Learn Hardcore Romanian: Totuși, supa este mai ieftină și ajunge repede. - However, the soup is cheaper and arrives quickly.

Totuși is a contrastive adverb (also called a conjunctive adverb) meaning “however” or “still.” It signals a contrast with a previous idea. In Romanian it often appears at the beginning of a clause, followed by a comma.

Why is supa written without an accent, and why not supă?

Romanian nouns use enclitic articles rather than separate words.

supă = “a soup” (indefinite)
supa = “the soup” (definite, formed by adding -a)
The accent on ă remains, but when you add the article it sticks on: supă → supa.

Why is it ieftină and not ieftin?

Adjectives in Romanian agree in gender and number with the noun.

supa is feminine singular, so ieftin (masculine) becomes ieftină (feminine).
If you were talking about neuter or masculine nouns, you’d use ieftin; for plural you’d say ieftine.

What does mai ieftină mean, and how do you form comparatives in Romanian?

mai ieftină literally means “more cheap,” i.e. “cheaper.”
Comparative of majority = mai + adjective + agreement.
Examples:

mai frumos (“prettier”)
mai puternică (“stronger,” feminine)
For equality use la fel de ... ca, and for minority mai puțin ....

What does ajunge repede mean here? Doesn’t ajunge also mean “to be enough”?

Yes, a ajunge has several senses:
1) to arrive or to reach
2) to suffice or to be enough
In a restaurant/ordering context, supa ajunge repede means “the soup arrives quickly.”
If you say “Ajunge!” on its own, it usually means “That’s enough!”

Why is the adverb repede placed after the verb ajunge? Could it come before?

The neutral word order in Romanian places manner adverbs (like repede) after the verb: ajunge repede.
You can front the adverb for emphasis (Repede ajunge), but it sounds marked or poetic. The standard, unmarked order is verb + adverb.