Datoria este importantă.

Because Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, instead of using a separate word like English the.

• datorie = duty / debt
• datoria = the duty / the debt

So datoria is the definite form of datorie.

With many feminine nouns ending in -ie, the definite singular ends up looking like -ia:

• lecție → lecția
• familie → familia
• datorie → datoria

It can mean either, depending on context.

datorie can mean:

• duty, obligation
• debt

So Datoria este importantă could mean:

• Duty is important
• The duty is important
• The debt is important

In real life, context tells you which meaning is intended.

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

So:

• datoria = the duty / duty
• este = is
• importantă = important

Romanian normally keeps the verb to be in sentences like this, unlike some languages where it can be dropped.

Yes. E is a very common short form of este.

So both are correct:

• Datoria este importantă — slightly more formal or careful
• Datoria e importantă — very common in everyday speech

They mean the same thing.

Because the adjective has to agree with the noun in gender and number.

Here, datoria is feminine singular, so the adjective must also be feminine singular:

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

Since datoria is feminine singular, Romanian uses importantă.

You can tell from both the noun pattern and the adjective agreement.

• The base noun is datorie, which is feminine.
• The adjective is importantă, the feminine singular form.

So the sentence itself gives you a clue: if the adjective is feminine, the noun is feminine too.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

da-to-RI-a YES-te im-por-TAN-tuh

More carefully:

• datoria ≈ da-to-RI-a
• este ≈ YES-te
• importantă ≈ im-por-TAN-tuh

A few useful notes:

• este usually starts with a y sound: YES-te
• the stress in datoria is on ri
• the stress in importantă is on tan
• final ă is a short neutral vowel, like the a in sofa

Ă represents a short central vowel, often similar to the a in English sofa or about.

So the end of importantă is not a strong ah sound. It is weaker and more neutral:

• importantă ≈ impor-TAN-tuh

This is a very common Romanian sound, so it is worth getting used to early.

Yes, you could, but it changes the emphasis.

The neutral, normal order is:

• Datoria este importantă.

If you say:

• Importantă este datoria.

it sounds more emphatic or literary, like:

• It is the duty that is important
• Important is the duty

So for basic everyday Romanian, the original order is the safest one to use.

It can do both, depending on context.

Romanian often uses the definite form where English might use a bare noun for general ideas, especially with abstract nouns.

So Datoria este importantă can mean:

• The duty is important — a specific duty
• Duty is important — the general concept

You have to rely on context to know which meaning is intended.

Because Romanian usually uses an enclitic definite article, which means the article is attached to the end of the noun.

Compare:

• English: the duty
• Romanian: datoria

This is one of the big structural differences between English and Romanian.

A few examples:

• băiat = boy → băiatul = the boy
• casă = house → casa = the house
• datorie = duty/debt → datoria = the duty/the debt

It is the subject of the sentence.

The structure is:

• Datoria = subject
• este = verb
• importantă = predicate adjective / subject complement

So the sentence literally works like:

• The duty is important

This is a very common Romanian sentence pattern: noun + a fi + adjective

For example:

• Cartea este interesantă. = The book is interesting.
• Ziua este frumoasă. = The day is beautiful.