Elevul pleacă de la școală la prânz.

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

• elev = a student / student
• elevul = the student

Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, unlike English, which puts the before it.

It is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence — the person doing the action.

In Elevul pleacă de la școală la prânz, elevul is the one who leaves.

Pleacă is the 3rd person singular present form of a pleca = to leave / to go away.

It matches elevul = the student, which is he/she in grammatical terms.

So:

• eu plec = I leave
• tu pleci = you leave
• el/ea pleacă = he/she leaves

That is why elevul pleacă means the student leaves.

It can mean both, depending on context.

Romanian present tense often covers:

• simple present: the student leaves
• present continuous: the student is leaving
• sometimes even a near future sense: the student is leaving later

In this sentence, the context usually suggests a general or scheduled action: The student leaves school at noon.

Because de la here means from.

• la școală = to school / at school
• de la școală = from school

Since the student is leaving from school, Romanian uses de la.

So:

• merge la școală = goes to school
• pleacă de la școală = leaves from school

Because the two la phrases do different jobs.

• de la școală = from school
  Here la is part of the fixed prepositional phrase de la.

• la prânz = at noon
  Here la introduces a time expression.

So even though the same word appears twice, the meanings are different:

• de la = from
• la = at

Because after de la, Romanian often uses the noun without the definite article when speaking in a general sense.

So:

• de la școală = from school
• de la școala aceea = from that school
• de la școala din centru = from the school in the center

In your sentence, școală is understood as school in a general/basic sense, so no definite article is needed.

La prânz is the normal Romanian expression for at noon / at lunchtime.

It is a fixed time phrase:

• dimineața = in the morning
• la prânz = at noon
• seara = in the evening

You usually do not say la prânzul unless you mean something specific like at the lunch in a particular context, which is different.

Usually it means at noon or around lunchtime, depending on context.

So it can refer to:

• a specific time: at noon
• the midday meal period: at lunchtime

In many learner-friendly translations, at noon is the safest choice, but at lunchtime can also fit.

Sometimes in natural English, yes, depending on context, but the basic meaning is from school.

Romanian de la is not exactly the same as English out of. The most direct translation here is:

• pleacă de la școală = leaves from school / leaves school

In smoother English, people often simply say The student leaves school at noon.

Not completely. Romanian word order is fairly flexible, though Elevul pleacă de la școală la prânz is a very normal neutral order.

You may also hear:

• La prânz, elevul pleacă de la școală.
• Elevul pleacă la prânz de la școală.

These are all possible, but the original version is natural and straightforward.

Approximately like shkoa-luh.

A few helpful points:

• ș sounds like English sh
• oa is pronounced together, like a glide
• final ă is the Romanian schwa, similar to the a in sofa

So școală is not pronounced like English school.

The letter ă represents a short neutral vowel, called a schwa.

It sounds somewhat like:

• the a in sofa
• the a in about

Examples:

• pleacă
• școală

But note that â in prânz is a different vowel from ă. So:

• ă and â are not pronounced the same

Both can relate to school, but they are not exactly the same.

• de la școală = from school, in a broad everyday sense
• din școală = out of the school / from inside the school

In this sentence, de la școală is the normal choice for leaving school as a place or institution.
Din școală would focus more on coming out from inside the building.

As written, elevul is masculine singular, so it specifically means the male student.

For a female student, Romanian would use:

• eleva = the female student

So:

• Elevul pleacă de la școală la prânz. = The male student leaves school at noon.
• Eleva pleacă de la școală la prânz. = The female student leaves school at noon.