Editing Hungarian language (section)

===Word order===
The neutral word order is [[subject–verb–object]] (SVO). However, Hungarian is a [[topic-prominent language]], and so has a [[word order]] that depends not only on syntax but also on the [[topic–comment]] structure of the sentence (for example, what aspect is assumed to be known and what is emphasized).

A Hungarian sentence generally has the following order: topic, comment (or focus), verb and the rest.

The topic shows that the proposition is only for that particular thing or aspect, and it implies that the proposition is not true for some others. For example, in "''Az almát János látja".'' ('It is John who sees the apple'. Literally 'The apple John sees.'), the apple is in the topic, implying that other objects may be seen by not him but other people (the pear may be seen by Peter). The topic part may be empty.

The focus shows the new information for the listeners that may not have been known or that their knowledge must be corrected. For example, "Én vagyok az apád". ('I am your father'. Literally, 'It is I who am your father'.), from the movie ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', the pronoun I (''én'') is in the focus and implies that it is new information, and the listener thought that someone else is his father.

Although Hungarian is sometimes described as having free word order, different word orders are generally not interchangeable, and the neutral order is not always correct to use. The intonation is also different with different topic-comment structures. The topic usually has a rising intonation, the focus having a falling intonation. In the following examples, the topic is marked with italics, and the focus (comment) is marked with boldface.
*János látja az almát. - 'John sees the apple'. Neutral sentence.
*''János'' '''látja''' az almát. - 'John '''sees''' the apple'. (Peter may not see the apple.)
*'''János''' látja az ''almát''. - 'It is John who sees the apple'. (The listener may have thought that it is Peter.)
*'''Látja''' János az ''almát''. - 'John does see the apple'. (The listener may have thought that John does not see the apple.)
*''János''''' az almát '''látja. - 'What John sees is the apple'. (It is the apple, not the pear, that John specifically sees. However, Peter may see the pear.)
*''Az almát''''' látja''' János. - 'It is the apple that is seen by John'. (The pear may not be seen by John, but it may be smelled, for example.)
*''Az almát''''' János''' látja. - 'It is by John that the apple is seen'. (It is not seen by Peter, but the pear may be seen by Peter, for example.)