Așteptăm pe altcineva.

Așteptăm is the present tense, 1st person plural form of a aștepta = to wait.

So:

• eu aștept = I wait / I am waiting
• tu aștepți = you wait
• el/ea așteaptă = he/she waits
• noi așteptăm = we wait / we are waiting
• voi așteptați = you all wait
• ei/ele așteaptă = they wait

In this sentence, așteptăm means we are waiting or we wait, depending on context.

Romanian often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here, -ăm in așteptăm tells you the subject is noi = we.

So:

• Așteptăm pe altcineva.
• Noi așteptăm pe altcineva.

Both are possible, but the version without noi is more natural unless you want emphasis, such as We are waiting for someone else.

In Romanian, pe is often used to mark a direct object when that object is a person, an animate being, or a personal-type pronoun.

Here, altcineva means someone else, so it refers to a person. Because of that, Romanian uses pe:

• Așteptăm pe altcineva. = We’re waiting for someone else.

This use of pe is very common with people:

• Văd pe Maria. = I see Maria.
• Caut pe cineva. = I’m looking for someone.

So even though English uses for with wait for, Romanian uses the verb a aștepta directly, and pe is there because the object is a person.

Not exactly.

In English, the verb is wait for someone.
In Romanian, the verb a aștepta usually takes a direct object, not a prepositional phrase.

So Romanian does not literally say wait for someone in the same structure. Instead, it says something closer to wait someone, with pe marking that person as the direct object.

That means:

• English: We are waiting for someone else.
• Romanian: Așteptăm pe altcineva.

So pe is not simply the translation of for here. It is a grammatical marker used with certain direct objects.

Altcineva means someone else or somebody else.

It is built from:

• alt = other / another
• cineva = someone

Together, altcineva functions as an indefinite pronoun meaning another person.

Examples:

• E altcineva aici. = Someone else is here.
• Vrei pe altcineva? = Do you want someone else?

It refers to a person, not a thing. For something else, Romanian uses altceva.

Because in standard Romanian, altcineva is treated as a single pronoun meaning someone else.

Similarly:

• altceva = something else

So you should write:

• altcineva
• altceva

not as two separate words in standard spelling.

In standard Romanian, that would sound wrong or at least unnatural.

Because altcineva refers to a person and is the direct object, you normally need pe:

• Așteptăm pe altcineva. ✓

Without pe, the sentence does not follow the usual rule for personal direct objects.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

uh-shtep-TUM peh alt-chee-NEH-vah

A few important sounds:

• ă in așteptăm is a short central vowel, something like the a in sofa
• ș sounds like sh
• ț sounds like ts
• ci in altcineva sounds like chee

Word stress:

• aștepTĂM
• altciNEva

So: aș-tep-TĂM pe alt-ci-NE-va

Yes, Romanian word order is fairly flexible, although the neutral order here is:

• Așteptăm pe altcineva.

If you want to emphasize someone else, you can move it:

• Pe altcineva așteptăm. = It’s someone else that we’re waiting for.

That sounds more emphatic or contrastive.

But in normal, neutral conversation, Așteptăm pe altcineva is the most straightforward version.

You can usually make it a question just with intonation:

• Așteptăm pe altcineva? = Are we waiting for someone else?

In writing, you just add a question mark. Romanian does not always need a special word order for yes/no questions.

If you want extra emphasis or surprise, context and intonation do the work.

This is an important distinction:

• altcineva = someone else
• altceva = something else

So:

• Așteptăm pe altcineva. = We’re waiting for someone else.
• Vrem altceva. = We want something else.

Use altcineva for people and altceva for things, ideas, or non-persons.