Șorțul este curat.

Because Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, not before it like English does.

• șorț = apron
• șorțul = the apron

So Șorțul este curat. literally means The apron is clean.

The dictionary form is șorț.

That is the indefinite singular form, meaning apron.
When you add -ul, you get the definite singular form:

• șorț = apron
• șorțul = the apron

A rough English-style guide is shorts-ool, but with Romanian sounds.

A few important parts:

• Ș sounds like sh in shoe
• o is a clear o
• ț sounds like ts in cats
• ul at the end is pronounced roughly like ool, though the u can be quite short in natural speech

So Șorțul is approximately SHOR-tsul.

Este means is.

So:

• Șorțul = the apron
• este = is
• curat = clean

Yes, in a normal full sentence like this, Romanian uses the verb to be, just like English:

• Șorțul este curat. = The apron is clean.

In casual speech, Romanian speakers may sometimes drop este, especially in very informal contexts, and say Șorțul curat, but that is not the standard full form learners should start with.

Because curat has to agree with the noun it describes.

The noun șorț is neuter in Romanian. In the singular, neuter nouns behave like masculine, so the adjective also takes the masculine singular form:

• curat = masculine/neuter singular
• curată = feminine singular

So:

• șorțul este curat = the apron is clean

If the noun were feminine, you would use curată instead.

It is neuter.

Romanian neuter nouns are special:

• in the singular, they behave like masculine
• in the plural, they behave like feminine

That is why you get:

• singular: șorțul este curat = the apron is clean
• plural: șorțurile sunt curate = the aprons are clean

Notice how the adjective changes from curat to curate in the plural.

Șorțul este curat is the most neutral and standard order.

Romanian word order is somewhat flexible, but changing it usually adds emphasis or sounds more literary or marked.

For example:

• Șorțul este curat. = neutral, standard
• Curat este șorțul. = unusual, emphatic, more marked

As a learner, it is best to use Șorțul este curat.

You would usually say:

• Un șorț este curat.

Here:

• un = an / a
• șorț = apron
• este curat = is clean

So the difference is:

• Șorțul este curat. = The apron is clean.
• Un șorț este curat. = An apron is clean.

The plural is:

• Șorțurile sunt curate. = The aprons are clean.

Here is what changed:

• șorțul → șorțurile = the apron → the aprons
• este → sunt = is → are
• curat → curate = clean, agreeing with the plural neuter noun

This is a very useful pattern to notice in Romanian.

In this sentence, curat is an adjective meaning clean.

It can also appear in other contexts, and sometimes Romanian uses it in slightly broader ways, such as pure, neat, or even as an intensifier in certain expressions. But for this sentence, the basic meaning is simply:

• curat = clean

So Șorțul este curat. means that the apron is not dirty.