A rendőrség ellenőrzi a házat.

A is the Hungarian definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a rendőrség = the police
• a házat = the house

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before consonant sounds
• az before vowel sounds

Since rendőrség and ház both begin with consonants, the article is a in both cases.

Yes, in English the police is grammatically plural, but Hungarian often uses rendőrség, which is a singular collective noun meaning the police force or the police as an institution.

So although it refers to multiple officers in real life, grammatically it behaves as singular:

• A rendőrség ellenőrzi... = The police are checking...

That is why the verb is in the 3rd person singular form.

Ellenőriz is the basic dictionary form, meaning to check / to inspect.

In the sentence, the verb appears as ellenőrzi, which means he/she/it checks or checks it/them. Here it agrees with the subject a rendőrség.

More importantly, Hungarian verbs have two main conjugation patterns:

• indefinite conjugation
• definite conjugation

Because the object is definite — a házat = the house — Hungarian uses the definite verb form:

• ellenőrzi = checks the specific thing

So:

• A rendőrség ellenőrzi a házat. = The police are checking the house.

The -t is the accusative ending, which marks the direct object of the sentence.

Base form:

• ház = house

Object form:

• házat = house as the thing being checked

So in this sentence:

• a rendőrség = the subject
• ellenőrzi = the verb
• a házat = the object

English usually shows this through word order, but Hungarian often shows it directly with endings like -t.

Because the sentence refers to a specific house, not just a house in a general sense.

• házat = a house / house as an object, but without a definite article
• a házat = the house

Since the meaning is definite, Hungarian uses both:

• the article a
• the object ending -t

So a házat literally contains both ideas:

• the
• house as direct object

No, Hungarian word order is more flexible than English word order.

A rendőrség ellenőrzi a házat is a neutral sentence:
The police are checking the house.

But Hungarian can change word order for emphasis or focus. For example:

• A házat ellenőrzi a rendőrség.
  = It is the house that the police are checking.

• Ellenőrzi a rendőrség a házat.
  = More marked; can sound more narrative or stylistic depending on context.

So the basic meaning can stay similar, but the emphasis changes.

A rough pronunciation is:

REN-dur-shayg

A few important points:

• r is rolled or tapped
• ő is a long front rounded vowel, something like a long version of the vowel in German schön or French peu
• ség has a long é, pronounced like ay in say, but pure and longer

Stress in Hungarian is always on the first syllable, so:

• REN-dőr-ség

A rough pronunciation is:

EL-leh-nur-zee

More carefully:

• el as in ell
• double ll is pronounced long: el-len-
• ő is that long rounded vowel again
• zi sounds like zee

Stress is on the first syllable:

• EL-len-őr-zi

In Hungarian, accent marks are not optional. They show different vowels, and often also vowel length.

For example:

• a and á are different vowels
• e and é are different
• o / ó / ö / ő are all distinct

In this sentence:

• ház has á, a long vowel
• rendőrség and ellenőrzi contain ő, which is a different vowel from o or ó
• ség has é, also distinct

So the accents are part of the correct spelling and pronunciation, not just stress marks.

Yes. Rendőrség is a broad institutional noun. Depending on context, it can mean:

• the police
• the police force
• the police department
• the police authorities

In this sentence, the most natural English translation is simply the police, but the Hungarian word itself refers to the institution rather than to individual officers as separate people.