This, That

Ez a, Az a

In English, demonstrative adjectives are ‘this’ and ‘that’. In Hungarian, they are a bit more complex:

• ez a(z) ‘this’

• az a(z) ‘that’

They consist of ez ‘this’ plus a definite article a; or az ‘that’ and a definite article a. In both cases, the definite article can take on a -z if the following word starts with a vowel:

• ez a ház ‘this house’

• az a ház ‘that house’

• ez az alma ‘this apple’

• az az alma ‘that apple’

for plurals:

• ezek a házak ‘these houses’

• azok a házak ‘those houses’

• ezek az almák ‘these apples’

• azok az almák ‘those apples’

In a sentence:

• Ez az alma piros. = This apple is red.

• Az a ház szép. = That house is nice.

• Ezek a lányok diákok. = These girls are students.

• Azok a férfiak ügyvédek. = Those men are lawyers.

If this/that/these/those describes a noun, we use the ez a(z) / az a(z) / ezek a(z) / azok a(z) forms, as above.

The other "Ez"

If this / that / these / those are "stand alone words" (they are not directly in front of a noun), we use the simpler forms: ez, az, ezek, azok.

This is a table. = Ez egy asztal.

That is a table. = Az egy asztal.

These are apples. = Ezek almák.

Those are apples. = Azok almák.

In an earlier skill you saw that you can add an adjective to this structure, for example:

This is a black car. = Ez egy fekete autó.

That is a nice house. = Az egy szép ház.

Difference

In terms of grammar, the following are two different sentences.

This is a black car. = Ez egy fekete autó. (subject: This =Ez)

This car is black. = Ez az autó fekete. (subject: This car =Ez az autó)