A víz gyorsan folyik.

A is the Hungarian definite article, usually equivalent to English the.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant sound
• az before a vowel sound

Since víz begins with a consonant sound, the correct form is a víz.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• a ≈ a short o-like sound
• víz ≈ veez
• gyorsan ≈ dyor-shon
• folyik ≈ fo-yik

A few important spelling/pronunciation points:

• í is a long vowel, so víz has a long ee sound.
• gy is a single Hungarian consonant, somewhat like a soft dy.
• s in Hungarian sounds like English sh.
• ly in modern Hungarian is pronounced like j / y.

So the whole sentence is roughly: uh veez dyor-shon fo-yik.

Because gyors is an adjective meaning fast, while gyorsan is an adverb meaning quickly / fast.

In this sentence, the word describes how the water flows, so Hungarian uses the adverb:

• gyors = fast
• gyorsan = quickly / fast

This is similar to English quick → quickly, although Hungarian does it with endings rather than -ly.

It turns the adjective gyors into an adverb.

A very common pattern in Hungarian is:

• adjective + -an / -en / -n → adverb

So:

• gyors = fast
• gyorsan = quickly

The exact ending depends on the word, so learners should treat it as a common pattern rather than one completely automatic rule for every adjective.

Folyik is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb folyni (to flow).

So grammatically it means something like:

• it flows
• it is flowing

depending on context.

In this sentence, the subject is a víz, so folyik agrees with a singular subject.

It can mean either one.

Hungarian present tense often covers both:

• a general/habitual meaning: flows
• a current ongoing meaning: is flowing

Context tells you which is meant. If you want to make right now especially clear, Hungarian often adds a time word such as most (now).

Because Hungarian usually does not need subject pronouns when they are already clear.

English often says:

• It flows

Hungarian can simply say:

• Folyik

because the verb form already shows 3rd person singular, and in your sentence the subject is stated anyway: a víz.

So adding a separate pronoun would usually be unnecessary.

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

A víz gyorsan folyik is a natural neutral order here, but other orders are also possible, depending on what you want to emphasize.

For example:

• Gyorsan folyik a víz.
  This can put more attention on quickly or make the sentence feel more descriptive.

Hungarian word order often reflects focus and emphasis, not just grammar. So the words can move more freely than in English, even though the basic meaning stays similar.

No. Besides literal flowing, folyik can also mean that something is going on or is in progress.

For example:

• A vita folyik. = The debate is going on.
• A munka folyik. = The work is in progress.

But in A víz gyorsan folyik, the meaning is the literal one: water is flowing.