Learn Hardcore Romanian: Drumul la aeroport este lung azi. - The road to the airport is long today.

In Romanian, masculine singular nouns form their definite article by adding -ul at the end: drum + -ul = drumul (the road). However, after the preposition la (“to/at”), you normally leave the noun in its basic (indefinite-looking) form. So you say la aeroport for “to the airport.” You could use la aeroportul to stress “to that specific airport,” but in everyday speech la aeroport is the standard phrase.

What case is aeroport in after the preposition la?

Most Romanian prepositions, including la, govern the nominative or accusative form of a noun—which in Romanian has the same ending for nouns like aeroport. That means aeroport stays in its base form when used after la.

Why is the adjective lung not lungă?

Adjectives in Romanian must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe. Drumul is masculine singular, so the descriptive adjective takes the masculine singular form lung, not lungă (which is feminine).

Why is the adjective placed after the noun in drumul la aeroport este lung, unlike English where it comes before?

Romanian word order is more flexible, but the default position for most descriptive adjectives is after the noun. So you say drumul este lung (“the road is long”). Placing the adjective after the noun is simply the normal structure in Romanian for neutral statements.

Why did we use este instead of the shorter form e?

E is a colloquial contraction of este used in casual conversation and dialects. In standard or written Romanian you usually use este. If you wanted a very informal tone, you could say Drumul la aeroport e lung azi.

Why is azi (today) at the end of the sentence? Could it be at the beginning?

Adverbs of time like azi are mobile in Romanian and can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence without changing the core meaning. Putting azi at the end (... este lung azi) gives a conversational rhythm, but you could also say Azi drumul la aeroport este lung or Drumul la aeroport azi este lung.

Could we use spre aeroport instead of la aeroport? What’s the difference?

Both spre and la can indicate direction. La aeroport is more common for expressing “going to the airport” or “the road to the airport” as a destination. Spre aeroport literally means “toward the airport,” implying movement in its direction (maybe not reaching it). In everyday speech, you’ll hear la aeroport far more often.

Are azi and astăzi interchangeable?

Yes—azi and astăzi both mean “today.” Azi is more colloquial and frequent in speech; astăzi is slightly more formal or emphatic. You can use either without changing the meaning of the sentence.