Indiciul este sub masă.

Because Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun.

• indiciu = clue
• indiciul = the clue

So -l / -ul here is the attached definite article. With nouns ending in -u, you often see the definite form written with -ul.

A useful extra point: indiciu is a neuter noun. In the singular, Romanian neuter nouns behave like masculine nouns, which is why this ending looks like a masculine-type definite form.

You would say un indiciu.

• un indiciu = a clue
• indiciul = the clue

Because indiciu is a neuter noun, and neuter nouns behave like masculine nouns in the singular, the indefinite article is un, not o.

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

So:

• indiciul = the subject
• este = is
• sub masă = the location phrase

In everyday Romanian, este is very often shortened to e:

• Indiciul este sub masă.
• Indiciul e sub masă.

Both are correct. Este sounds a bit fuller or more careful; e is very common in speech.

Also, unlike in some other languages, Romanian normally does not omit this verb in a sentence like this.

This is a very common question.

After some common prepositions of place, Romanian often uses the bare noun in expressions that sound natural and idiomatic:

• sub masă
• pe masă
• în casă

So sub masă is a normal Romanian way to express location, even when English would often use the.

If you want to make the noun clearly indefinite, you can say:

• sub o masă = under a table

If you want to make the table more explicitly specific, you can say something like:

• sub masa din bucătărie = under the table in the kitchen
• sub masa aceea = under that table

So the bare form after sub is often just the natural Romanian pattern.

It is in the accusative after the preposition sub.

In this sentence, though, you do not see a special ending that clearly marks accusative, because in Romanian the nominative and accusative often have the same form.

So:

• masă can be nominative or accusative, depending on its role
• here, after sub, it is functioning as an accusative form

This is a grammar point that exists even when the word itself does not visibly change.

They are different forms:

• masă = table or meal
• masa = the table or the meal

So the final ă versus a matters.

In this sentence, sub masă can only make sense with the meaning table, not meal, because under a meal would not fit the context.

This is a good example of how Romanian relies on both form and context.

The Romanian letter ă is a short central vowel, similar to the a in English about or sofa.

So masă sounds roughly like:

• MA-suh

A rough English-style pronunciation of the whole sentence is:

• in-DEE-chyul YES-te soob MA-suh

A few pronunciation notes:

• ci in indiciul sounds like ch before ee
• este starts with a y sound: YES-te
• sub has a clear u sound, close to oo
• ă is not a full a sound; it is weaker and more central

If you like IPA, a careful version is approximately:

• /inˈdit͡ʃjul ˈjes.te sub ˈma.sə/

The given order is the most neutral and standard:

• Indiciul este sub masă.

This is basically:

• subject + verb + place expression

Romanian can change word order for emphasis. For example:

• Sub masă este indiciul.

This is possible, but it sounds more marked, as if you are emphasizing where the clue is.

For a yes/no question, Romanian often keeps the same word order and just changes intonation or punctuation:

• Indiciul este sub masă?

So the sentence is not completely fixed, but the original order is the normal default.