Learn Hardcore Romanian: Vreau cafea fără lapte.

You pronounce vreau as /ˈvre̯au/. Break it into two sounds: “vreh” (the e like in English “bet”) + “ow” (like “cow”). The r is tapped or lightly rolled, so it sounds roughly like “vreh-ow.”

Why isn’t there an article before cafea?

In Romanian, when you talk about an uncountable substance (like coffee in general) you often omit the indefinite article. Cafea here means “coffee” (some coffee), so there’s no o. If you want exactly one cup, you would say Vreau o cafea (“I want a coffee”), but for coffee as a drink you just say Vreau cafea.

What’s the difference between Vreau cafea and Vreau o cafea?

Vreau cafea = “I want coffee” (general, unspecified amount).
Vreau o cafea = “I want a coffee” (one cup). The first treats coffee as a mass noun; the second counts a single item.

Why do we use fără and how does it work?

Fără is the preposition “without.” It introduces what you don’t want. Like English “without,” it’s followed directly by a noun in the accusative without an article. So fără lapte = “without milk.”

Why is lapte unchanged (not )?