Questions & Answers about Ez egy nagy nemzet.
Why is there no word for is in Ez egy nagy nemzet?
In Hungarian, the verb to be is often left out in the present tense, third person when the predicate is a noun or adjective.
So:
- Ez egy nagy nemzet. = This is a great/big nation.
- Ez nagy. = This is big.
But in other persons, you do use the verb:
- Én magyar vagyok. = I am Hungarian.
- Te fáradt vagy. = You are tired.
So the missing is here is completely normal.
What exactly does ez mean here?
Ez means this.
It is the standalone demonstrative pronoun this. In this sentence, it works like the English this in This is...
A useful comparison:
- Ez egy nagy nemzet. = This is a great/big nation.
- Ez a nemzet nagy. = This nation is big.
Notice that before a noun directly, Hungarian usually uses ez a... or az a...
- ez a nemzet = this nation
- az a nemzet = that nation
But in your sentence, ez stands on its own, so ez by itself is correct.
Is egy here the number one, or is it the article a/an?