Az ültetési rend az asztalon van.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

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

So:

• az ültetési rend because ültetési begins with a vowel sound
• az asztalon because asztalon also begins with a vowel sound

This is similar to the English difference between a and an.

Because there are two separate definite noun phrases:

• Az ültetési rend = the seating plan
• az asztalon = on the table

Hungarian often uses the definite article with location expressions too, just like English says on the table, not just on table.

So the sentence is structured like:

• Az ültetési rend = the topic / subject
• az asztalon van = is on the table

It is a two-word expression:

• ültetés = seating, making people sit, placement
• -i = an adjectival suffix, turning it into ültetési, meaning something like seating-related
• rend = order, arrangement, system

So ültetési rend is literally something like seating arrangement/order, even though in natural English it may be translated as seating plan or seating chart.

This is very common in Hungarian: a noun gets -i and then modifies another noun.

Hungarian usually does not use a separate word like English on here. Instead, it adds a suffix to the noun:

• asztal = table
• -on = on

So:

• asztalon = on the table

This -on is one of the location endings in Hungarian. You will also see related forms like:

• -en
• -ön

The exact form depends on the word.

Because the suffix and the article do different jobs:

• az marks definiteness: the
• -on marks location: on

So:

• asztalon = on a table / on table in a very rough literal sense
• az asztalon = on the table

The case ending goes on the noun, not on the article.

That is a very common and important question.

Hungarian often omits van in the present tense when one noun or adjective simply identifies or describes something:

• A szoba nagy. = The room is big.
• Ő tanár. = He/She is a teacher.

But when the sentence expresses location or existence, van is normally used:

• Az ültetési rend az asztalon van. = The seating plan is on the table.

So here van is needed because the sentence tells you where something is.

Not completely. Hungarian word order is fairly flexible and often reflects emphasis.

The neutral version here is:

• Az ültetési rend az asztalon van.

This is a normal topic + comment structure:

• topic: Az ültetési rend
• new information: az asztalon van

But you could also say:

• Az asztalon van az ültetési rend.

This puts more attention on the location, and it can sound natural in contexts like Where is the seating plan?

So the sentence order can change, but the emphasis changes too.

In this neutral sentence, that is a very natural position.

Hungarian often places the verb after other parts of the predicate, especially in simple location sentences like this:

• az asztalon van = is on the table

This is not a strict rule for every sentence, but it is a very common pattern.

Yes.

• az asztalon = on the table
• egy asztalon = on a table

So if the speaker means a specific, known table, az is used. If it is any table or an unspecified one, egy would be used.

Example:

• Az ültetési rend egy asztalon van. = The seating plan is on a table.

That sounds less specific than the original sentence.

It is written as two words:

• ültetési
• rend

That is because ültetési is an adjective-like form modifying rend.

Hungarian does have many compounds, but in this case the standard expression is written as two words.

A few things:

• ü is a front rounded vowel, which English does not really have
• é is a long vowel
• every written sound is pronounced fairly consistently in Hungarian

Very roughly:

• az sounds like awz
• ültetési has clear syllables: ül-te-té-si
• asztalon has stress on the first syllable: ASZ-ta-lon
• van sounds close to vawn or vun, depending on your approximation

Also remember: Hungarian stress is almost always on the first syllable of the word.