Learn Hardcore Hungarian: A sarkon van egy kis bolt, ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet veszek. - On the corner there is a small shop; there I buy cheap vegetables and fruit juice.

-on / -en / -ön = “on” the surface of something → a sarkon = on the corner
-nál / -nél = “at / by / near” something → a saroknál = by the corner / near the corner

In practice:

A sarkon van egy kis bolt.
Literally: “On the corner there is a little shop.”
→ very natural for a shop on the street corner.
A saroknál van egy kis bolt.
→ emphasizes by / near the corner, not so much the image of being “on” the corner itself.

For a shop located directly on the street corner, a sarkon is the default, most idiomatic choice.

Why is van used here? I thought Hungarian often drops van in the present tense.

You’re right that Hungarian drops van with 3rd person predicative adjectives and simple noun predicates:

Ő orvos. = “He / She is a doctor.” (no van)
Az autó piros. = “The car is red.” (no van)

But the rule is: you drop van only when the verb “to be” has no other complement besides a predicate (like a noun or adjective).

In A sarkon van egy kis bolt:

a sarkon = a location phrase
egy kis bolt = the thing that exists there

This is an existential sentence: “On the corner there exists a small shop.”
In such sentences, van is normally kept.

You can change the word order:

Egy kis bolt van a sarkon.
Still needs van; you can’t drop it here either.

So: dropping van is not a blanket rule; you keep van in existential/location sentences like this.

Why is the word order A sarkon van egy kis bolt and not Egy kis bolt van a sarkon? Do they mean the same thing?

Both are correct but the focus is different:

A sarkon van egy kis bolt.
Topic: the corner → “As for the corner…”
Comment: there is a small shop.
→ Emphasis: on the corner (that’s the important/known reference point).
Egy kis bolt van a sarkon.
Topic: a little shop (or more like: what exists there)
→ Emphasis: that what is there is a little shop (not something else).

In English we might reflect that by slight changes in stress:

“On the corner, there’s a little shop.”
“There’s a little shop on the corner.” (a bit more about what there is)

In your sentence, since the next clause is ott … veszek (“there I buy…”), it’s natural that the first part highlights the place: A sarkon…

What exactly is ott doing here? Could I leave it out?

Ott = “there”.

In the second clause: ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet veszek.

ott refers back to the location just mentioned (a sarkon van egy kis bolt).
Literally: “There, I buy cheap vegetables and fruit juice.”

If you remove ott:

Olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet veszek.
→ Just “I buy cheap vegetables and fruit juice.”
There is no explicit connection to the corner/shop anymore.

So ott is a deictic word that ties the two clauses together logically:
“There is a small shop on the corner; there I buy cheap vegetables and fruit juice.”

Why is there a comma instead of és (“and”) between the clauses?

Hungarian is quite free with using commas to separate clauses that English would normally join with “and” or even no conjunction at all.

A sarkon van egy kis bolt, ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet veszek.

This is like saying in English:

“There’s a small shop on the corner, (and) there I buy cheap vegetables and fruit juice.”

Adding és would also be correct:

A sarkon van egy kis bolt, és ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet veszek.

The meaning is practically the same. The version without és feels a little more casual and flowing in spoken Hungarian.

Why is zöldséget singular when the English translation is “vegetables”? Shouldn’t it be plural, like zöldségeket?

Hungarian often uses the singular object with a partitive / indefinite amount meaning, where English uses a plural or uncountable form.

zöldség = “vegetable” (as a noun, but also as a kind/commodity)
zöldséget veszek = “I buy vegetables / some vegetables.”

This is very common with food and materials:

vizet iszom = “I drink water.” (not vizeket)
kenyeret veszek = “I’m buying bread.” (not kenyereket)

If you say zöldségeket veszek, it typically emphasizes multiple separate items (and sometimes different kinds), while zöldséget veszek is the neutral, everyday way to say “I buy vegetables / some veggies.” In your sentence, zöldséget is the natural choice.

Why do zöldséget and gyümölcslevet end in -t?

They are both direct objects in the accusative case, and the usual accusative ending in Hungarian is -t (often appearing as -et/-ot/-öt depending on vowel harmony and word shape).

zöldség (vegetable) → zöldséget
gyümölcslé (fruit juice) → gyümölcslevet

The -et/ -ot/ -öt form is often spelled as one with the noun:

kávé → kávét (“coffee” → “coffee (object)”)
kenyér → kenyeret (“bread” → “bread (object)”)

So the -t marks that these are things being bought by the verb veszek (“I buy”).

What’s going on with gyümölcslé → gyümölcslevet? Why does it change to -levet?

Gyümölcslé is a compound:

gyümölcs = fruit
lé = juice, liquid

The accusative singular of lé is levet, not lét. This is an internal vowel change that happens with a small set of common words.

So:

lé → levet (accusative)
gyümölcslé → gyümölcslevet (accusative of the compound)

This kind of vowel change is irregular from a learner’s perspective and just has to be memorized for a few words, like víz → vizet (“water”), híd → hidat (“bridge”), tűz → tüzet (“fire”), etc.

Why is there no article before olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet? Why not az olcsó zöldséget?

Hungarian normally omits the article when talking about an indefinite, non-specific quantity of a mass or plural-like noun:

Olcsó zöldséget veszek.
= I buy (some) cheap vegetables.
(not specific vegetables, just veggies of that type)
Az olcsó zöldséget veszem.
= I’m buying the cheap vegetables.
→ Now it’s specific, known to both speaker and listener (for example, in contrast to some other vegetables).

So in your sentence the idea is:

I go to that shop and in general I buy cheap vegetables and fruit juice there (not one particular, already known batch of vegetables or juice).

That’s why there is no article and the objects are in singular accusative to express an indefinite amount.

Could this have been olcsó zöldségeket és gyümölcsleveket instead? What would that mean?

Grammatically yes:

olcsó zöldségeket és gyümölcsleveket veszek

But the nuance shifts:

zöldséget vs zöldségeket
- zöldséget veszek = I buy vegetables / some vegetables (neutral).
- zöldségeket veszek = I buy several individual vegetables (often emphasizes number or variety).
gyümölcslevet vs gyümölcsleveket
- gyümölcslevet veszek = I buy (fruit) juice.
- gyümölcsleveket veszek = I buy multiple distinct juices (for example, different flavors or several cartons).

In everyday speech, with foods you regularly buy, the singular object for an indefinite amount (zöldséget, gyümölcslevet) is more natural in this “habitual shopping” context.

What’s the difference between veszek and vásárolok? Can I say … ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet vásárolok?

You can say that, and it’s correct:

ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet vásárolok.

Differences:

veszek = “I buy / I take”
- very common, neutral, everyday; used for all kinds of purchases.
vásárolok = also “I buy / I purchase”
- a bit more formal or “shopping-like”; used in written language, advertisements, or when you want to sound slightly more elevated.
- can also mean “I go shopping” in some contexts.

So:

…ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet veszek.
→ completely natural, most common spoken form.
…ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet vásárolok.
→ absolutely correct but sounds a touch more formal / careful.

How do I pronounce sarkon, zöldséget, and gyümölcslevet? Any tricky sounds?

Key points:

Hungarian stress is always on the first syllable of the word.
Some digraphs are single consonant sounds.

Approximate pronunciations (IPA + English hints):

sarkon → /ˈʃɒrkɔn/
- s = /ʃ/ like “sh” in “shop”
- a = /ɒ/ like British “o” in “hot” (more open)
- Stress on sar: SAR-kon.
zöldséget → /ˈzøldʃeːɡɛt/
- z = /z/ as in “zoo”
- ö = /ø/ (like German ö, French eu in “deux”)
- zs (not present here, just z)—but cs = /t͡ʃ/ like “ch” in “church”: -csé- = “chay”
- é = long /eː/, like “ay” in “say” but without the English glide.
- Stress: ZÖLD-sé-get.
gyümölcslevet → /ˈɟymølʧlɛvɛt/
- gy = /ɟ/ (soft “dy”, similar to “d” in “during” when said quickly)
- ü = /y/ (like German ü, French u in “tu”)
- ö again /ø/
- cs = /t͡ʃ/ (“ch”)
- Stress: GYÜ-mölcs-le-vet.

For learners, the vowels ö, ü and the consonant gy are usually the trickiest; listening to native audio and repeating slowly is very helpful.

Does veszek mean “I buy” or “I am buying”? How do you say present continuous in Hungarian?

Veszek can mean both:

“I buy” (simple present, habitual)
“I am buying” (present continuous, right now)

Hungarian has only one present tense, which covers both English simple and continuous aspects. Context decides which translation fits best.

In your sentence:

ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet veszek.
→ “I buy cheap vegetables and fruit juice there.”
(a habitual action, what you usually do at that shop)

If you wanted to emphasize right now, you’d add adverbs or context:

Most ott olcsó zöldséget és gyümölcslevet veszek.
= “Right now I’m buying cheap vegetables and fruit juice there.”