Learn Hardcore Romanian: Seara mă uit la un serial scurt pe telefon. - In the evening I watch a short series on the phone.

Seara literally means “in the evening.” In Romanian it acts as an adverb of time, so you don’t need a preposition to say “in the evening.” You could add în for stylistic emphasis or specificity (e.g. În seara asta = “this evening”), but it’s not required.

Why is the verb uit used together with mă in mă uit?

The base verb a uita (without reflexive pronoun) means “to forget.” The reflexive form a se uita means “to look” or “to watch.” You need the reflexive pronoun mă (for eu) to turn uit into mă uit, i.e. “I watch/look.”

Why is the reflexive pronoun mă placed before uit and not attached after the verb?

In Romanian main declarative sentences, clitic pronouns (including reflexive ones) precede the verb: mă uit, not uit-mă. Enclitic placement (verb+pronoun) only happens in certain imperatives, infinitives, or after conjunctions.

What role does the preposition la play before un serial?

The verb a se uita takes la to introduce its object, just like English “to watch/look at.” So you always say a se uita la ceva – here la un serial = “at a series.”

Why is there an indefinite article un before serial?

Un marks the noun as indefinite (“a short series”), not “the series.” If you were talking about a specific series you’d use the definite form serialul (e.g. mă uit la serialul ăla = “I’m watching that series”).

Why is the adjective scurt placed after the noun serial?

In Romanian, adjectives normally follow the noun they modify. They also agree in gender, number, and case. Serial is a neuter noun (behaving as masculine singular here), so its adjective takes the masculine singular form scurt.

What does serial mean in Romanian? Is it similar to English “serial”?

In Romanian serial means a TV or web series (a sequence of episodes). In English “serial” can also mean a story published in installments, but most English speakers say “TV series” rather than “serial.”

Why do we say pe telefon instead of la telefon or în telefon?

Pe + accusative often expresses location on a surface or medium. Pe telefon means “on the (smart)phone,” i.e. on its screen or app. By contrast, la telefon usually means “by phone” (in a phone call) and în telefon would suggest “inside the phone” physically.

Can you change the word order for emphasis? For example, put seara at the end?

Yes. Romanian word order is relatively flexible. You could say Mă uit seara la un serial scurt pe telefon or even Pe telefon mă uit seara la un serial scurt to emphasize the device. The meaning stays the same; you’re just shifting focus.