Learn Swedish: Hunden är i parken. - The dog is in the park.

In Swedish, the word for 'the' isn't a separate word before the noun. Instead, it attaches to the end. Since hund (dog) and park (park) are both 'en-words', you add -en to the end to get hunden (the dog) and parken (the park).

Is är one of the irregular verbs like the ones in this lesson?

Yes! Är means 'is' (and also 'am' and 'are'). It is the present tense of att vara (to be). Just like har (have) and gör (do) from this lesson, it is a high-frequency irregular verb that doesn't follow the normal pattern of adding -r to a verb stem. You simply have to memorize it!

How do native speakers usually pronounce är?

In everyday spoken Swedish, är is almost always shortened to sound exactly like a short letter 'e' (similar to the 'e' in 'pet'). You will usually hear this sentence spoken as 'Hunden e i parken.'

How would I change this sentence to ask 'Is the dog in the park?'

To turn a statement into a yes/no question in Swedish, you just swap the first two pieces: the subject (hunden) and the verb (är). The question becomes: Är hunden i parken?