"A városnak a könyvtára nyitva van, de a mozi zárva."

Translation: The city's library is open, but the cinema is closed.

[gr8fuld34d]

I would guess that "The city's library..." is also an appropriate translation?

[RyagonIV]

Yes, of course. :)

[Bastette54]

Why is "van" in this sentence? Couldn't you say, "A könyvtár nyitva" for "the library is open"? And if so, then I don't see why "van" is necessary here.

[RyagonIV]

Coloquially, just using nyitva seems to be okay, but the problem here is that it's not an adjective.

The -va/-ve form is a special suffix that transforms verbs (nyit - to open) into adverbs. Nyitva is called an "adverbial participle", and as such it needs a verb to attach to.

[maksym.kurkin]

'movie theater' should be accepted.

[Wyrg14]

Could mozi also be in possessive form here? I would assume that the sentence contrasts the city's library vs. the city's cinema, so shouldn't it actually be?

[RayRay71625]

Why not also ..zárva VAN.

[RyagonIV]

Ray, we already have a van in the first clause, describing the state of the library, so we don't need to repeat it for the second clause.