Dacă nu găsesc portofelul, mă uit în coș și apoi în geantă.

Romanian often drops subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form.

• găsesc = I find
• mă uit = I look

So eu is not necessary here. You could say Eu nu găsesc portofelul... for emphasis, but normally Romanian leaves it out.

Portofelul means the wallet. Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

• portofel = wallet
• portofelul = the wallet

So the ending -ul is the definite article.

A se uita is a reflexive verb, meaning to look or to look at / check depending on context.

• mă uit = I look
• literally, the mă is the reflexive pronoun for I

You usually need this pronoun with the verb:

• mă uit = I look
• te uiți = you look
• se uită = he/she looks

So mă is not optional here.

Because în and la give different meanings.

• a se uita la = to look at something
• a se uita în = to look in / inside something

So:

• Mă uit la coș = I look at the basket/bin
• Mă uit în coș = I look inside the basket/bin

In this sentence, the speaker is checking inside places, so în is the natural choice.

Romanian often uses the indefinite or bare noun after prepositions when the place is understood in a general or practical way.

So:

• în coș = in the basket / bin
• în geantă = in the bag

You can say în coșul or în geanta if you want to make them more specifically definite:

• în coșul din bucătărie = in the basket/bin in the kitchen
• în geanta mea = in my bag

Here, the shorter forms sound natural because the focus is on where the speaker checks, not on identifying those objects in detail.

Romanian often uses the present tense in this kind of real or likely condition, just like English can do.

• Dacă nu găsesc portofelul... = If I don’t find the wallet...

This can describe:

• a general habit
• a likely situation
• a simple condition

So the present tense is perfectly normal here.

In Romanian, nu usually goes directly before the verb to make it negative.

• găsesc = I find
• nu găsesc = I do not find

This is the normal placement for negation.

Because the sentence begins with a conditional clause introduced by dacă.

• Dacă nu găsesc portofelul, = If I don’t find the wallet,
• mă uit în coș și apoi în geantă. = I look in the basket/bin and then in the bag.

In Romanian, as in English, a comma is commonly used after an introductory clause like this.

Apoi means then / afterward / next.

Here it connects the two places being checked:

• în coș și apoi în geantă = in the basket/bin and then in the bag

Its position is flexible, but the version in the sentence is very natural. For example:

• mă uit în coș și apoi în geantă
• apoi mă uit în geantă

Both work, but the original phrasing is smooth and common.

It can mean either, depending on context.

• coș = basket
• coș de gunoi = trash can / wastebasket

In everyday speech, coș by itself can sometimes imply a bin if the situation makes that obvious. Without more context, a learner should understand that it means some kind of container the speaker is checking inside.

A few Romanian letters here are important:

• ă in Dacă, găsesc, geantă: a short neutral vowel, something like the a in English sofa
• ș in coș: pronounced like sh
• ă at the end of geantă is not a strong English a; it is softer and more central

Very roughly:

• Dacă ≈ DUH-kuh
• găsesc ≈ guh-ZESK
• coș ≈ kosh
• geantă ≈ ZHAN-tuh

These are only approximations, but they help show the main sounds.

Yes. That would simply change the order of where the speaker checks first.

• mă uit în coș și apoi în geantă = first in the basket/bin, then in the bag
• mă uit în geantă și apoi în coș = first in the bag, then in the basket/bin

The grammar stays the same; only the sequence changes.