A fazekasműhely ma nyitva van.

A is the Hungarian definite article, equivalent to the in English.

Hungarian has two forms:

• a
• az

Which one you use depends on the sound that follows:

• a before a consonant
• az before a vowel

So:

• a fazekasműhely = the pottery workshop
• but az iskola = the school

Since fazekasműhely starts with the consonant sound f, a is the correct form.

Fazekasműhely is a compound noun.

It is made of:

• fazekas = potter
• műhely = workshop, studio, workroom

So fazekasműhely literally means potter’s workshop, or more naturally pottery workshop / potter’s studio depending on context.

Compound nouns are very common in Hungarian, and they are often written as one word.

A rough pronunciation is:

FA-ze-kash-mű-hey

A slightly more precise guide:

• fa like fo in British hot, but shorter
• ze like zeh
• kas ends with an sh sound because s in Hungarian is pronounced sh
• mű has a front rounded vowel that English does not really have
• hely sounds roughly like heyl, but lighter

A few useful pronunciation points:

• Hungarian s = English sh
• Hungarian sz = English s
• Hungarian ly is pronounced like j/y in modern Hungarian

So műhely sounds approximately like mű-hey.

Ma means today.

In this sentence:

• A fazekasműhely ma nyitva van.
• = The pottery workshop is open today.

Hungarian word order is flexible, and moving ma can change emphasis.

For example:

• A fazekasműhely ma nyitva van. = neutral, today is part of the statement
• Ma a fazekasműhely nyitva van. = stronger focus on today
• Nyitva van ma a fazekasműhely. = emphasis on being open

So ma can move, but the nuance changes.

Nyitva van is a very common Hungarian expression meaning is open.

Literally:

• nyitva = in an opened state
• van = is

So the structure is something like:

• is in an open state

Hungarian often uses this pattern with certain words:

• nyitva van = is open
• zárva van = is closed
• elromolva van = is broken / is in a broken state

This is a very natural Hungarian way to describe a current state.

That is a very good question, because learners notice this quickly.

It is true that Hungarian often omits van in the 3rd person singular present tense when the predicate is a noun or adjective:

• A műhely nagy. = The workshop is big.
• A fazekas ügyes. = The potter is skilled.

But in nyitva van, the word nyitva is not behaving like a simple ordinary adjective here. It is part of a fixed state expression, and van is normally kept.

So:

• A műhely nyitva van. = correct
• leaving out van here would sound unnatural in standard Hungarian

Sometimes nyitott can also mean open, but it is not exactly the same as nyitva van.

Compare:

• nyitva van = is open, currently open for business / not closed
• nyitott = open, opened, or open-minded depending on context

For a shop, studio, or workshop being open at the moment, nyitva van is the most natural expression.

So:

• A fazekasműhely ma nyitva van. = the normal way to say The pottery workshop is open today.

The usual negative version is:

• A fazekasműhely ma nincs nyitva. = The pottery workshop is not open today.

Here:

• nincs = is not / there is not

You could also say:

• A fazekasműhely ma zárva van. = The pottery workshop is closed today.

These are similar, but not identical:

• nincs nyitva = not open
• zárva van = closed

A simple yes/no question can be:

• A fazekasműhely ma nyitva van? = Is the pottery workshop open today?

In speech, intonation helps show that it is a question.

You can also change the word order for a more question-like feel:

• Nyitva van ma a fazekasműhely?

Both are fine. Hungarian often relies on intonation, not only word order, to mark yes/no questions.

Because each word is already in the form needed for its role:

• A fazekasműhely is the subject, so it appears in the basic dictionary form
• ma is a time adverb meaning today
• nyitva van is the predicate

Hungarian uses many case endings, but not every sentence needs them. This sentence is quite simple:

• subject
• time word
• predicate

So there is no object and no noun needing a case ending here.

In Hungarian, the main stress is usually on the first syllable of each word.

So you get:

• A
• FAzekasműhely
• MA
• NYITva
• VAN

Sentence-level emphasis can still shift depending on what the speaker wants to highlight, but word stress itself is very regular in Hungarian. That is one of the nice things about pronunciation for learners.