"Az orvos egyedül van."

Translation: The doctor is alone.

[DeiuAJ]

why is there "van" this time at the end... is it incorrect to say "az orvos egyedül" ?

[SCLT1729]

'egyedül' is an adverb, rather than an adjective, which means that we must use 'van'.

[Elon_the_Hittite]

Mnemonic here, possibly. If an adVerb then use Van/Vannak; if an adjective then don't need to.

[languageeer]

Köszönöm szépen!

[hatcher]

"az orvos egyedül" is not correct. I don't know how the rule goes but "van" here is not used to describe something like "az orvos okos" (the doctor is smart), it refers to physically being somewhere. I've just made up this rule. :D

[_Polimata_]

and i say, Why?

[fmk64]

Because the adverb attracts a verb (that is why it is called "adverb"). An adjective can stand in place of a verb (Az orvos okos), but the adverb defines/modifies/clarifies how the verb is to be interpreted. This concept is not different from that in the English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverb

[Peach2500]

Could egyedül also mean single as in not taken?

[bbigblue]

Nope. Nowadays we use the slang "szingli" for that. There are some other synonyms: https://szinonimaszotar.hu/keres/szingli I guess the closest would be "egyedülálló".