A salátához paradicsomot és uborkát veszek.

-hoz is a case ending. Here it means something like to or, more naturally in English, for.

• saláta = salad
• salátához = to the salad / for the salad

In cooking or shopping contexts, Hungarian often uses this ending where English would say for:

• A leveshez kenyeret veszek. = I’m buying bread for the soup.
• A salátához... = For the salad...

So in this sentence, it tells you what the tomatoes and cucumber are meant for.

a is the definite article the.

So:

• a salátához = for the salad

Hungarian often uses the definite article in places where English might sometimes leave it out. In this sentence, a salátához sounds very natural, as if the speaker has a particular salad in mind.

Without a, salátához can still exist, but it would usually sound more general or less natural in many everyday contexts.

Because they are direct objects of the verb veszek (I buy / I am buying), and Hungarian marks direct objects with the accusative ending.

Base forms:

• paradicsom = tomato
• uborka = cucumber

Object forms:

• paradicsomot
• uborkát

The main accusative marker is -t, but the actual form may change a little:

• sometimes a linking vowel appears: paradicsom + ot
• sometimes the final vowel changes length: uborka → uborkát

So these endings are there because these are the things being bought.

This is because Hungarian has two verb conjugations:

• indefinite conjugation
• definite conjugation

veszek is the indefinite 1st person singular form of venni (to buy).

It is used here because paradicsomot és uborkát are bare nouns, not specific the tomato / the cucumber.

Compare:

• Paradicsomot és uborkát veszek. = I’m buying tomato(es) and cucumber(s).
• A paradicsomot és az uborkát veszem. = I’m buying the tomato and the cucumber / those specific ones.

So the object is what determines veszek here.

Because Hungarian usually leaves subject pronouns out when the verb ending already shows the subject.

• veszek = I buy / I am buying

The ending -ek already tells you it is first person singular.

You can add én if you want emphasis or contrast:

• Én veszek paradicsomot és uborkát. = I’m buying tomatoes and cucumber.
  (maybe not someone else)

But in a normal sentence, leaving én out is completely standard.

Because Hungarian often uses the singular for food items or ingredients when the exact number is not important.

So:

• paradicsomot veszek
• uborkát veszek

can mean something like:

• I’m buying tomato(es)
• I’m buying cucumber(s)

English often prefers a plural here, but Hungarian does not have to. The sentence is talking about ingredients, not emphasizing the count.

If you wanted to stress separate individual items, you could use plurals:

• paradicsomokat
• uborkákat

But in this kind of sentence, the singular is very natural.

Hungarian word order is flexible, and it often reflects topic and emphasis, not just grammar.

Here:

• A salátához sets the context: as for the salad / for the salad
• paradicsomot és uborkát are the things being bought
• veszek is the verb

So the sentence starts by framing the situation: For the salad, I’m buying tomatoes and cucumber.

This is a very natural Hungarian order. If you changed the order, the basic meaning could stay similar, but the emphasis would shift.

Because of vowel harmony.

The suffix has different forms:

• -hoz
• -hez
• -höz

The noun saláta has back vowels (a, á), so it takes the back-vowel form:

• saláta + hoz = salátához

Compare:

• kerthez = to the garden
• tükörhöz = to the mirror
• asztalhoz = to the table

Learning which suffix version to use is a big part of Hungarian grammar, and vowel harmony is the rule that guides it.

By itself, it does not always force a single-item meaning.

In a sentence like this, paradicsomot often means tomato/tomatoes as an ingredient or shopping item, without focusing on the exact number.

So depending on context, it could mean:

• one tomato
• some tomatoes
• tomato in general, as part of what is being bought

Hungarian often leaves that less specific than English does. If the exact number matters, the speaker would usually make it clear in some other way.

és simply means and.

So:

• paradicsomot és uborkát = tomatoes and cucumber

It links the two direct objects together. Both nouns stay in the accusative because both are objects of veszek.

So Hungarian is structurally doing:

• buy tomatoes
• and buy cucumber
• for the salad