Dansul începe acum.

now

Breakdown of Dansul începe acum.

• a începe: to start
• dansul: the dance

Questions & Answers about Dansul începe acum.

Why is it dansul and not just dans?

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

• dans = dance
• dansul = the dance

Unlike English, Romanian usually puts the at the end of the noun instead of before it.

So:

• Dans începe acum would sound wrong here
• Dansul începe acum = The dance begins now

What does începe mean, and what form is it?

Începe means begins / starts.

It is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb a începe = to begin / to start.

In this sentence, the subject is dansul (the dance), which is singular, so Romanian uses începe:

• eu încep = I begin
• tu începi = you begin
• el/ea începe = he/she/it begins
• dansul începe = the dance begins

Why doesn’t Romanian use a separate word for the?

Romanian usually expresses the by adding it to the end of the noun. This is one of the big differences from English.

For masculine/neuter nouns in the singular, a common definite ending is -ul.

So here:

• dans = dance
• dansul = the dance

This is completely normal Romanian structure.