"The English woman is beautiful."

Translation: Az angol nő szép.

[countvlad]

why is it wrong to include the verb at the end (van)

[Nitram.]

It's because of the third person singular. If you use van, it expresses physical location, like: the English woman is at the bus stop = Az angol nő a buszmegállóban van. Omitting van expresses not physical location, but quality, like in this sentence, where the quality is beautiful (szép).

[countvlad]

Thanks for this excellent explanation.

[artemiscrescent]

Thanks I have been repeating this mistake in other similar sentences with no clear explanation as to why it was incorrect. This makes so much sense now!

[Amy888307]

So you should only use van if expressing physical location?

[woolfool]

In Hungarian not only a verb can be the statement in a sentence but pronouns can take this role as well. It is called névszói állítmány. So the statement in this sentence is the word "szép*. And after this you don't need any further verbs.This behavior can be seen in third person singular/plural sentences (as Nitram wrote it above). I think Russian language works the same way - in this respect.

• Ez a nő szép.
• Ezek a nők szépek.

Oh, yes, Hungarian adjectives can have plural form just like in Italian. But at least they don't have gender.

[countvlad]

thanks, this helps a lot!!!

[AlexPhysique]

Szép=nice, Beautiful=gyönyörű

[Apu56]

What is the difference between gyönyörű and szep? Other than gyönyörű is harder to spell.

[BrandedBastard]

szép:
pretty, nice, handsome, good, fine, beautiful

gyönyörű:
beautiful, splendid, magnificent, exquisite, gorgeous, lovely

[GF6f965p]

I am a little bit confused..there was a sentence The doctor is alone and the correct translation was Az orvos egyedül VAN..without van it was incorrect..why can be van now omitted?

[Firestar620]

Why does it have to be "angol nő" and "nő angol" is wrong? I can swear I've seen adjectives come after nouns in previous lessons. Is "English woman" being treated as one giant noun here? If so, when are modified nouns treated this way?