Poliția discută despre crimă.

In Romanian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like English the.

• poliție = police
• poliția = the police

So the -a here is the feminine singular definite article. This is very normal in Romanian:

• casă = house
• casa = the house

Because poliție is a feminine singular noun, its definite form is poliția.

Romanian treats poliția as a singular noun, even though in English the police usually takes a plural verb.

So:

• Poliția discută = literally The police discusses
• but natural English is The police are discussing

This is a grammar difference between the two languages, not a mistake. In Romanian, poliția is grammatically singular, so the verb is singular too.

Discută is the 3rd person singular present tense of a discuta, meaning to discuss.

Here is the present tense:

• eu discut = I discuss / am discussing
• tu discuți = you discuss
• el/ea discută = he/she discusses
• noi discutăm = we discuss
• voi discutați = you all discuss
• ei/ele discută = they discuss

In the sentence Poliția discută despre crimă, the subject poliția is singular, so discută is the correct form.

Despre means about. In this sentence, it introduces the topic being discussed:

• a discuta despre ceva = to discuss something / to talk about something

So:

• discută despre crimă = discusses about crime / is discussing crime

In natural English, we usually just say discusses crime or is discussing the crime, but Romanian often uses despre when the meaning is about.

A learner should remember this very common pattern:

• a vorbi despre = to talk about
• a discuta despre = to discuss about / discuss

Because crimă here is indefinite.

• crimă = a crime / crime
• crima = the crime

Romanian often leaves a noun indefinite when speaking generally or when introducing the topic without pointing to one specific thing.

So:

• despre crimă can mean about crime or sometimes about a crime
• despre crima would mean about the crime, referring to a specific one already known from context

Whether English uses crime, a crime, or the crime depends on context, but Romanian marks that distinction directly with the noun ending.

This is a very good question, because crimă can be tricky.

In many contexts, crimă can mean:

• crime
• but very often also murder, especially in everyday usage

So the exact meaning depends on context.

For example:

• o crimă violentă = a violent crime
• a comis o crimă = committed a crime / committed a murder
• locul crimei = crime scene

If the larger context is about a killing, crimă may be best understood as murder. If the context is broader, it can simply mean crime.

Because Romanian usually uses a postposed definite article, meaning the article goes at the end of the noun.

So instead of a separate word like English the, Romanian changes the noun itself:

• băiat = boy
• băiatul = the boy
• fată = girl
• fata = the girl
• poliție = police
• poliția = the police

This is one of the major differences between Romanian and English grammar.

The basic word order here is very normal:

• Poliția discută despre crimă.

This follows the common pattern:

• Subject + Verb + Prepositional phrase

Romanian word order is often more flexible than English, but this neutral order is the most natural in a simple statement.

Other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Despre crimă discută poliția.

This sounds more marked, like It is the police who are discussing the crime or About the crime, the police are talking.

So the original sentence is the most straightforward and neutral version.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

po-lee-TSEE-a dis-KOO-tuh des-PREH KREE-muh

A few important sounds:

• ț = ts, like in cats
• ă = a short central vowel, something like the a in sofa
• c before u in discută is a hard k sound

Word stress:

• poliȚIa
• disCUtă
• desPRE
• CRImă

The spelling is fairly phonetic, so once you know the Romanian sound system, it becomes easier to read aloud.

There are two special letters here:

• ț in poliția
• ă in discută and crimă

Their values are:

• ț = ts
• ă = a short neutral vowel, like an unstressed uh

So:

• poliția is not pronounced like English politia; the ț must sound like ts
• discută ends with uh, not ah
• crimă also ends with that short uh-like sound

Romanian diacritics matter. Changing them can change the pronunciation and sometimes the meaning.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Romanian present tense often covers both:

• discusses
• is discussing

So:

• Poliția discută despre crimă can mean
  • The police discuss crime
  • The police are discussing crime
  • The police are discussing the crime

The broader situation tells you which English version is best.

Yes, you could, but it is not exactly the same.

• a discuta despre = to discuss
• a vorbi despre = to talk about

So:

• Poliția discută despre crimă sounds a bit more formal or focused, like they are discussing it seriously
• Poliția vorbește despre crimă simply means they are talking about it

Both are grammatical, but a discuta often suggests a more deliberate discussion.

After despre, Romanian normally uses the form that looks like the basic dictionary form of the noun. In traditional grammar terms, this is generally treated as the accusative after a preposition.

So in:

• despre crimă

crimă is in the form used after this preposition.

For a beginner, the practical thing to remember is simply:

• despre + noun = about + noun

Examples:

• despre poliție = about the police
• despre crimă = about crime
• despre caz = about the case

You usually do not need to change the noun in a complicated way after despre.