Learn Hardcore Romanian: Copiii mănâncă fructe și legume dimineața. - The children eat fruits and vegetables in the morning.

The base word copil (child) forms its plural as copii (children). Adding a final -i attaches the plural definite article, yielding copiii, literally “the children.” In Romanian you often use the definite article on plural subjects even for general statements (so Copiii mănâncă… can be read as “Children eat…” or “The children eat…”).

Why isn’t there a subject pronoun (like ei) before mănâncă?

Romanian is a pro-drop language: the verb ending already tells you person and number, so subject pronouns (eu, tu, el/ea, noi, voi, ei/ele) are optional and usually omitted when the meaning is clear from context.

How is the verb a mânca conjugated in the present tense?

Here’s the full present-tense paradigm of a mânca:
eu mănânc
tu mănânci
el/ea mănâncă
noi mâncăm
voi mâncați
ei/ele mănâncă

Why are the 3rd person singular and plural forms both mănâncă?

In Romanian many verbs have identical forms for 3rd person singular and plural in the present tense. You distinguish them by the subject (e.g. el/ea vs. ei/ele) rather than by changing the verb.

How do you pronounce mănâncă? Especially the ă and â sounds.

ă is the mid-central vowel /ə/ (like the ‘a’ in English sofa).
â is the close central unrounded vowel /ɨ/ (a tense, closed sound with relaxed lips).
The word has three syllables: mă-NÂN-că, with the stress on the middle syllable.

Why don’t fructe and legume have any articles in front of them?

They are plural indefinite direct objects. Romanian does not use an article for indefinite nouns. To say “some fruits and vegetables,” you’d add niște: niște fructe și niște legume. The definite plurals would be fructele and legumele.

How do you form the plural of fruct and legumă?

fruct (masculine) takes -e to become fructe (an irregular pattern—many masculine nouns use -i, but this one follows a special pattern).
legumă (feminine) drops the -ă and adds -e, becoming legume.

Why is dimineața written with an -a ending, and why isn’t there a preposition like în before it?

Time-of-day nouns in Romanian use the definite article to form adverbials:

dimineața = “in the morning”
seara = “in the evening”
noaptea = “at night”
You normally omit în. Saying în dimineața is only common in special contexts (“in the morning of the 20th”), but for everyday routines just dimineața.

Can you put dimineața at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Fronting a time adverbial is common and adds emphasis on when:
Dimineața, copiii mănâncă fructe și legume.
The core meaning remains “(The) children eat fruits and vegetables in the morning.”