Nisipul de pe plajă este cald.

The sand on the beach is warm.

Breakdown of Nisipul de pe plajă este cald.

• a fi: to be
• cald: warm
• de pe: from
• plaja: the beach
• nisipul: the sand

Questions & Answers about Nisipul de pe plajă este cald.

Why is the definite article attached to nisip as nisipul rather than appearing as a separate word?

In Romanian, the definite article (“the”) is not a separate word but is enclitic—attached at the end of the noun. For masculine singular nouns ending in a consonant, you add -ul:

• nisip (sand) + -ul → nisipul (the sand)

What does de pe mean in de pe plajă? Why not just de or just pe?

de pe is a compound preposition meaning “from off” or “off the surface of.”

• de alone means “from” (a general origin).
• pe alone means “on” (a location on a surface).
  Together, de pe conveys “originating from the top of,” so de pe plajă = “off the beach.”

Why do we use pe plajă instead of în plajă?

In Romanian:

• pe
  • location indicates being on a surface (e.g. pe masă = “on the table”).
• în
  • location indicates being inside something (e.g. în cameră = “in the room”).
    A beach is treated as a surface, so you say pe plajă = “on the beach.”

Why is there no article before plajă in de pe plajă?

When expressing location with pe in an indefinite or general sense, Romanian usually omits the article.

• pe plajă = “on (a/the) beach” in general.
  If you want to specify a particular beach, you could say pe plaja aia = “on that beach.”

Could we say nisip de plajă este cald without nisipul and de pe? Would it mean the same?

Not exactly.

• nisip de plajă can mean “beach sand” as a type or category.
• In Romanian, generic statements (like “Beach sand is warm”) normally use the definite article on the subject: Nisipul de plajă este cald.
• Omitting de pe removes the nuance of “coming off the surface” and just labels the sand type.

Why does the sentence use este instead of the shorter e?

e is a colloquial contraction of este (the verb “to be”).

• In informal speech you often hear e cald.
• In writing and in more formal contexts, you use the full form este.

Why is the adjective cald in its masculine singular form?

Romanian adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

• nisip is a masculine singular noun.
• The matching masculine singular adjective is cald.
  (If the noun were feminine singular, it would be caldă; masculine plural calzi, feminine plural calde.)

How do you pronounce the ă in plajă?

The letter ă is a schwa (an “uh” sound), similar to the ‘a’ in English sofa.

• plajă sounds like [ˈplaʒə], where the final ă is the unstressed schwa.

Could we use the genitive phrase nisipul plajei instead of nisipul de pe plajă? What’s the difference?

Yes.

• nisipul plajei literally means “the sand of the beach,” using the genitive (plajei = “of the beach”).
• nisipul de pe plajă emphasizes location: “the sand that is on the beach.”
  The first frames possession/association, the second highlights origin from a surface.

Is de pe always required when talking about something coming from a surface?

Whenever you want to express movement or removal “off the surface of” something, you use de pe.
Examples:

• de pe masă = “off the table”
• de pe raft = “off the shelf”
  If you use din, it means “from inside/of” (din casă = “from inside the house”).