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Azi avem o lecție scurtă de limba română.

Azi avem o lecție scurtă de limba română.
Today we have a short Romanian language lesson.

Breakdown of Azi avem o lecție scurtă de limba română.

a avea
to have
azi
today
o
a
scurt
short
de
of
lecția
the lesson
limba
the language
român
Romanian
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Questions & Answers about Azi avem o lecție scurtă de limba română.

Why does the sentence start with “Azi” and not “Astăzi”? Are they different?

“Azi” and “Astăzi” both mean “today”.

  • “Astăzi” is slightly more formal or neutral.
  • “Azi” is shorter and more colloquial, very common in everyday speech.

You can usually replace one with the other without changing the meaning:

  • Azi avem o lecție… = Astăzi avem o lecție…

So the sentence could also be: Astăzi avem o lecție scurtă de limba română.

Where is the word “we” in this sentence? I only see “avem”.

Romanian often drops the subject pronoun (like Spanish or Italian).

  • The verb “avem” is the 1st person plural form of “a avea” (to have).
  • “avem” by itself already means “we have”.

You could say “Noi avem o lecție scurtă…”, but “noi” (we) is usually omitted unless you want to emphasize we in contrast to others. The neutral, normal version is just “Avem o lecție…” or, with an adverb, “Azi avem o lecție…”.

Why is it “avem” and not something like “suntem având” for “we are having”?

Romanian does not usually use a continuous form like English “are having”.

  • English: we have / we are having
  • Romanian: both are just avem

The present tense in Romanian typically covers:

  • a general fact: Avem o lecție în fiecare joi. – We have a lesson every Thursday.
  • something happening now: Azi avem o lecție scurtă. – Today we’re having a short lesson.

So “avem” can translate as “we have” or “we are having”, depending on context.

Why is it “o lecție” and not “un lecție”?

Romanian has gendered nouns and the indefinite article agrees with the noun:

  • “lecție” (lesson) is feminine.
  • Feminine singular indefinite article: “o”
  • Masculine singular indefinite article: “un”

So:

  • o lecție = a lesson (feminine)
  • un curs = a course/class (masculine)

That’s why the sentence uses “o lecție”, not “un lecție”.

Why is the adjective “scurtă” after the noun: “o lecție scurtă” and not “o scurtă lecție”?

In Romanian, the normal position of most adjectives is after the noun:

  • English: a short lesson
  • Romanian: o lecție scurtă

General rule:

  • Noun + Adjective: lecție scurtă, carte interesantă (interesting book), film bun (good movie)

Some adjectives can come before the noun for stylistic reasons or to change the nuance, but for a basic, neutral phrase, “o lecție scurtă” is the standard and most natural order.
“o scurtă lecție” is possible in some contexts, but it sounds a bit more literary or emphatic.

What does “de limba română” literally mean? Why not just say “de română”?

Literally, “de limba română” means “of the Romanian language”.

  • limbă = language / tongue
  • limba = the language (feminine singular, with the definite article attached)
  • română = Romanian (adjective, feminine singular, agreeing with “limba”)

So the structure is:

  • o lecție (scurtă) de limba română
    → a (short) lesson of the Romanian language

In everyday speech, people often say simply:

  • o lecție de română – a Romanian lesson / a lesson of Romanian

Both “de limba română” and “de română” are correct; the version with “limba” is just more explicit and slightly more formal or textbook-like.

Why is it “limba română” and not “limbă română”? Where did the “the” come from?

Romanian usually attaches the definite article to the end of the noun, instead of putting a separate word in front:

  • limbă = language
  • limba = the language

So:

  • limbă română = Romanian language (in a general sense, without “the”)
  • limba română = the Romanian language

After certain prepositions like “de”, it’s very normal to use the definite form:

  • de limba română = of the Romanian language

That’s why you see “limba”, not “limbă”, in this phrase.

Why does “română” end in -ă? Isn’t “român” the word for Romanian?

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

  • român – masculine form (e.g. băiat român = Romanian boy)
  • română – feminine form (e.g. limbă română = Romanian language)
  • români – masculine plural / mixed group (e.g. oameni români = Romanian people)
  • române – feminine plural (e.g. fete române = Romanian girls)

Because “limbă/limba” is feminine singular, the adjective must also be feminine singular:

  • limba română = the Romanian language
How do you pronounce “lecție” and what is the role of the diacritic on “ț”?

“lecție” is pronounced approximately: [ˈlek.t͡sie], like “LEK-tsyeh”.

Breaking it down:

  • le – like “leh”
  • cț – two consonants: k
    • ts
  • ie – a bit like “ye” in “yes”, but closer together

The letter “ț” (t with a comma/cedilla) represents the sound /ts/ (like “ts” in “cats”).
Without the diacritic, “t” is just a plain /t/ sound.

So:

  • țe → /tse/
  • ție → roughly /tsye/, as in lecție
What’s the difference between “lecție” and “curs” in Romanian?

Both can translate as “class” or “lesson”, but there’s a nuance:

  • lecție

    • a lesson in a schoolbook / private tutoring session
    • a smaller unit of study (one topic, one chapter)
    • common in primary/secondary school: lecție de matematică (math lesson)

  • curs

    • a course, especially at university or in adult education
    • also used for a scheduled class session at university
    • curs de limba română = Romanian language course

In your sentence, “o lecție scurtă de limba română” suggests a single short lesson, not an entire course.