts with v, Hungarian uses a: a vőlegény = the groom.

No. In this sentence, is does not mean the verb is.

Hungarian is means:

• too
• also
• as well

So this is a classic false friend for English speakers.

In this kind of sentence, Hungarian usually leaves it out.

With a third-person subject in the present tense, when the predicate is a noun or an adjective, Hungarian normally omits van / vannak (is / are).

So:

• A vőlegény boldog. = The groom is happy.
• A vőlegény is boldog. = The groom is happy too.

But the verb appears in other situations, for example:

• Boldog vagyok. = I am happy.
• Boldog volt. = He was happy.

Because is normally comes right after the word or phrase it belongs to.

Here, it belongs to a vőlegény and means:

• the groom too
• the groom also

So the sentence is saying that the groom is one more person who is happy.

A useful rule:

• is follows the element being added.

For example, if the noun phrase were longer, is would still come after the whole phrase:

• A fiatal vőlegény is boldog. = The young groom is happy too.

Yes.

That would simply mean:

• The groom is happy.

Adding is adds the extra idea of too/also:

• A vőlegény is boldog. = The groom is happy too.

So is is optional in the sense that it adds meaning, not grammar.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• A = short aw/o-like sound
• vőlegény ≈ VUR-le-gayne, but not exactly
• is is pronounced ish
• boldog ≈ BOL-dog

A few important points:

• Stress in Hungarian usually falls on the first syllable of each word.
• ő is a long vowel sound that English does not really have; it is similar to German ö.
• é is a long ay-like sound.
• ny sounds like Spanish ñ in señor.
• Hungarian s is pronounced sh, so is sounds like ish.
• The g in boldog is always a hard g, as in go.

No. Hungarian does not have grammatical gender like many European languages do.

So boldog does not change depending on whether the person is male or female.

For example:

• A vőlegény boldog. = The groom is happy.
• A menyasszony boldog. = The bride is happy.

The adjective stays boldog in both cases.

Yes, but not for gender.

Here it stays boldog because the subject is singular. With a plural subject, the predicate adjective is usually plural too:

• A vőlegények boldogok. = The grooms are happy.

So:

• singular: boldog
• plural: boldogok

Not as rigidly as in English.

Hungarian word order is strongly connected to focus and emphasis, so it is often more flexible than English. But in this sentence, the most important thing is that is stays after the element it belongs to.

So A vőlegény is boldog. is a very natural way to say that the groom too is happy.

For a learner, the safest takeaway is:

• use is right after the word or phrase that means also/too.