A fal mögött van egy titkos szoba.

to be

Breakdown of A fal mögött van egy titkos szoba.

• egy: a
• fal: the wall
• szoba: the room
• mögött: behind
• titkos: secret

Questions & Answers about A fal mögött van egy titkos szoba.

Why do we use van in this sentence?

Van is the Hungarian verb for to be but is only used in the third person singular. In a sentence indicating existence or location—like describing where something is—van is typically employed.

Could we leave out the article egy here?

In principle, Hungarian can sometimes omit egy, but in this construction, it helps to emphasize that it's a single secret room. Without egy, the sentence would still be understandable, but it might sound less natural or too generic.

Why is the article a placed before fal?

Hungarian uses definite articles like a (or az, before vowels) for nouns that are specified or part of known context. Here, fal is a specific wall being referenced, hence we use a.

What exactly does mögött mean, and could we use mögé instead?

Mögött means behind in a static location sense. Mögé means to behind, indicating movement toward the back of something. Since the sentence is describing a location (rather than a movement), mögött is used.

Is there any strict word order rule that places van at the end?

Hungarian word order is relatively flexible, but van often appears near the end in existential or locational statements. The sentence’s focus is on egy titkos szoba, so van naturally falls after the subject and prepositional phrase.