Ana depășește participantul epuizat.

It is the 3rd person singular present tense of a depăși.

Depending on context, a depăși can mean:

• to overtake / pass
• to surpass / outdo
• to exceed

So this sentence could describe either a physical action or a figurative one. The exact meaning depends on the wider context.

Because Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, not as a separate word like English the.

So:

• participant = participant
• participantul = the participant

This is a very common Romanian feature. The article is attached directly to the noun.

In Romanian, adjectives often come after the noun.

So:

• participantul epuizat = the exhausted participant

This word order is very normal in Romanian.
English usually prefers adjective + noun, but Romanian very often uses noun + adjective.

Because the definiteness is already shown on the noun participantul.

In Romanian, when a noun is definite and an adjective follows it, the adjective usually stays in its normal agreeing form, not a separately definite form.

So:

• participantul epuizat = the exhausted participant

Here:

• participantul shows the
• epuizat simply agrees with the noun in gender and number

Since participantul is masculine singular, the adjective is also masculine singular: epuizat.

In this sentence, it describes participantul.

So the structure is:

• Ana = subject
• depășește = verb
• participantul epuizat = object phrase

Because epuizat is placed right after participantul, the natural reading is the exhausted participant, not Ana, who is exhausted.

If you wanted to say that Ana is exhausted, you would normally say something like:

• Ana epuizată depășește participantul
• or more naturally in many contexts, a sentence that makes that relationship clearer

Also, if Ana were described by the adjective, it would need the feminine form: epuizată, not epuizat.

Because of the sentence structure and the verb meaning.

In:

• Ana depășește participantul epuizat

the most natural reading is:

• Ana = the one doing the action
• participantul epuizat = the one receiving the action

Romanian often uses subject + verb + object, just like English.

So this works very much like:

• Ana overtakes the exhausted participant

It is present tense, 3rd person singular.

That means it can correspond to English:

• overtakes
• is overtaking, depending on context

Romanian present tense often covers both a simple present and a present progressive idea when English would distinguish them.

Romanian often omits subject pronouns when they are not needed, because the verb ending already gives information about the subject.

Here, the subject is explicitly named as Ana, so there is no need for a pronoun.

Even without Ana, depășește already tells you the verb is 3rd person singular: he/she/it overtakes.

This is very normal in Romanian.

That is a very good question.

With a definite direct object referring to a person, Romanian very often uses pe, and many native speakers would prefer:

• Ana îl depășește pe participantul epuizat

Here:

• pe participantul epuizat marks the direct object clearly
• îl is the object clitic that often appears with pe

So the sentence you were given is understandable, but in natural Romanian, especially with a specific human object, pe is often expected or preferred.

This is part of a bigger Romanian pattern called differential object marking.

The adjective agrees with the noun in gender and number.

Here:

• participantul is masculine singular
• so the adjective is also masculine singular: epuizat

Compare:

• participantul epuizat = masculine singular
• participanta epuizată = feminine singular
• participanții epuizați = masculine plural
• participantele epuizate = feminine plural

So agreement is an important clue in Romanian.

Yes, Romanian word order is somewhat flexible, but changing it usually changes the emphasis.

The neutral order here is:

• Ana depășește participantul epuizat

If you move things around, the sentence may sound more emphatic, literary, or context-dependent.

For learners, the safest choice is usually to keep the neutral order:

• subject + verb + object

A rough pronunciation is:

• de-puh-SHEHSH-te

A few useful notes:

• ă is a short central vowel, something like the vowel in sofa
• ș sounds like sh
• ește is pronounced roughly ESH-te

So depășește has the sh sound in the middle, not an s sound.