A gyerek csak egy tojást eszik.

A is the definite article, so here it means the.

• a gyerek = the child
• Hungarian has two forms of the:
  • a before consonant sounds
  • az before vowel sounds

So it is a gyerek, but for example az alma = the apple.

Gyerek means child or kid. It does not specify gender.

So A gyerek could refer to:

• a boy
• a girl
• just the child in a general sense

If Hungarian wants to specify gender, it would use a different word, such as fiú for boy or lány for girl.

Csak means only.

In this sentence, it limits the amount:

• csak egy tojást = only one egg

So the sentence means that the child eats one egg and not more than one.

Here egy is best understood as the number one.

Hungarian egy can mean both:

• a/an
• one

But because of csak (only), the numeric meaning is the important one:

• csak egy tojást = only one egg

Without that context, egy can sometimes be less strongly numeric and closer to an.

Because tojást is in the accusative case, which marks the direct object.

• tojás = egg
• tojást = egg as the thing being eaten

In Hungarian, the direct object often gets -t:

• kenyér → kenyeret
• almá? no, actually alma → almát
• tojás → tojást

So tojást shows that the egg is what the child eats.

Hungarian verbs often have two kinds of conjugation:

• indefinite
• definite

Here the verb is eszik, the indefinite form, because the object is egy tojást, which is indefinite.

• A gyerek egy tojást eszik. = The child is eating an egg / one egg.
• A gyerek a tojást eszi. = The child is eating the egg.

So:

• egy tojást → indefinite object → eszik
• a tojást → definite object → eszi

Hungarian word order is more flexible than English word order. It often reflects focus and emphasis, not just basic grammar roles.

In A gyerek csak egy tojást eszik, the phrase right before the verb is important:

• csak egy tojást is the focused part

That placement highlights the restriction:

• The child eats only one egg

So this is a very natural Hungarian structure.

In this sentence, csak limits egy:

• csak egy tojást = only one egg

So the meaning is about quantity, not about eating eggs instead of other foods.

Compare:

• A gyerek csak egy tojást eszik.
  = The child eats only one egg.

• A gyerek csak tojást eszik.
  = The child eats only egg / eggs.
  In other words, eggs are the only thing the child eats.

So the presence of egy changes the meaning a lot.

A rough English-friendly guide:

• gyerek ≈ dyeh-rek
• tojást ≈ toh-yaasht

A few useful sound notes:

• gy is a soft sound somewhat like dy in duke for many English speakers
• j sounds like English y
• cs sounds like ch
• á is a long vowel, roughly like a in father, but longer

So the whole sentence is roughly:

• A dyeh-rek chok egy toh-yaasht eh-seek

This is only an approximation, but it can help at first.

Usually, no—not in normal standard Hungarian for this meaning.

If you mean the child, you normally say:

• A gyerek

Leaving out the article would sound incomplete or unnatural in an ordinary sentence like this.

Hungarian uses articles quite regularly, although not always in exactly the same places as English.

A very literal breakdown is:

• A = the
• gyerek = child
• csak = only
• egy = one / a
• tojást = egg-ACC
• eszik = eats

So, word for word:

The child only one egg eats.

That sounds unnatural in English, but it helps show how Hungarian builds the sentence.