Ebéd után maradt egy kis tészta az edényben, ezért nem vagyok éhes.

Because ebéd után is a very natural time expression meaning after lunch in a general sense.

A few useful points:

• után means after
• It is a postposition, so it comes after the noun
• Hungarian often leaves out the article in common time expressions like:
  • reggel után
  • óra után
  • ebéd után

So ebéd után is similar to English after lunch.

You can say az ebéd után if you mean a very specific lunch, but in this sentence the article-free version sounds perfectly normal.

Után is a postposition, which means it comes after the word it relates to.

So:

• ebéd után = after lunch
• munka után = after work
• iskola után = after school

This is different from English, where after comes before the noun.

Unlike case endings, postpositions are separate words. So you do not attach után to ebéd as an ending; you write it separately.

Maradt is the past tense of marad, which can mean:

• to remain
• to stay
• to be left over

In this sentence, the best sense is was left over or remained:

• Ebéd után maradt egy kis tészta az edényben
  = There was a little pasta left in the pot/container after lunch

So this is not really stayed in the physical sense, but rather some pasta remained.

This is very natural Hungarian word order for introducing something that existed or remained.

• Maradt egy kis tészta az edényben
  literally feels like Remained a little pasta in the container
• In smoother English: There was a little pasta left in the container

Hungarian often uses this kind of structure when introducing an indefinite thing like:

• van egy könyv = there is a book
• maradt egy kis tészta = there was some pasta left

If you said Egy kis tészta maradt az edényben, that is also grammatical, but it puts a bit more focus on a little pasta itself.

Here egy kis means a little or some.

So:

• egy kis tészta = a little pasta / some pasta

Important detail:

• tészta is treated here as a mass noun, so it stays singular
• Hungarian does not need a plural form for this idea, just like English says some pasta, not usually some pastas

Also, egy kis does not literally mean one small pasta here. It is an idiomatic quantity expression.

Not always. Tészta is a broad word that can mean different things depending on context, including:

• pasta
• dough
• sometimes certain pastry-type foods

In this sentence, because of the context of lunch and food left in a container, tészta is most naturally understood as pasta.

So learners should remember that tészta is a flexible food word, not a one-to-one match with only one English word.

-ban / -ben is the Hungarian case ending meaning in.

So:

• edény = container / pot / dish / vessel
• edényben = in the container / pot / dish

The version -ban or -ben depends on vowel harmony. Since edény takes front-vowel endings, it becomes edényben.

The article is az because the sentence refers to a specific container:

• az edényben = in the container / in the pot

So the structure is:

• az = the
• edény = container
• -ben = in

Ezért means therefore, for this reason, or that’s why.

In this sentence:

• ezért nem vagyok éhes
  = therefore I am not hungry / that’s why I’m not hungry

It connects the first idea to the second:

• some pasta was left after lunch
• therefore I am not hungry

Putting ezért at the start of the second clause is very common and clear. Hungarian word order is flexible, but this placement is especially natural for a cause-and-result link.

In Hungarian, nem usually goes directly before the finite verb.

So:

• vagyok = I am
• nem vagyok = I am not

Then the adjective comes after:

• nem vagyok éhes = I am not hungry

So the basic pattern is:

• nem + verb + complement

That is why nem éhes vagyok is not the normal word order.

Hungarian leaves out the verb to be only in the present tense, third person singular/plural in many simple statements.

For example:

• Ő éhes = He/she is hungry
• Ők éhesek = They are hungry

But in first person singular, you must use the verb:

• én éhes vagyok = I am hungry
• nem vagyok éhes = I am not hungry

So vagyok is required because the speaker is saying I am not hungry.

Because Hungarian usually drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here:

• vagyok already means I am

So nem vagyok éhes clearly means I am not hungry without needing én.

You could say:

• én nem vagyok éhes

but that adds emphasis, something like:

• I’m not hungry
• As for me, I’m not hungry

So leaving out én is the neutral, normal choice.

Because the sentence talks about:

1. a past situation:
   Ebéd után maradt egy kis tészta az edényben
   = After lunch, some pasta was left in the container

2. a present result:
   ezért nem vagyok éhes
   = therefore I am not hungry

So the timing is:

• something happened earlier
• it affects how I feel now

This tense combination is completely natural in both Hungarian and English.