A kovács ma dolgozik.

A is the definite article, so it means the.

Hungarian has two forms:

• a before a consonant
• az before a vowel

So:

• a kovács = the blacksmith
• az ember = the person

It is capitalized here only because it is the first word of the sentence.

Hungarian often leaves subject pronouns out when they are clear from the verb form.

The verb dolgozik already shows 3rd person singular, so he/she works is understood from context. Hungarian does this much more often than English.

If you wanted to add the pronoun for emphasis, you could say Ő ma dolgozik or A kovács ma dolgozik, depending on what you want to stress.

Dolgozik is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of the verb dolgozni, meaning to work.

So:

• dolgozni = to work
• dolgozik = he/she works or he/she is working

This is a fully conjugated verb form, not the dictionary form.

It can mean both.

In Hungarian, the present tense often covers both:

• a general action or habit: works
• an action happening now or around now: is working

So A kovács ma dolgozik can mean either:

• The blacksmith works today
• The blacksmith is working today

The exact meaning depends on context.

Ma means today.

It is an adverb of time, so it tells you when the action happens:

• A kovács dolgozik = The blacksmith works / is working
• A kovács ma dolgozik = The blacksmith works / is working today

Unlike nouns, ma does not change form here.

Yes, Hungarian word order is quite flexible, and changing it often changes emphasis rather than basic meaning.

A kovács ma dolgozik is a natural sentence meaning The blacksmith is working today.

Other orders are possible, for example:

• Ma a kovács dolgozik = puts today more up front
• A kovács dolgozik ma = also possible, but sounds less neutral in many contexts

So the given order is a normal, straightforward way to say it, but Hungarian is not as fixed as English.

Because it is the subject of the sentence, and in Hungarian the basic subject form usually has no ending.

Here:

• a kovács = the blacksmith as the subject
• dolgozik = works / is working

Hungarian often uses endings to show other roles, but the plain singular subject form is usually just the bare noun.

A rough pronunciation is KO-vaach.

A few useful points:

• á is a long vowel
• cs is pronounced like English ch
• the stress is on the first syllable

So kovács is stressed like KO-vács, not on the second syllable.

A rough guide is:

aw KO-vaach maw DOL-go-zik

A few details:

• a is not like the English article a
• ma has a simple ah vowel
• dolgozik is stressed on DOL
• in Hungarian, stress normally falls on the first syllable of each word

So the rhythm is very regular: A KOVács ma DOLgozik.

It can also be a very common Hungarian surname, like Smith in English.

But in this sentence, a kovács clearly means the blacksmith, because:

• it has the article a
• it is not capitalized as a surname would normally be in the middle of a sentence

So here it is definitely the profession, not a last name.