Breakdown of A nyilvános dokumentum elérhető.
az
the
dokumentum
the document
elérhető
available or reachable
nyilvános
public
Questions & Answers about A nyilvános dokumentum elérhető.
Why is the sentence A nyilvános dokumentum elérhető missing a word for is?
In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense, third person when you are simply linking a subject to a noun, adjective, or similar description.
So:
- A nyilvános dokumentum elérhető. = The public document is available/accessibile.
But in other persons or tenses, Hungarian does use forms of van:
- A dokumentum elérhető volt. = The document was available.
- A dokumentum elérhető lesz. = The document will be available.
- A dokumentum elérhető? = Is the document available?
Even in a question, the present-tense is is still omitted here.
What does a mean here, and why is it a instead of az?
A is the definite article, meaning the.
Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:
- a before words beginning with a consonant
- az before words beginning with a vowel
Since nyilvános starts with the consonant sound ny, the correct form is:
- a nyilvános dokumentum
Compare:
- az érdekes dokumentum = the interesting document