Privirea ei este tristă.

The dictionary form is privire, meaning look, gaze, or expression depending on context.

Privirea is the definite singular form, so it means the gaze / the look. Romanian usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

So:

• privire = a gaze / gaze
• privirea = the gaze

Because Romanian normally uses the definite form of the noun in this kind of possessive expression.

So privirea ei is literally something like the gaze of her, which corresponds to English her gaze.

This is very common in Romanian:

• cartea ei = her book
• mama lui = his mother
• privirea ei = her gaze

English does not use the here, but Romanian often does.

In Romanian, possession is often expressed with the possessor after the noun.

So:

• privirea ei = her gaze
• literally: the gaze of her

This is different from English, where possessives usually come before the noun: her gaze.

Romanian can also use possessive words like mea, ta, sa, but with ei the post-noun pattern is very natural and common.

Here ei means her.

More specifically, it is the form used to show possession after a noun. You can think of it as a genitive-type form, similar to English of her, though in normal translation it is simply her.

So:

• privirea ei = her gaze
• literally: the gaze of her

Do not confuse this with ei meaning they/them in other contexts. Romanian forms often do more than one job, so context matters.

Yes. Privirea sa is also correct and means her gaze.

The difference is mainly this:

• ei = clearly her
• sa = his / her / its, depending on context

So privirea ei is often less ambiguous. If you want to make it crystal clear that the possessor is female, ei is a very good choice.

Because the adjective must agree with the noun it describes.

The noun privirea is:

• feminine
• singular

So the adjective must also be feminine singular:

• masculine singular: trist
• feminine singular: tristă

That is why the sentence has tristă.

Este is the 3rd person singular present of a fi, meaning to be.

So:

• este = is

Yes, in everyday Romanian, e is a very common shorter form:

• Privirea ei este tristă.
• Privirea ei e tristă.

Both are correct. E is more common in speech and informal writing.

Because tristă is being used as a predicate adjective, not as part of the noun phrase.

Compare:

• Privirea ei este tristă. = Her gaze is sad.
• privirea ei tristă = her sad gaze

In the full sentence, este links the subject privirea ei with the description tristă.

So the structure is:

• subject: privirea ei
• verb: este
• adjective: tristă

The normal, neutral order is:

Privirea ei este tristă.

Romanian does allow some flexibility, especially for emphasis, but this is the most straightforward version for a learner.

For example, you may also hear:

• E tristă privirea ei.

That can sound more literary or emphatic. But if you are learning the standard pattern, stick with:

Privirea ei este tristă.

The letter ă is a very common Romanian vowel. It is a short central sound, somewhat like the final vowel in English sofa.

So tristă is roughly:

TREES-tuh

That is only an approximation, but it helps.

A more careful breakdown:

• tris- = like trees without the long English vowel drag
• -tă = tuh, with a very short neutral vowel

A rough learner-friendly pronunciation is:

pree-vee-REH-ah ey YES-teh TREES-tuh

A few notes:

• privirea stresses -re-
• ei sounds roughly like ay
• este is often pronounced roughly YES-te
• tristă ends with that Romanian ă sound

If you say it slowly as:

pree-vee-REH-ah ey ES-teh TREES-tuh

you will still be understood well.

It can overlap with all of those, depending on context, but gaze or look is often the best fit here.

Privire usually refers to the expression or direction of someone’s eyes, or the emotional quality in the eyes.

So in this sentence, it is not really a quick glance. It is more like:

• her gaze
• the look in her eyes
• her expression

That is why privirea ei este tristă sounds natural for describing emotion.