Publicul aplaudă ca și cum premiera ar fi perfectă.

Because publicul means the audience, which is treated as a collective singular noun in Romanian, just as it often is in English.

So Romanian says:

Publicul aplaudă = The audience applauds / is applauding

Even though the audience is made up of many people, the grammar is singular.

-ul is the definite article attached to the end of the noun. Romanian usually puts the at the end instead of before the noun.

So:

• public = audience, public
• publicul = the audience

This is a very common Romanian pattern.

Because it agrees with the singular subject publicul.

Here, aplaudă is 3rd person singular present of a aplauda = to applaud.

So:

• publicul aplaudă = the audience applauds / is applauding

Romanian present tense can often translate both English simple present and present progressive, depending on context.

Ca și cum is a fixed expression meaning as if or as though.

In this sentence:

ca și cum premiera ar fi perfectă = as if the premiere were perfect

It is best to learn ca și cum as one chunk. The și here is part of the expression; you do not need to translate it separately as and.

Because premiera is the definite form: the premiere.

The basic noun is:

• premieră = a premiere

The definite form is:

• premiera = the premiere

With many feminine nouns ending in -ă, the definite form changes the ending in this way. So this is normal Romanian noun inflection, not a spelling mistake.

Ar fi is the conditional present of a fi = to be.

Here it means something like would be or, more naturally in English after as if, were:

• premiera ar fi perfectă = the premiere were perfect

After ca și cum, Romanian commonly uses this conditional form to show that something is only an appearance, assumption, or unreal comparison.

Because ca și cum usually introduces something hypothetical, apparent, or not necessarily true.

So:

• ca și cum premiera ar fi perfectă = as if the premiere were perfect

This suggests that the audience is reacting as though it were perfect, without stating that it really is perfect.

Using este would sound much more like a real factual statement, which is not the usual idea after as if in this kind of sentence.

Because it agrees with premiera, which is a feminine singular noun.

Romanian adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number.

So:

• masculine singular: perfect
• feminine singular: perfectă

Since premiera is feminine singular, Romanian uses perfectă.

It is an adjective.

In premiera ar fi perfectă, the word perfectă describes premiera. It is a predicate adjective after the verb a fi.

So the structure is:

• premiera = subject
• ar fi = verb
• perfectă = adjective describing the subject

Very often, yes.

Publicul aplaudă ca și cum premiera ar fi perfectă can sound as if the speaker is implying:

• the audience is reacting very enthusiastically,
• but the premiere is probably not actually perfect.

So the sentence may carry a slightly ironic or skeptical tone, depending on context and intonation.

Yes.

Romanian present tense often covers both meanings:

• Publicul aplaudă = The audience applauds
• Publicul aplaudă = The audience is applauding

Context tells you which English version sounds better.

Yes. A very similar sentence would be:

Publicul aplaudă de parcă premiera ar fi perfectă.

This also means The audience applauds as if the premiere were perfect.

In many contexts, de parcă and ca și cum are close in meaning. De parcă can sound a little more conversational or expressive, while ca și cum is very standard and neutral.