Learn Hardcore Romanian: Când ajungem acasă după-amiază, ne uităm la ceas și vedem că este târziu. - When we arrive home in the afternoon, we look at the clock and see that it is late.

Because the sentence starts with a subordinate clause introduced by când, Romanian grammar requires a comma to separate that clause from the main clause that follows.

What kind of word is acasă, and why is there no article?

acasă is an adverb of place meaning “at home.” As an adverb, it doesn’t take an article.

Why is după-amiază written with a hyphen?

It’s a compound adverb formed from după (“after”) and amiază (“noon/afternoon”). Romanian orthography hyphenates such compounds.

What role does the reflexive pronoun ne play in ne uităm?

The pronoun ne makes uita reflexive. The full form a se uita la means “to look at,” and ne marks first person plural (“we look at…”).

Why is the preposition la used in ne uităm la ceas, instead of saying ne uităm ceasul?

Because the reflexive verb a se uita always takes la before its object: you “look at something,” a se uita la ceva, not uita ceva.

Why do we use că in vedem că este târziu?

că is the conjunction “that.” It links the main clause (vedem) with the subordinate clause (este târziu), much like English “we see that it’s late.”

What part of speech is târziu in this sentence?

Here târziu is an adjective used predicatively with the verb a fi (to be), meaning “late.”

How are the Romanian letters ă and â pronounced in acasă, după-amiază, and târziu?

ă represents the schwa /ə/, similar to the ‘a’ in English “about.”
â (and î) represent a close central unrounded vowel /ɨ/, which has no exact English equivalent but is somewhat like the ‘i’ in “roses.”