Soarele apune târziu vara.

The sun sets late in summer.

Breakdown of Soarele apune târziu vara.

• târziu: late
• vara: the summer
• soarele: the sun
• a apune: to set

Questions & Answers about Soarele apune târziu vara.

Which word is the subject of the sentence?

The subject is soarele, meaning “the sun.” Romanian forms the definite article by adding it to the end of the noun; here soare + le = soarele.

Why does soarele end with -le instead of another ending?

Romanian uses enclitic articles. For masculine nouns ending in -e, the singular definite article is -le. That’s why soare becomes soarele.

What form is apune and what does it mean?

apune is the third-person singular present indicative of the verb a apune, which means “to set” (as in the sun setting). It’s intransitive here and not reflexive.

What is the function of târziu in this sentence?

târziu is an adverb modifying the verb apune, indicating when the action happens: “late.”

Why is there no preposition before vara? How should I understand vara here?

vara is the definite form of vară (“summer”) used as a temporal adverbial meaning “in summer.” Many temporal nouns in Romanian can function this way without în.