Respectul este important.

Romanian often attaches the definite article to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front of it.

• respect = respect
• respectul = the respect

So Respectul este important literally means The respect is important, though in natural English we usually just say Respect is important.

Romanian uses the definite form more often than English in general statements like this.

-ul is the masculine/neuter singular definite article ending in Romanian. It means the.

In this sentence:

• respect = respect
• respectul = the respect

This is one of the first big grammar differences English speakers notice: Romanian puts the at the end of the noun.

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

So:

• respectul = respect / the respect
• este = is
• important = important

Together: Respectul este important = Respect is important

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

• Respectul e important.

That is very common and natural.

It actually already matches the noun correctly.

Respectul is a masculine singular noun in this sentence, so the adjective also appears in the masculine singular form:

• masculine singular: important
• feminine singular: importantă
• masculine plural: importanți
• feminine/neuter plural: importante

So:

• Respectul este important. = Respect is important.
• Cartea este importantă. = The book is important.

Respect is generally treated as a neuter noun.

In Romanian, neuter nouns behave:

• like masculine in the singular
• like feminine in the plural

That is why in the singular you get:

• respectul este important

But in the plural you would get:

• respectele sunt importante

That plural is less common in everyday use, but it shows the pattern.

Because Romanian does not need a dummy subject like English it in sentences such as It is important.

English often uses it as a grammatical placeholder. Romanian usually just says the idea directly:

• Respectul este important.

There is no need to add a separate word meaning it here.

Yes, Romanian word order is somewhat flexible, but Respectul este important is the most neutral and standard order.

You may also hear:

• Important este respectul.

This gives extra emphasis to important and sounds more marked or stylistic, not the basic everyday version.

For learners, the safest pattern is:

• noun + este/e + adjective

Usually, no—not in the same way.

If you want to say Respect is important as a general statement, Romanian normally prefers:

• Respectul este important.
• Respectul e important.

Using bare respect without the article sounds incomplete or changes the feel of the sentence. Romanian often uses the definite form for abstract ideas when speaking generally.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is roughly:

• respectul ≈ res-PEK-tool

A few notes:

• the stress is on -pek-
• c before t stays a hard k sound
• ul sounds roughly like ool, though the Romanian u is a bit shorter and tenser than English oo

So the whole sentence is roughly:

• res-PEK-tool ES-te im-por-TANT

Romanian has many words of Latin and international origin, so some vocabulary looks very familiar to English speakers, especially formal words.

Important in Romanian is a cognate of English important, so it is easy to recognize. But be careful: even when a word looks familiar, its grammar may behave very differently. In this sentence, the main new grammar point is not the adjective—it is the attached definite article in respectul.

Yes. Both are correct.

• Respectul este important. = more full/formal/neutral
• Respectul e important. = more common in everyday speech

As a learner, you should recognize both. In writing, este may feel slightly more formal, while e is very natural in conversation.

Yes, very often.

This is one of those places where Romanian does not line up neatly with English. English often uses a bare noun for a general idea:

• Respect is important.

Romanian commonly uses the definite form:

• Respectul este important.

So even though it looks like the respect, the meaning is still a general statement about respect as a concept.