Learn Hardcore Hungarian: Az irodában sok kolléga ül egy hosszú asztalnál. - In the office many colleagues sit at a long table.

Sok ember dolgozik itt. – Many people work here.
Három gyerek játszik kint. – Three children are playing outside.
Az irodában sok kolléga ül. – Many colleagues sit / are sitting in the office.

So ül (3rd person singular) is the regular, natural choice here.

In informal speech you might sometimes hear a plural verb (ülnek) with such subjects, but the standard and most common form is singular: ül.

Why is there no article before sok kolléga?

Hungarian normally does not use an article before a noun that already has a quantifier/determiner like:

sok (many)
kevés (few)
minden (every)
három (three), etc.

So you say:

sok kolléga – many colleagues
kevés idő – little time
három szék – three chairs

Adding an article (like a sok kolléga) would make it more specific:
a sok kolléga ≈ the many colleagues (a particular known group).

In your sentence, it is a general, indefinite “many colleagues”, so no article is used.

What does egy do in egy hosszú asztalnál? Is it always necessary?

egy is the indefinite article “a / an” and also the numeral “one”.

In your sentence:

egy hosszú asztalnál – at a long table

Here egy works like English “a”, not like the number “one”.

Is it necessary?

Az irodában sok kolléga ül egy hosszú asztalnál. – neutral “at a long table”
Az irodában sok kolléga ül hosszú asztalnál. – also possible; sounds a bit more “generic” or descriptive, less like you’re introducing a specific table.

Using egy here is very natural and is the most typical version.

What does the -nál ending in asztalnál mean?

The suffix -nál / -nél means roughly “at / by / near”.

asztal – table
asztalnál – at the table / by the table

It’s used for:

being at a person or a place:
- orvosnál – at the doctor’s
- barátomnál – at my friend’s place
being by / at an object:
- ablaknál – at the window
- ajtónál – by the door

Here, ül az asztalnál is the normal way to express “sit at the table”.

Why is it asztalnál and not asztalon? What’s the difference?

Both use a location suffix, but with different meanings:

-n / -on / -en / -ön → on the surface of something
- asztalon – on the table (lying or standing on top)
-nál / -nél → at / by / near something
- asztalnál – at the table (sitting or standing by it)

So:

A könyv az asztalon van. – The book is on the table.
A diákok az asztalnál ülnek. – The students are sitting at the table.

In your sentence, people are sitting by the table, not on it, so asztalnál is correct.

Can the word order be different, like Sok kolléga ül az irodában egy hosszú asztalnál?

Yes. Hungarian word order is quite flexible. All of these are grammatically correct and natural, with slightly different emphasis:

Az irodában sok kolléga ül egy hosszú asztalnál.
Neutral focus on where they are: In the office, many colleagues sit at a long table.
Sok kolléga ül az irodában egy hosszú asztalnál.
Neutral description starting with how many: Many colleagues sit in the office at a long table.
Az irodában egy hosszú asztalnál sok kolléga ül.
Emphasizes the location setup (in the office, at a long table) before mentioning how many.

The basic meaning stays the same; Hungarian uses word order to show topic and focus rather than just a fixed S–V–O pattern.

Does ül mean “sits” or “is sitting”? How do you say the continuous form in Hungarian?

Hungarian does not have a separate continuous (progressive) tense like English “is sitting”.

The simple present ül can mean:

“sits” (habitual, general)
“is sitting” (right now)

So:

Az irodában sok kolléga ül egy hosszú asztalnál.
can translate as either:
- Many colleagues sit at a long table in the office.
- Many colleagues are sitting at a long table in the office.

Context tells you which interpretation is meant. There’s no special -ing form.

Does hosszú change form because asztal is effectively plural (many people sitting there)?

No. In Hungarian, adjectives do not change form for number in this kind of noun phrase.

hosszú asztal – a long table
két hosszú asztal – two long tables
sok hosszú asztal – many long tables

The adjective hosszú stays the same; there is no plural ending on the adjective here. Only the noun can take plural -k, and even that is left singular after words like sok and numerals, as explained earlier.

How do you pronounce irodában and asztalnál?

Approximate pronunciation (stress always on the first syllable in Hungarian):

irodában → [EE-roh-daa-bahn]
- i as in machine
- a in -dá- is long, like “aa” in father
- final -ban as in bahn
asztalnál → [OSS-tahl-naal]
- a in asz- is short (like u in cut but more open)
- á in -nál is long and open (like a longer version of a in father)

Native speech connects the words smoothly:
Az irodában sok kolléga ül egy hosszú asztalnál.
Stress pattern: AZ irodában SOK kolléga ÜL egy HOSSZú ASZtalnál (primary stress at the start of each word; sentence-level rhythm then smooths it out).