Medicul salvează copilul.

Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, not before it.

• medic = doctor
• medicul = the doctor
• copil = child
• copilul = the child

So -ul here is the masculine singular definite article, roughly equivalent to English the.

The dictionary forms are:

• medic = doctor
• a salva = to save
• copil = child

In the sentence, those forms become:

• medicul = the doctor
• salvează = saves / is saving
• copilul = the child

Because salvează is the 3rd person singular present tense form of a salva.

It agrees with medicul (the doctor), which is a singular subject.

So:

• eu salvez = I save
• tu salvezi = you save
• el/ea salvează = he/she saves

That is why Medicul salvează copilul means The doctor saves the child.

Mostly from word order and meaning.

Romanian often uses the same basic order as English:

subject + verb + object

So:

• Medicul = subject
• salvează = verb
• copilul = direct object

A tricky point is that in Romanian, masculine singular nouns like medicul and copilul often look the same in the nominative and accusative. So form alone does not always tell you which one is the subject. In this sentence, the normal word order does that job.

In very natural modern Romanian, many speakers would often say:

Medicul îl salvează pe copil.

With a specific human direct object, pe is very common, and the clitic pronoun îl often appears too.

So the textbook sentence Medicul salvează copilul is understandable and useful for learning basic structure, but a more natural everyday version is often:

Medicul îl salvează pe copil.

Yes, but Medicul salvează copilul is the most neutral, straightforward order.

Romanian can change word order for emphasis, style, or contrast, but the basic beginner pattern is:

Subject + Verb + Object

If you change the order, the sentence may sound more marked or require extra clues such as pe or a pronoun.

Romanian often drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb ending already gives information about the person and number, and here the subject noun medicul is stated clearly anyway. So adding el would usually be unnecessary.

That is why Romanian naturally says:

Medicul salvează copilul.

not normally:

El medicul salvează copilul.

It is in the present tense.

Depending on context, Romanian present tense can mean:

• a general fact or usual action: The doctor saves the child
• an action happening now: The doctor is saving the child

Romanian often uses the simple present where English might use either saves or is saving.

The letter ă is a very common Romanian vowel. It sounds roughly like the a in English sofa or about.

So the final part of salvează is not a strong a sound like in father. It is softer and more central.

A rough English-friendly approximation of salvează is:

sal-VEA-zuh

The important thing is that the last sound is a short, unstressed ă.

They are both singular.

Clues:

• -ul here marks singular definite masculine nouns
• salvează is also singular, matching medicul

So the sentence talks about one doctor and one child.