Ez a hús finom, és a rizs is nagyon jó.

This meat is tasty, and the rice is also very good.

Breakdown of Ez a hús finom, és a rizs is nagyon jó.

• ez: this
• lenni: to be
• is: also
• jó: good
• és: and
• nagyon: very
• hús: the meat
• rizs: the rice
• finom: tasty

Questions & Answers about Ez a hús finom, és a rizs is nagyon jó.

Why is it ez a hús and not just ez hús?

When ez (this) comes directly before a noun in Hungarian, you normally also keep the definite article a/az:

• ez a hús = this meat
• az a rizs = that rice

So ez on its own can mean this or this one, but before a noun you usually get the pattern ez a + noun.

A useful extra point: if the noun phrase gets a case ending later, the demonstrative usually reflects that too:

• ezt a húst = this meat (object form)

Why is there no word for English is in Ez a hús finom?

In Hungarian, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense, 3rd person when you are simply saying that something is something or is some quality.

So:

• Ez a hús finom. = This meat is tasty.
• A rizs nagyon jó. = The rice is very good.

Hungarian does not normally say Ez a hús van finom here.

You do use forms of to be in other situations, for example:

• different persons: Én fáradt vagyok. = I am tired.
• past tense: A hús finom volt. = The meat was tasty.
• location/existence: A rizs az asztalon van. = The rice is on the table.

What does is mean in a rizs is?

Here is means too / also, not the English verb is.

So:

• a rizs is nagyon jó = the rice is very good too / the rice is also very good

In Hungarian, is usually comes after the word or phrase it belongs to. Here it follows a rizs, so it means the rice too.

Compare:

• A rizs is jó. = The rice is good too.
• Én is jövök. = I am coming too.

This is a very common thing for English speakers to notice, because Hungarian puts is after the relevant word, not before it.

Why does rizs have the article a? English often just says rice.

Hungarian often uses the definite article when talking about a specific, identifiable thing, even with mass nouns like meat or rice.

So here:

• a rizs = the rice

It means a particular rice dish or the rice that is part of the meal, not rice in general.

Likewise:

• ez a hús refers to a particular meat
• a rizs refers to the specific rice being talked about

So even though English sometimes says just rice, Hungarian often prefers a rizs when the context is specific.

What is the difference between finom and jó here?

Both are positive, but they are not exactly the same.

• finom usually means tasty, delicious
• jó means good

With food:

• A hús finom. = the meat tastes good / is tasty
• A rizs nagyon jó. = the rice is very good

So finom is more directly about taste, while jó is broader and can mean good in a more general sense.

You could also say:

• A rizs is finom.

That would mean The rice is tasty too, with a stronger focus on flavor specifically.

Why is the word order like this? Could I say Finom ez a hús instead?

Yes, you could, but the emphasis would change.

The given sentence has a very natural, neutral structure:

• Ez a hús finom, és a rizs is nagyon jó.

This is like saying:

• As for this meat, it’s tasty, and the rice is very good too.

Hungarian word order is flexible, and it often reflects topic and emphasis rather than a fixed English-style pattern.

So:

• Ez a hús finom. = neutral, matter-of-fact
• Finom ez a hús. = more emphatic, something like This meat is tasty!

The same idea applies to the second half. The original version is a normal, natural way to present the information.

Why does is come after rizs instead of somewhere else in the sentence?

Because is usually goes right after the word or phrase meaning too/also applies to.

Here the idea is:

• the rice too is very good

So Hungarian says:

• a rizs is nagyon jó

The particle is is attached to a rizs as a phrase.

If you move is, you usually change what is being highlighted, or the result may sound unnatural. So the placement here is not random: it tells you that rice is the additional item.

Do the adjectives finom and jó change to match the noun?

Not for gender, because Hungarian has no grammatical gender.

So there is no masculine/feminine difference like in some European languages. In this sentence, both nouns are singular, so the adjectives stay in their basic form:

• hús finom
• rizs jó

A helpful detail: with plural subjects in this kind of sentence, the adjective often becomes plural too:

• A húsok finomak. = The meats are tasty.

But before a noun, adjectives usually stay unmarked:

• finom húsok = tasty meats

So in your sentence, the singular forms finom and jó are exactly what you would expect.

What does nagyon mean, and why is it before jó?

Nagyon means very.

So:

• nagyon jó = very good

In a neutral Hungarian sentence, nagyon normally comes directly before the adjective or adverb it modifies:

• nagyon jó
• nagyon finom
• nagyon gyorsan = very quickly

So a rizs is nagyon jó is the normal way to say the rice is very good too.

How is this sentence pronounced?

A rough English-friendly guide:

• Ez ≈ ez
• a ≈ short uh / aw depending on accent
• hús ≈ hoosh
• finom ≈ fee-nom
• és ≈ aysh
• rizs ≈ rizh
  
  • zs sounds like the s in measure
• is ≈ eesh
• nagyon ≈ naw-dyohn or noh-dyohn depending on how narrowly you approximate it
• jó ≈ yoh

A more important rule than exact English imitation: Hungarian stress normally falls on the first syllable of each word:

• EZ a HÚS FI-nom, és a RIZS is NA-gyon JÓ.

Also, the long vowels matter:

• hús has long ú
• jó has long ó
• és has long é

Those long vowels should be held a bit longer than the short ones.