Learn Hardcore Romanian: În parc, seara, cineva cântă la chitară pentru copii. - In the park, in the evening, someone plays the guitar for the children.

Romanian word order is more flexible than English. You can move time and place expressions to the beginning of the sentence to set the scene or add emphasis.

În parc, seara, cineva cântă la chitară pentru copii.
Literally: In the park, in the evening, someone plays guitar for the children.
→ Focuses first on where and when.

You could also say:

Seara, în parc, cineva cântă la chitară pentru copii. (Evening is slightly more emphasized.)
Cineva cântă la chitară pentru copii, seara, în parc. (Focus more on someone playing, then add time/place.)

All are grammatically correct; the choice mainly affects emphasis and style, not basic meaning.

Are the commas around seara necessary? Could I write În parc seara cineva cântă… without commas?

The commas are stylistic but very natural here.

În parc, seara, cineva…
Here, în parc and seara are two separate adverbial phrases (in the park, in the evening) set off like a short pause in spoken language.

You can see:

În parc seara cineva cântă…

This is still grammatically possible, but it feels more compressed and less natural in everyday writing. Native speakers usually separate these with commas (or at least a pause in speech).

So:

Best style: În parc, seara, cineva…
Grammatically okay but less natural in writing: În parc seara cineva…

Why is it seara and not something like în seara or seara asta?

In Romanian, bare forms like dimineața, seara, noaptea, vara, iarna often function as adverbs of time, similar to “in the evening”, “in the morning”, “at night”, “in summer”.

Seara, citesc. = In the evenings, I read. / At night, I read.
Dimineața beau cafea. = In the mornings, I drink coffee.

They usually refer to a general, habitual time, not to one specific evening.

If you want to be specific about this evening, you say:

În seara asta = this evening / tonight
În seara aceea = that evening

So:

Seara, cineva cântă… – generally, in the evenings.
În seara asta, cineva cântă… – this particular evening.

What exactly is cineva, and how does it affect the verb?

Cineva means someone / somebody. It is an indefinite pronoun referring to an unspecified person.

Grammar points:

It takes third person singular verb forms:
- Cineva cântă. = Someone sings / is singing.
- Cineva a venit. = Someone came / has come.
It doesn’t express gender; context might clarify, but grammatically it’s just “someone”.

Compare:

Un om cântă… = A man / a person is singing… (more concrete: a person)
Cineva cântă… = Someone is singing… (you don’t know / don’t say who)

Why is it cântă la chitară instead of just cântă chitară?

With musical instruments, Romanian normally uses la + instrument:

cânt la chitară – I play the guitar
cânt la pian – I play the piano
cânt la vioară – I play the violin

Saying cânt chitară is not standard Romanian; it sounds wrong or at least very non‑native.

So the natural structure is:

a cânta la + [instrument]
cineva cântă la chitară – someone plays the guitar

Does cântă mean “plays” or “is playing”? How do you express the progressive “is playing” in Romanian?

Romanian present tense usually covers both English simple present and present continuous:

Cineva cântă la chitară.
→ can mean:
- Someone plays the guitar (habitually).
- Someone is playing the guitar (right now).

Context decides whether it’s habitual or happening now.

If you really want to emphasize that it’s happening right now, you can:

Add acum (now):
Acum, cineva cântă la chitară. – Right now, someone is playing the guitar.
Or use a more explicit progressive-like structure (less common, more colloquial):
Cineva este la chitară acum. (literally: someone is on guitar now, but this is stylistic and context‑dependent)

In normal conversation, cântă by itself is enough; tone and context provide the rest.

Why is it la chitară and not la chitara with a definite article?

When talking about playing a musical instrument in general, Romanian usually uses the indefinite form:

cânt la chitară – I play (the) guitar
cânt la pian – I play (the) piano

English says “the guitar”, but Romanian does not mark definiteness here in the same way.

You could say la chitara only if you’re clearly talking about a specific guitar previously mentioned:

Cânt la chitara ta, nu la a mea. – I’m playing your guitar, not mine.

In your sentence, it’s about the activity in general, so la chitară (indefinite) is correct and natural.

Why is it pentru copii and not something like la copii or copiilor?

Pentru is the normal preposition for “for (the benefit of)”:

pentru copii – for children / for the children (for their benefit)
pentru mama – for (my) mother

Other options:

la copii often means at the children’s (place) or to the children depending on context, but it’s not the default for “for children” in the sense of intended audience.
- Merg la copii. – I’m going to the children (to where they are).
copiilor is dative plural of copii and often corresponds to “to the children”:
- Le cânt copiilor. – I sing to the children.

So for “plays the guitar for children”, the natural phrase is:

cântă la chitară pentru copii.

What does copii look like in other forms, and why are there two i’s?

Copii is the indefinite plural of copil (child).

Main forms:

Singular:
- copil – child (indefinite)
- copilul – the child (definite)
Plural:
- copii – children (indefinite)
- copiii – the children (definite)

The double or triple i is normal:

copii = co-pi-i (two i’s)
copiii = co-pi-iii (three i’s)

In your sentence, you’re not saying “the children”, just “children” in general, so copii (two i’s) is correct:

pentru copii – for children (in general)
pentru copiii din parc – for the children in the park

Why is it în parc and not la parc? When do you use în vs la with places?

With parc, both în and la can appear, but they have slightly different nuances:

în parc = in the park (inside the park area)
- În parc, seara, cineva cântă… – the action happens inside the park.
la parc = more like at the park (location as a point, less focus on “inside”)
- Mă duc la parc. – I’m going to the park.

General tendencies:

în stresses being inside a space:
- în casă – in the house
- în pădure – in the forest
la is looser: “at/to” a place:
- la școală – at school / to school
- la bunici – at/to the grandparents’ (house)

In your sentence, În parc, seara… is totally natural: you’re picturing the scene inside the park in the evening.

Could this sentence also mean that the children themselves are the ones playing the guitar?

No. Grammatically:

cineva = someone (singular subject)
copii = children (plural indirect object, with pentru)

So:

cineva cântă… pentru copii
= Someone (subject) is playing … for the children (beneficiary).

If you want to say that the children are the ones playing, you would change the subject:

Copiii cântă la chitară în parc, seara.
– The children play the guitar in the park in the evening.

Can I change the order to Seara, în parc, cineva cântă la chitară pentru copii? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, that word order is correct:

Seara, în parc, cineva cântă la chitară pentru copii.

Meaning stays essentially the same. The difference is in emphasis:

În parc, seara, cineva… → slight emphasis on in the park first.
Seara, în parc, cineva… → slight emphasis on in the evening first.

Romanian allows both orders; both are natural. The commas mark each adverbial (seara, în parc) as a separate unit setting the scene.