Pana de curent începe dimineața.

Very often, Romanian is written informally without diacritics online or in quick typing.

With full standard spelling:

• pană = a power outage / a feather / a puncture, depending on context
• pana = the power outage / the feather / the puncture in the definite form

So if your source writes Pana de curent, it may simply be leaving out diacritics. Context and the translation tell you what is meant.

This is a very common issue when diacritics are omitted.

• pană de curent = a power outage
• pana de curent = the power outage

Without diacritics, both can appear as pana de curent.

So you use context. If the English meaning shown to you is The power outage begins in the morning, then Romanian probably intends the definite form pana de curent.

Literally, it is something like outage of current.

In normal English, though, it means power outage or power cut.

This is a fixed Romanian expression:

• pană de curent = power outage
• curent in everyday Romanian often means electricity or electric current

So you should learn pană de curent as a whole phrase.

Începe is the 3rd person singular present 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
• pana de curent începe = the power outage begins

Because the subject is singular, the verb is singular too.

Romanian often uses certain time expressions without a preposition.

So:

• dimineața = in the morning
• seara = in the evening
• noaptea = at night

In this sentence, dimineața works as a time expression meaning in the morning.

Using în dimineață by itself would usually sound unnatural. You are more likely to hear:

• dimineața = in the morning
• de dimineață = early in the morning / since morning, depending on context
• în dimineața de luni = on Monday morning

So in your sentence, dimineața is exactly what you would expect.

Historically and formally, it is a noun form, but in this sentence it functions like an adverbial time expression.

So although dimineața is related to the noun dimineață (morning), here it means:

• in the morning

This is why it is usually translated naturally, not word-for-word.

The base noun is dimineață = morning.

The form dimineața is the definite form (the morning), but Romanian often uses this definite form in time expressions:

• dimineața = in the morning
• seara = in the evening
• iarna = in winter

So even though it looks like the morning, in many sentences it is best understood as a set time expression meaning in the morning.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

Pana de curent începe dimineața
PA-na de cu-RENT în-CHE-pe di-mi-NYA-tsa

A few helpful details:

• ă sounds like a relaxed uh
• î is a close central vowel, a sound English does not really have
• ce in începe sounds like che in check
• ț sounds like ts

If written with full diacritics, you may see:

• Pană de curent începe dimineața
• or Pana de curent începe dimineața

depending on whether the meaning is indefinite or definite.

Yes, Romanian word order is somewhat flexible, but not all versions sound equally neutral.

The most neutral order here is:

• Pana de curent începe dimineața.

You could also move dimineața earlier for emphasis:

• Dimineața începe pana de curent.

But that sounds more marked and less natural in ordinary conversation. A learner should usually stick with the original order unless there is a special reason to emphasize the time.

No. In everyday Romanian, curent often means electricity.

For example:

• Nu e curent. = There’s no electricity.
• A venit curentul. = The electricity came back.

So in pană de curent, you should think of curent as power/electricity, not the English adjective current meaning present / existing now.

Yes. Depending on context, Romanians might also say:

• Pana de curent începe dimineața.
• Curentul se oprește dimineața. = The power goes off in the morning.
• Va fi o pană de curent dimineața. = There will be a power outage in the morning.

Your sentence is perfectly understandable, but in real life people often choose whichever version sounds most natural for the situation.