A barátnőm szerint a csirke jobb paradicsommal, mint rizzsel.

It can mean either one.

• barátnő = girlfriend or female friend
• -m = my

So barátnőm literally means my barátnő. Context tells you whether it is romantic or not. In many everyday situations, barátnőm is often understood as my girlfriend, but it is not automatically unambiguous.

Because Hungarian often uses the definite article with possessed nouns.

So:

• barátnőm = my girlfriend / my female friend
• a barátnőm = still my girlfriend / my female friend

This is normal Hungarian. English does not say the my girlfriend, but Hungarian structure is different. The article does not cancel the possessive ending.

szerint means according to, in the opinion of, or by the judgment of.

So:

• A barátnőm szerint = According to my girlfriend / In my girlfriend’s opinion

It is a postposition, which means it comes after the noun, not before it like an English preposition.

Compare:

• English: according to my girlfriend
• Hungarian: a barátnőm szerint

A very common related form is:

• szerintem = according to me / in my opinion

Because Hungarian often uses the definite article where English would not.

a csirke can mean:

• the chicken in a specific situation
• chicken as the food being discussed
• sometimes even chicken in general

In English, food words often appear without an article, but Hungarian very often uses a when the noun is the topic of the sentence.

So a csirke jobb... is natural Hungarian, even if English might simply say chicken is better...

Yes. jobb is the comparative form of jó.

• jó = good
• jobb = better
• legjobb = best

This is not fully regular from an English learner’s point of view, because you might expect something more obviously built from jó, but jobb is the correct comparative.

So:

• a csirke jobb = the chicken is better

Because in Hungarian, the present-tense 3rd-person form of to be is often omitted in sentences like this.

So Hungarian says:

• A csirke jobb.
• literally: The chicken better.
• natural English: The chicken is better.

This happens especially when the predicate is a noun or adjective in the present tense.

But in other persons, the verb appears:

• Én jobb vagyok. = I am better.
• Te jobb vagy. = You are better.

It is the instrumental-comitative suffix, and one of its most common meanings is with.

So:

• paradicsommal = with tomato / with tomatoes
• rizzsel = with rice

In this sentence, it shows what the chicken is better with.

Because the suffix -val/-vel changes its first consonant to match the final consonant of the word before it. This is a very common sound change in Hungarian.

Examples here:

• paradicsom + val → paradicsommal
• rizs + vel → rizzsel

What is happening?

• after m, the v becomes m
• after zs in rizs, the v becomes zs

That is why the consonant gets doubled in writing.

A useful way to think of it is:

• -val/-vel = the basic suffix
• but after many consonants, it assimilates and changes shape

Because Hungarian usually keeps the same case or postposition on both sides of the comparison.

Here the comparison is not:

• chicken vs. rice

It is:

• chicken with tomato
• chicken with rice

So Hungarian says:

• paradicsommal, mint rizzsel
• literally: with tomato, than with rice

This is very typical. After mint, Hungarian often repeats the same case ending that appeared before it.

Formally, it is singular:

• paradicsom = tomato
• paradicsommal = with tomato

But Hungarian often uses the singular where English might prefer a plural or a mass-style translation, especially with foods and ingredients.

So depending on context, this could be understood in English as:

• with tomato
• with tomatoes
• even with tomato sauce / tomato

If the speaker specifically wanted to emphasize several separate tomatoes, they could use:

• paradicsomokkal = with tomatoes

Because in Hungarian, mint in comparisons is commonly preceded by a comma.

So:

• jobb paradicsommal, mint rizzsel

This looks unusual to an English speaker, because English normally would not write a comma in better with tomatoes than with rice. But in Hungarian punctuation, this comma is standard.

Yes, this is a natural and fairly neutral word order.

The sentence starts with a frame:

• A barátnőm szerint = According to my girlfriend

Then comes the main statement:

• a csirke jobb paradicsommal, mint rizzsel

Hungarian word order is flexible, but changes usually affect topic, focus, or emphasis rather than basic meaning.

For example, moving parts around could emphasize something different, but the original version is a very normal way to say it.

In this sentence, it almost certainly means chicken as food, not the live animal.

That is because the sentence talks about what it is better with:

• with tomato
• than with rice

That sounds like a dish or meal. So the most natural interpretation is chicken meat / a chicken dish.