Learn Hardcore Romanian: Câinele nu părăsește casa.

Breakdown of Câinele nu părăsește casa.

Why is câinele written as one word, and what does -le mean?

In Romanian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun, not placed in front like English the.

So:

The ending -le here is the masculine singular definite article.

This is one of the first big differences English speakers notice in Romanian:

Why is it casa and not casă?

Because casa is the definite form: the house.

Compare:

So both nouns in the sentence are definite:

Romanian marks definiteness at the end of the noun, and the form changes depending on the noun’s gender and ending.

Why doesn’t Romanian use a separate word for the, like English does?

That is just how Romanian grammar works. Romanian has a postposed definite article, meaning the article comes after the noun as a suffix.

For example:

This is completely normal in Romanian, even though it feels unusual to English speakers at first.