A felsőoktatás fontos.

A is the Hungarian definite article, equivalent to the.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant
• az before a vowel

Since felsőoktatás starts with f, a consonant, the correct form is a:

• a felsőoktatás
• but az oktatás

This choice is based on the sound that follows, not on meaning.

In Hungarian, the verb to be is often left out in the present tense, when the subject is third person singular or plural and the sentence is equational/descriptive.

So:

• A felsőoktatás fontos. = Higher education is important.

There is no van here, even though English needs is.

Compare:

• Én fontos vagyok. = I am important.
• Te fontos vagy. = You are important.
• A felsőoktatás fontos. = Higher education is important.

So this omission is completely normal.

This is a very common difference between English and Hungarian.

Hungarian often uses a/az with things that English expresses generically without an article. So even when speaking about something in general, Hungarian may still use the definite article.

That is why:

• A felsőoktatás fontos.

is the normal way to say Higher education is important.

This does not necessarily mean the higher education system in one specific context. It can still be a general statement.

Normally, no. Felsőoktatás is written as one word.

It is a compound:

• felső = upper, higher
• oktatás = education, instruction

Together, felsőoktatás means higher education.

Hungarian very often forms compounds as single words where English uses two words. So this is something English speakers need to get used to.

Yes, the word order can be different, but the sentence you have is the neutral, natural order.

• A felsőoktatás fontos.
  = Higher education is important.

Here, a felsőoktatás is the topic, and fontos gives the new information about it.

You can also say:

• Fontos a felsőoktatás.

This is also correct, but it gives a slightly different emphasis, closer to Higher education is important with stress on important.

So both are possible, but the original version is a very standard basic statement.

No. In this sentence, fontos stays the same.

Hungarian adjectives do not change for gender, because Hungarian has no grammatical gender like masculine/feminine/neuter.

In predicate position, as here, the adjective is just the basic form:

• A könyv fontos. = The book is important.
• Az egyetem fontos. = The university is important.
• A felsőoktatás fontos. = Higher education is important.

So you do not need to worry about masculine/feminine agreement.

In normal everyday Hungarian, that would sound unnatural, incomplete, or like a headline or note style.

The normal full sentence is:

• A felsőoktatás fontos.

Leaving out the article is not the standard choice here.

So for learners, it is best to treat the article as required in this sentence.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• felsőoktatás ≈ FEL-shuh-ok-ta-taash
• fontos ≈ FON-tosh

A few helpful points:

• Hungarian stress is usually on the first syllable of each word:

  • FELsőoktatás
  • FONtos

• ő is a long vowel that English does not really have. It is similar to a long rounded vowel like German ö or French eu in some contexts.

• á is a long vowel, somewhat like the a in father, but longer and clearer.

• s in Hungarian is pronounced like English sh. So:

  • felső has a sh sound
  • fontos ends with -sh

Both main words are in their basic dictionary form.

• a felsőoktatás is the subject
• fontos is a predicate adjective

There are no special case endings here because nothing is being marked as, for example, in, to, with, or from something.

So structurally, this is a very simple Hungarian sentence:

• [subject] + [predicate adjective]

That simplicity is slightly hidden from English speakers only because Hungarian leaves out is in this type of sentence.