A szkenner hasznos.

The scanner is useful.

Breakdown of A szkenner hasznos.

• az: the
• szkenner: a scanner
• hasznos: useful

Questions & Answers about A szkenner hasznos.

What does a mean in A szkenner?

Here, a is the Hungarian definite article, so it corresponds to English the.

A useful thing to know is that Hungarian often uses a/az in places where English might or might not use the, depending on context. So A szkenner hasznos can be a normal sentence both for a specific scanner in context and for a more general statement, depending on the situation.

Also, this a is not pronounced like English a.

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?

In Hungarian, the verb to be is often omitted in the present tense when the subject is third person and the predicate is a noun or adjective.

So:

• A szkenner hasznos. = The scanner is useful.

This is completely normal Hungarian.

But in other tenses, the verb appears:

• A szkenner hasznos volt. = The scanner was useful.
• A szkenner hasznos lesz. = The scanner will be useful.

So the missing is is not an omission in the casual sense. It is simply how Hungarian grammar works.

Why is it a and not az?