Părul este lung.

Păr is the basic dictionary form, meaning hair.
Părul means the hair.

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

So:

• păr = hair
• părul = the hair

This is a very common Romanian pattern.

-ul is the definite article here. It corresponds to English the.

So in părul:

• păr = hair
• -ul = the

Together: părul = the hair

English uses a separate word, but Romanian often attaches the article directly to the noun.

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

So:

• părul = the hair
• este = is
• lung = long

In normal standard Romanian, you do use it here.

In everyday speech, Romanians very often shorten este to e:

• Părul este lung.
• Părul e lung.

Both are correct. Părul e lung sounds more natural in casual conversation.

Because lung has to agree with părul.

The noun păr is a neuter noun in Romanian. In the singular, neuter nouns behave like masculine for agreement. That is why the adjective takes the masculine singular form lung, not the feminine singular form lungă.

So:

• masculine/neuter singular: lung
• feminine singular: lungă
• plural: lungi

That is why Părul este lung is correct.

Romanian, like English, often treats hair as a singular mass/collective noun when talking about someone’s hair in general.

So părul here means the hair as a whole, not individual hairs.

If you want to talk about individual hairs, Romanian usually uses expressions like fir de păr (a strand/a hair) or fire de păr (hairs/strands of hair).

It is pronounced roughly PĂ-rul, with the stress on the first syllable.

A few helpful points:

• ă sounds like the a in about: a short neutral uh sound.
• r in Romanian is usually tapped or lightly rolled.
• ul is pronounced as part of the word, not separately.

So părul is not one syllable like English pearl. It has two clear syllables: pă-rul.

The normal, neutral word order is:

Părul este lung.

That is the most natural way to say it.

You can also hear:

Părul e lung.

A different order such as Este lung părul is possible, but it sounds marked, emphatic, poetic, or dependent on context. For a learner, the safest pattern is:

noun + form of a fi + adjective

Not always. Lung is used for long in length, so it fits very well with hair.

For example:

• păr lung = long hair

But Romanian does not always use lung where English uses long or tall. For height, Romanian usually uses înalt instead.

So:

• Părul este lung. = correct
• for a person being tall, you would normally say Este înalt, not Este lung

It is a very basic copular sentence:

• Părul = subject
• este = linking verb (is)
• lung = predicate adjective

So the sentence structure is essentially:

subject + to be + adjective

This is one of the most common and useful Romanian sentence patterns.