Milyen dalt énekel a zenekar?

Here milyen means what kind of or what sort of. It asks about the type or quality of the song.

So Milyen dalt énekel a zenekar? is literally What kind of song is the band singing?

In real use, English may sometimes translate it more naturally as What song is the band singing?, but grammatically milyen is about the character or type of something, not just its identity.

They ask different kinds of questions:

• milyen dalt = what kind of song
• melyik dalt = which song

Use milyen when you want to know the type, style, mood, or character of the song.

Use melyik when you mean one specific song out of a known set.

So:

• Milyen dalt énekel a zenekar? = What kind of song is the band singing?
• Melyik dalt énekli a zenekar? = Which song is the band singing?

Because dalt is the accusative form of dal meaning song.

In Hungarian, the direct object usually gets the ending -t. Here, the song is the thing being sung, so it is the direct object:

• dal = song
• dalt = song, as a direct object

So the structure is basically:

• milyen dalt = what kind of song

Because milyen is modifying the noun dalt, and in this kind of noun phrase the case ending normally appears on the noun, not on the adjective-like word before it.

So Hungarian says:

• milyen dalt

not a form where both words carry the accusative ending.

This is very normal in Hungarian adjective + noun combinations.

Hungarian has two conjugation patterns: indefinite and definite.

Here the object is milyen dalt — it is not a specific, already identified song. Because the object is nonspecific, Hungarian uses the indefinite conjugation:

• énekel = sings / is singing

If the object were specific, Hungarian would normally use the definite conjugation instead. For example:

• Azt a dalt énekli a zenekar. = The band is singing that song.
• Melyik dalt énekli a zenekar? = Which song is the band singing?

So énekel here is chosen because the object is indefinite.

Because in Hungarian question words usually stand right before the verb in a neutral wh- question.

So the natural neutral order is:

• Milyen dalt
  • énekel
    • a zenekar

This puts the question phrase in the main focus position.

The version A zenekar milyen dalt énekel? is possible, but it has a different feel. It sounds less neutral and can give extra topical emphasis to a zenekar.

So for a simple, normal question, Milyen dalt énekel a zenekar? is the expected order.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Hungarian present tense often covers both:

• sings
• is singing

So this sentence could mean:

• What kind of song does the band sing?
• What kind of song is the band singing?

In many real situations, context makes is singing the more natural English translation, but the Hungarian verb form itself does not have a separate present progressive marker like English is singing.

a is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a zenekar = the band

Hungarian uses a before consonant-initial words and az before vowel-initial words.

Also, zenekar is grammatically singular, even though a band contains several people. That is why the verb is singular too:

• a zenekar énekel = the band sings / is singing

In modern Hungarian, ly is pronounced the same as j, like the y sound in yes.

So milyen is roughly pronounced MEE-yen.

A rough pronunciation of the whole sentence is:

• MEE-yen dolt AY-neh-kel aw ZEH-neh-kar?

That is only an approximation, but the key point is that ly in milyen is not pronounced like English l. It sounds like y.