Az állomás a központ közelében van.

Hungarian has two forms of the definite article:

• a before a consonant sound
• az before a vowel sound

Since állomás starts with a vowel, you say az állomás.

Compare:

• az állomás = the station
• a központ = the center

Both a and az mean the.

Because there are two definite nouns:

• az állomás = the station
• a központ = the center

Hungarian, like English, can use the definite article with both nouns when both are specific.

So the structure is basically:

• the station
• the center’s vicinity
• is

közelében means something like in its vicinity / near it.

In this sentence:

• a központ közelében = near the center

A very useful learner shortcut is to memorize:

• X közelében = near X

So:

• az iskola közelében = near the school
• a ház közelében = near the house
• a központ közelében = near the center

You do not need to fully analyze it every time at first; treating it as a pattern is often easiest.

Because in this construction, the idea of location is carried by közelében, not by központ itself.

So Hungarian says:

• a központ közelében
  literally something like in the center’s vicinity

The noun központ stays in its basic form, while közelében carries the relational meaning.

This is different from some other Hungarian patterns where the noun itself gets a case ending.

Yes. That is also natural Hungarian.

Two common ways to say near the center are:

• a központ közelében van
• közel van a központhoz

They are very similar in meaning.

A rough difference:

• a központ közelében van = it is in the vicinity of the center
• közel van a központhoz = it is close to the center

For a learner, both are useful and common.

van is the 3rd person singular present form of to be.

It is used here because the sentence expresses location:

• Az állomás a központ közelében van. = The station is near the center.

This is important because Hungarian often omits van in other kinds of present-tense sentences, especially with noun or adjective predicates:

• Az állomás nagy. = The station is big.
  (no van)

But with location, van is normally present:

• Az állomás itt van. = The station is here.
• A könyv az asztalon van. = The book is on the table.

Yes. In this expression, it is written as one word.

So you write:

• a központ közelében

not something like splitting közelében into separate written parts.

For learners, it is best to learn közelében as a complete form that commonly appears after a noun.

Yes. Hungarian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The sentence you have is a neutral, natural version:

• Az állomás a központ közelében van.

This works well when the station is the topic.

But you could also say:

• A központ közelében van az állomás.

That version puts more attention on the location, as if answering:

• Where is the station?

So the words can move, but the emphasis changes.

Not always. központ literally means center.

Depending on context, it could mean:

• town/city center
• central area
• center of something more abstract or organizational

If you want to be more explicit, Hungarian also has:

• városközpont = city center

But in everyday context, a központ is often understood as the center / downtown.

A simple pronunciation guide:

• Az ≈ uz
• állomás ≈ aal-lo-maash
• a ≈ short uh
• központ ≈ kuhz-pont (with ö like German ö or French eu)
• közelében ≈ kuh-zeh-lay-ben
• van ≈ vun

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• Hungarian stress is usually on the first syllable of each word.
• á is a long vowel.
• ö is a rounded front vowel, which English does not really have.

So the sentence is stressed roughly like this:

• AZ állomás a KÖZpont közelében van