Izvorul este lângă refugiu.

The spring is next to the mountain hut.

Breakdown of Izvorul este lângă refugiu.

• a fi: to be
• lângă: next to
• refugiul: the mountain hut; refuge
• izvorul: the spring (water source)

Questions & Answers about Izvorul este lângă refugiu.

Why does izvorul mean the spring? Where is the word the?

In Romanian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun, not written as a separate word.

So:

• izvor = spring
• izvorul = the spring

Here, -ul is the definite article. This is very common in Romanian and is one of the first big differences from English.

Why is it refugiu and not refugiul?

This is a very common learner question. After prepositions, Romanian often uses a bare noun in simple location expressions, where English might still use the.

So lângă refugiu can naturally be understood as near the shelter or near a shelter, depending on context.

A good way to think about it is:

• English usually forces you to choose between a and the
• Romanian is sometimes less explicit in this kind of phrase

If you clearly make the noun definite in another context, you can see the article more obviously:

• Refugiul este mic. = The shelter is small.

What exactly does lângă mean?

Lângă means near, beside, or next to.

In this sentence, near is a very natural translation. Depending on context, it can also suggest something fairly close, almost right by the shelter.

So:

• lângă refugiu = near the shelter / beside the shelter