Mașina este mare.

The car is big.

Breakdown of Mașina este mare.

• a fi: to be
• mașina: the car
• mare: big

Questions & Answers about Mașina este mare.

How is the definite article expressed in mașina?

In Romanian the definite article isn’t a separate word like the in English. Instead it’s an enclitic suffix attached to the noun. For feminine singular nouns like mașină (“a car”), the suffix is -a, so mașină → mașina (“the car”).

Why does mașina end with -a rather than -ă like in mașină?

The base form mașină ends with the vowel ă. When you add the definite-article suffix -a, you replace (or merge) the final ă with a, producing mașina. The shift from ă to a marks the noun as definite.

What sound does ș make in mașina?

The letter ș (s-comma) represents the /ʃ/ sound, exactly like English sh in shoe. So mașina is pronounced [maʃiˈna].

Why is the adjective mare not inflected for gender here?

Mare is an invariant adjective in the singular for both masculine and feminine (it belongs to the 3rd declension pattern). It remains mare whether you’re describing a masculine or feminine noun.