Questions & Answers about A bolt közel van a házhoz.
Very literally:
- A – the (definite article)
- bolt – shop / store
- közel – near / close
- van – is (3rd person singular of lenni = to be)
- a – the (again)
- házhoz – to the house / towards the house / at the house’s vicinity
So the structure is roughly: The shop near is to-the-house.
Hungarian has two forms of “the”:
- a before words beginning with a consonant: a bolt (the shop)
- az before words beginning with a vowel: az alma (the apple)
Because bolt starts with b (a consonant), we must use a, not az.
- a bolt = the shop, a specific shop that both speaker and listener can identify from context.
- egy bolt = a shop, any shop, not a specific one.
In this sentence, A bolt közel van a házhoz, we are talking about a particular shop, so the definite article a is used.
No. Hungarian does not have grammatical gender.
- bolt is just “shop”, without masculine/feminine/neuter.
- Pronouns for things are generally az (that/it) or ez (this/it), not he or she.
Hungarian often drops van (the present-tense “is”) in 3rd person singular when the predicate is a simple noun or adjective:
- A bolt nagy. – “The shop (is) big.” (You normally say A bolt nagy, not A bolt van nagy.)
- Péter tanár. – “Peter (is) a teacher.”
However, with adverbs and location-type expressions, van normally stays:
- A bolt közel van a házhoz. – “The shop is near the house.”
- A könyv az asztalon van. – “The book is on the table.”
So in A bolt közel van a házhoz, van is needed and natural.
Közel basically means “near / close”.
Grammatically it’s primarily an adverb / postposition-like word. You’ll often see it:
- with van in sentences of location:
- A bolt közel van. – “The shop is nearby.”
- with a noun phrase marked by -hoz/-hez/-höz:
- közel a házhoz – “near the house”
It can also be used in various expressions (e.g. túl közel – “too close”), but you can think of it mainly as nearby / close when describing location.
Hungarian normally shows spatial relations using case endings / suffixes, not separate prepositions like English “to”, “at”, “in”, “on” etc.
- ház – house
- házhoz – to the house / toward the house / at the house’s vicinity
The suffix -hoz here expresses a kind of goal or proximity “to/at”. In the phrase közel van a házhoz, it means “is close to the house”.
If you said simply közel van a ház, it would sound incomplete or ungrammatical: the relationship “to the house” needs to be shown, and -hoz does that.
-hoz / -hez / -höz is a directional / proximity suffix, often translated as “to, towards, by, at” depending on context.
- házhoz – to the house / at the house
- baráthoz – to (my) friend / at (my) friend’s place
- ablakhoz – to the window / by the window
Which variant you use depends on vowel harmony:
- After back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú): use -hoz
- ház ➝ házhoz
- After front unrounded vowels (e, é, i, í): use -hez
- kéz ➝ kézhez (to the hand)
- After front rounded vowels (ö, ő, ü, ű): use -höz
- kör ➝ körhöz (to the circle)
So ház has a back vowel (á), so it takes -hoz: házhoz.
-hoz/-hez/-höz by itself is directional / proximity “to, toward, at by”. The exact English preposition depends on the verb and context.
In A bolt közel van a házhoz, the “near” idea mainly comes from közel:
- közel van a házhoz → “is near the house / is close to the house”
In other contexts:
- Megyek a házhoz. – “I’m going to the house.”
- Állj a házhoz közelebb! – “Stand closer to the house!”
So here, -hoz supports the idea “to/at the house”, and közel adds “near/close”.
You can use messze (“far”) and the suffix -tól/-től (“from”):
- A bolt messze van a háztól. – “The shop is far from the house.”
Here:
- messze – far
- ház
- -tól – from the house (háztól, with a linking t)
Yes. Hungarian word order is relatively flexible, and you can say:
- A bolt közel van a házhoz.
- A bolt a házhoz közel van.
Both are grammatically correct and mean essentially “The shop is near the house.”
Subtle differences:
- A bolt közel van a házhoz. – more neutral, just stating the fact.
- A bolt a házhoz közel van. – puts a bit more emphasis on “to the house” (as opposed to being near something else).
For most learners and in most contexts, you can treat them as equivalent.
No, that sounds incomplete or wrong in standard Hungarian.
In this kind of location expression with an adverb (közel) and a case-marked noun (a házhoz), you normally need van:
- ✅ A bolt közel van a házhoz.
- ❌ A bolt közel a házhoz. (unnatural/incorrect as a normal sentence)
Remember: dropping van is mostly limited to when the predicate is a simple noun or adjective (tanár, nagy etc.), not this kind of adverbial phrase.
Yes. Two very common options:
a házhoz közel – literally “close to the house”
- A bolt a házhoz közel van. – “The shop is near the house.”
a ház közelében – literally “in the vicinity of the house”
- A bolt a ház közelében van. – “The shop is near the house.”
All of these are natural:
- A bolt közel van a házhoz.
- A bolt a házhoz közel van.
- A bolt a ház közelében van.
They differ slightly in structure, but all convey essentially the same idea.