A nyitvatartás hosszú.

the

Breakdown of A nyitvatartás hosszú.

• hosszú: long
• nyitvatartás: opening hours

Questions & Answers about A nyitvatartás hosszú.

What does a mean here?

A is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.

So A nyitvatartás hosszú. literally starts with The opening hours/opening time...

Hungarian has two forms of the:

• a before most consonants
• az before vowels

Here it is a because nyitvatartás starts with ny.

Why is there no word for is/are in this sentence?

In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense when the sentence is in the third person.

So instead of saying something like The opening hours are long, Hungarian simply says:

• A nyitvatartás hosszú.

This is completely normal.

Compare:

• Én fáradt vagyok. = I am tired.
• Te fáradt vagy. = You are tired.
• Ő fáradt. = He/She is tired.

In the third person, Hungarian normally drops van/vannak in this kind of sentence.

Why is nyitvatartás singular when English often says opening hours?