Breakdown of Az idei tanulmányi év hosszú.
az
the
hosszú
long
év
a year
tanulmányi
academic or study-related
Questions & Answers about Az idei tanulmányi év hosszú.
Why is there no word for is in this sentence?
In Hungarian, the verb van (to be) is usually omitted in the present tense, 3rd person when you are linking a subject to a noun or adjective.
So:
Az idei tanulmányi év hosszú.
literally works like
The current academic year long.
But in natural English, of course, you say is long.
You would see the verb appear in other situations, for example:
- past: Az idei tanulmányi év hosszú volt. = This academic year was long.
- future: Az idei tanulmányi év hosszú lesz. = This academic year will be long.
What does az mean here, and why is it az instead of a?
Az is the definite article, meaning the.
Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:
- a before a consonant sound
- az before a vowel sound
Since the next word is idei, which begins with a vowel, Hungarian uses az:
- az idei év
- a hosszú év
This is similar to how English uses a and an, although Hungarian is doing this with the, not with the indefinite article.
Why is there an article at all? Why not just say ?