Atacul începe noaptea.

at night

Breakdown of Atacul începe noaptea.

• a începe: to start
• atacul: the attack

Questions & Answers about Atacul începe noaptea.

Why is it atacul and not just atac?

Because atacul means the attack, while atac means just attack.

Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

• atac = attack
• atacul = the attack

So in this sentence, -ul is the masculine/neuter singular definite article.

Why isn’t there a separate word for the in Romanian?

Romanian normally uses an attached definite article rather than a separate word.

So instead of:

• English: the attack

Romanian uses:

• atacul

This is very common in Romanian:

• băiat = boy → băiatul = the boy
• oraș = city → orașul = the city
• atac = attack → atacul = the attack

What form is începe?

Începe is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb a începe, meaning to begin / to start.

So:

• eu încep = I begin
• tu începi = you begin
• el/ea începe = he/she/it begins

In Atacul începe noaptea, the subject is atacul, which is singular, so începe is the correct form.