Pe măsură ce răsadul se ofilește, recolta devine mai mică.

Pe măsură ce means as, as... progresses, or in proportion as.

In this sentence, it introduces a change that happens gradually alongside another change:

• Pe măsură ce răsadul se ofilește = As the seedling/young plant withers
• recolta devine mai mică = the harvest becomes smaller

It is a very common Romanian structure for expressing two linked developments:

• Pe măsură ce înveți, înțelegi mai bine.
  As you learn, you understand better.

Not really. In this fixed expression, pe măsură ce should be learned as a whole.

Normally, pe often means on or marks a direct object in some contexts, but here it is simply part of the conjunction pe măsură ce. You should not translate it word by word.

So it is better to memorize:

• pe măsură ce = as / as... more and more / in proportion as

Răsadul comes from răsad, which usually means seedling, young plant, or transplanted seedling, especially in gardening or agriculture.

The ending -ul is the definite article attached to the noun:

• răsad = a seedling
• răsadul = the seedling

Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, unlike English.

Those are both definite articles, but they match different noun patterns and genders.

• răsadul = the seedling
  from răsad
  • -ul
• recolta = the harvest
  from recoltă
  • -a

Romanian attaches the to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word before it.

So:

• un răsad = a seedling
• răsadul = the seedling

and

• o recoltă = a harvest
• recolta = the harvest

The verb is a se ofili, which means to wither, to wilt, or to fade. It is commonly used with the reflexive particle se.

So:

• se ofilește = it withers / it is withering

In Romanian, some verbs are normally used with a reflexive particle even when English does not use one. This is one of those cases.

You should learn the verb as:

• a se ofili = to wither

not as a ofili for this meaning in normal usage.

Yes, se ofilește is present tense, third person singular:

• (el/ea) se ofilește = he/she/it withers / is withering

Romanian often uses the present tense in general statements, processes, and cause-and-effect relationships, just like English can:

• As the seedling withers, the harvest becomes smaller.

This sentence sounds like a general truth or an ongoing process, so the present tense is natural.

Devine comes from the verb a deveni, meaning to become.

So:

• recolta devine mai mică = the harvest becomes smaller

This is a very useful verb:

• devin = I become
• devii = you become
• devine = he/she/it becomes

Mai is used to form the comparative, like more in English.

• mic = small
• mai mic = smaller

Because recolta is feminine singular, the adjective must agree with it, so you get:

• masculine singular: mai mic
• feminine singular: mai mică

Since recolta is feminine singular, the sentence uses mai mică.

Because adjectives in Romanian usually agree with the noun they describe in gender and number.

Here:

• recolta is feminine singular
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular
• therefore: mică

Compare:

• răsadul este mic. = The seedling is small.
  masculine singular
• recolta este mică. = The harvest is small.
  feminine singular

In the sentence, mai mică agrees with recolta.

Yes, that is a very close and natural translation.

A more interpretive translation could also be:

• As the seedling wilts, the harvest gets smaller
• As the young plant withers, the crop yield decreases

The exact English choice depends on context, especially how agricultural or technical you want to sound.

In this sentence, recolta means the harvest or the crop yield.

Related words:

• recoltă = harvest, crop, yield
• cultură = crop in the agricultural sense, but also culture
• rod = fruit, produce, result, often more literary or specific

So recolta devine mai mică suggests the amount harvested becomes smaller. It focuses on output, not just the plant itself.

Yes, Romanian has some flexibility in word order, though the given version is the most neutral and natural.

Standard order:

• Pe măsură ce răsadul se ofilește, recolta devine mai mică.

You could also place the main clause first:

• Recolta devine mai mică pe măsură ce răsadul se ofilește.

Both are correct. The meaning stays basically the same, but the emphasis changes slightly.

In this expression, ce is part of the fixed conjunction pe măsură ce. It is not functioning as a standalone what here.

Romanian ce can mean what, but in this pattern you should not analyze it separately too much. Just learn the whole connector:

• pe măsură ce = as / in proportion as

A few useful points:

• ă is a short central vowel, somewhat like the weak vowel in English sofa
• ș is sh
• ț would be ts, though it does not appear in this sentence

So approximately:

• măsură ≈ muh-SOO-ruh
• ofilește ≈ oh-fee-LESH-teh
• mică ≈ MEE-kuh

These are only rough English approximations, but they can help at first.

Even though both nouns are definite—răsadul, recolta—Romanian often uses the definite form in general statements.

So the sentence can be understood either as:

• a specific situation: the seedling... the harvest
• or a general agricultural statement: when the seedling withers, the harvest gets smaller

Romanian uses the definite article more broadly than English in some generalizing contexts, so this is not unusual.