Caria este în măsea.

The dictionary form is carie, meaning cavity or tooth decay.

In the sentence, caria is the definite singular form, so it means the cavity. Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun:

• carie = a cavity
• caria = the cavity

So this is a good example of Romanian’s attached definite article.

Not exactly. Măsea means a molar or back tooth.

The general word for tooth is dinte. So:

• dinte = tooth
• măsea = molar

That means Caria este în măsea is more specific than Caria este în dinte.

This is a very natural question for English speakers, because English often requires the where Romanian does not.

In Romanian, a noun after a preposition can sometimes appear without the definite article, especially when the place is being mentioned in a general or idiomatic way. So în măsea can be understood as in the molar or in a molar, depending on context.

If you want to make the tooth clearly specific, Romanian would more likely use the definite form or add more detail, for example:

• în măseaua stângă = in the left molar
• în măseaua de sus = in the upper molar

So the bare form măsea is not strange, but it is less specifically identified than măseaua...

Este means is. It is the 3rd person singular form of a fi, which means to be.

So:

• caria = the cavity
• este = is
• în măsea = in the molar

Romanian often uses este just like English uses is.

Yes. In everyday Romanian, e is very common and means the same thing as este.

So both are correct:

• Caria este în măsea.
• Caria e în măsea.

Este can sound a little fuller or more careful, while e is very common in normal speech.

În means in or inside, so it fits the idea of the cavity being located inside the tooth.

That is why în măsea makes sense.

A learner may wonder about la, because Romanian often uses la in everyday medical-type expressions. For example:

• Am o carie la măsea. = I have a cavity in a molar.

So în emphasizes location inside, while la is also common in everyday speech when talking about where a problem is.

The given order is the most neutral one:

• Caria = subject
• este = verb
• în măsea = location

So Caria este în măsea is a normal subject + verb + place sentence.

Romanian word order is fairly flexible, so other orders are possible for emphasis, but they would sound less neutral. For example, În măsea este caria sounds more marked or emphatic.

These are two important Romanian sounds.

• ă in măsea is similar to the a in about. It is a short, relaxed vowel.
• î in în is a specifically Romanian vowel with no exact English equivalent. It is pronounced high and central, with unrounded lips.

A rough guide to the whole sentence is:

KAH-ree-ah YES-teh în muh-SEAH

But the în sound cannot be shown perfectly with normal English spelling.

After în, Romanian uses the accusative.

In this sentence, măsea is in the accusative, but for this noun the accusative singular looks the same as the basic dictionary form. So you simply see măsea.

If it were clearly definite, you could get:

• în măseaua... = in the molar...

So the case is there grammatically, even if the form does not change much.

Yes, it is grammatical and understandable.

That said, in everyday conversation Romanians often use a sentence like:

• Am o carie la măsea. = I have a cavity in a molar.
• Ai o carie la măsea. = You have a cavity in a molar.

So Caria este în măsea sounds a bit more descriptive, as if someone is pointing out where the cavity is, rather than simply saying that someone has one.