Ședința durează o oră.

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

• ședință = a meeting
• ședința = the meeting

So in this sentence, ședința means the meeting.

A useful pattern:

• casă → casa = house → the house
• ședință → ședința = meeting → the meeting

With many feminine nouns ending in -ă, that final -ă becomes -a in the definite singular.

A good approximation is she-DIN-tsa.

Breakdown:

• ș = sh as in ship
• e = a clear e sound, not the English ee
• stress is on din
• ț = ts as in cats
• final a = an open a sound

So: ședința ≈ she-DIN-tsa

Compare it with the indefinite form ședință, where the last letter is ă, not a:

• ședință ≈ she-DIN-tsuh
• ședința ≈ she-DIN-tsa

Durează is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb a dura, which means to last.

So:

• a dura = to last
• durează = lasts

In this sentence, the subject is ședința (the meeting), so durează means lasts:

• Ședința durează = The meeting lasts

Romanian often does not use subject pronouns when they are not needed.

English usually says:

• It lasts an hour
• The meeting lasts an hour

Romanian can simply say:

• Ședința durează o oră

The noun ședința already tells you what the subject is, so no extra pronoun is necessary.

Because oră is a feminine noun.

In Romanian:

• un is used with masculine/neuter singular nouns
• o is used with feminine singular nouns

So:

• o oră = an hour
• not un oră

Also, unlike English, Romanian does not change the article before a vowel. English has a/an, but Romanian simply uses o here.

Here it is best understood as the indefinite article: a/an.

So:

• o oră = an hour

However, Romanian o can also correspond to one in some contexts, because the forms overlap. Usually the context makes the meaning clear.

In this sentence, the normal reading is simply an hour, not an emphatic one hour.

Because Romanian normally gives the duration directly after a dura.

So Romanian says:

• durează o oră
• literally lasts an hour

This is completely natural in Romanian. You do not usually need a preposition here.

More examples:

• Filmul durează două ore. = The film lasts two hours.
• Cursul durează trei zile. = The course lasts three days.

It functions as an accusative phrase expressing duration.

In practical terms, though, you do not need to worry too much here, because the form o oră looks the same as the basic singular form with its article. Romanian learners often just learn this pattern as:

• a dura + duration
• durează o oră
• durează două zile

So the important thing is the structure, not a visibly different case ending.

This is the normal neutral word order:

• Ședința = subject
• durează = verb
• o oră = duration

So:

• Ședința durează o oră.

Romanian word order can be moved around for emphasis, but this version is the most natural everyday statement.

You would say:

• Ședința durează două ore.

Notice the change:

• o oră = one hour
• două ore = two hours

So the noun changes from singular oră to plural ore.

A few more examples:

• Ședința durează trei ore.
• Ședința durează o jumătate de oră.
• Ședința durează 45 de minute.

The natural question is:

• Cât durează ședința?

Here cât means how much/how long in this kind of sentence.

So the pair is:

• Cât durează ședința? = How long does the meeting last?
• Ședința durează o oră. = The meeting lasts an hour.