Contul de economii are dobândă.

Because -ul is the Romanian definite article attached to the end of the noun.

• cont = account
• contul = the account

So:

• cont de economii = a savings account
• contul de economii = the savings account

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

De economii means for savings / of savings, and together cont de economii is the normal way to say savings account.

This is a very common Romanian pattern:

• cont de economii = savings account
• card de credit = credit card
• periuță de dinți = toothbrush

So you should learn cont de economii as a set phrase.

Because Romanian uses economii as the normal noun for savings in this expression.

• economie can mean economy, saving, or economy/thrift depending on context.
• economii often means savings.

So cont de economii literally looks like account of savings, but idiomatically it means savings account.

Are is the 3rd person singular present tense of a avea = to have.

So:

• eu am = I have
• tu ai = you have
• el/ea are = he/she/it has

In this sentence, the subject is contul de economii, which is singular, so Romanian uses are = has.

That is just the Romanian way of expressing the idea here. Are dobândă literally means has interest, but in natural English you might translate it as:

• The savings account earns interest
• The savings account pays interest
• The savings account bears interest

So the Romanian structure is not always translated word-for-word into the most natural English.

Because are dobândă is a natural Romanian way to speak generally about interest.

• are dobândă = it bears/earns interest
• are o dobândă de 5% = it has an interest rate of 5%

Adding o is possible in some contexts, but it usually sounds more like you are referring to a specific rate/amount of interest, often followed by more information.

So in a general statement, are dobândă is very natural.

Dobândă means interest in the financial sense.

Depending on context, it can refer to:

• interest in general
• an interest rate
• the amount of money earned as interest

In this sentence, it means the account earns or carries interest.

Do not confuse it with English interest meaning curiosity or attention. Romanian uses different words in different contexts.

Yes, it is natural and understandable.

Contul de economii are dobândă is a normal general statement meaning that the savings account earns interest.

Depending on context, a Romanian speaker might also say:

• Contul de economii produce dobândă = The savings account generates interest
• Contul de economii poartă dobândă = The savings account bears interest

But are dobândă is perfectly fine and common.

The basic word order is:

Subject + Verb + Object/Complement

• Contul de economii = subject
• are = verb
• dobândă = object/complement

So literally:

The savings account + has + interest

Romanian word order can sometimes change for emphasis, but this neutral order is the most straightforward and common.

The main special vowels here are ă and â.

• ă is a short, relaxed vowel, similar to the a in English sofa
• â is a central vowel that English does not really have; you have to learn it by listening and practice

In this sentence:

• dobândă contains both â and ă

A rough learner-friendly pronunciation might be something like:

• contul = KON-tool
• de economii = de eh-ko-no-MEE
• are = AH-reh
• dobândă = do-BUHN-duh

That is only approximate, but it can help at the beginning.

You would say:

Un cont de economii are dobândă.

Here:

• un cont = a/an account
• contul = the account

So the contrast is:

• Un cont de economii are dobândă. = A savings account earns interest.
• Contul de economii are dobândă. = The savings account earns interest.

The plural would be:

Conturile de economii au dobândă.

Breakdown:

• conturile = the accounts
• au = have
• dobândă = interest

So:

• contul ... are = the account ... has
• conturile ... au = the accounts ... have

This is a useful pattern to notice when learning noun and verb agreement in Romanian.