Biblioteca este în stânga, iar piața este în dreapta.

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

• bibliotecă = a library
• biblioteca = the library
• piață = a market / a square
• piața = the market / the square

In this sentence, both nouns are definite, so -a appears at the end.

Yes. Both are feminine singular nouns.

A very common pattern is:

• feminine indefinite singular: -ă
• feminine definite singular: -a

So:

• bibliotecă → biblioteca
• piață → piața

This is a useful pattern to remember, although not every noun follows it perfectly.

Este means is. It is the 3rd person singular present form of a fi, which means to be.

So:

• Biblioteca este... = The library is...
• piața este... = the market/square is...

Yes. E is a very common shorter form of este in everyday Romanian.

So these are both correct:

• Biblioteca este în stânga.
• Biblioteca e în stânga.

Este sounds a little fuller or more careful, while e is very common in speech.

Romanian often repeats the verb in coordinated sentences, especially in clear, neutral speech.

So:

• Biblioteca este în stânga, iar piața este în dreapta.

is perfectly normal.

You can also omit the second este in some contexts:

• Biblioteca este în stânga, iar piața în dreapta.

That is also natural, but the full version is especially clear for learners.

Iar is a conjunction that often links two parallel or contrasting ideas. Depending on context, it can be translated as and, while, or whereas.

In this sentence, it helps set up a neat contrast:

• the library = on the left
• the market/square = on the right

So iar is a good choice because it connects the two parts while also highlighting the contrast between left and right.

Because iar fits this kind of balanced contrast very well.

• și usually means a simple and
• dar usually means but
• iar often means something like and meanwhile / while / whereas

So here:

• Biblioteca este în stânga, iar piața este în dreapta.

sounds more natural than using dar, because the sentence is not really opposing the two ideas strongly. It is just placing them in parallel.

These are standard Romanian expressions meaning on the left and on the right or sometimes to the left and to the right, depending on context.

Even though în often means in, you should learn these as whole phrases:

• în stânga = on/to the left
• în dreapta = on/to the right

Languages often package location expressions differently, so it is best not to translate word by word too literally.

Romanian does not handle these expressions the same way English does. In practice, în stânga and în dreapta are fixed location phrases, and you learn them as complete units.

So English says:

• on the left
• on the right

But Romanian simply says:

• în stânga
• în dreapta

without adding a separate word equivalent to English the.

No. Piață can mean:

• market
• square
• sometimes plaza, depending on context

So piața could mean the market or the square. You usually tell from context, or from the translation that is given.

A good approximate pronunciation is PYA-tsa.

A few useful points:

• ț sounds like ts, as in the end of cats
• ia often sounds like ya
• so piața is roughly PYA-tsa

If you want a rough guide for the whole sentence:

• Biblioteca ≈ bee-blee-oh-TEH-ka
• este ≈ YES-teh
• în stânga has the Romanian â, a sound English does not really have
• dreapta ≈ DRYAP-ta

Yes, very much so in this sentence.

The structure is basically:

• Subject + verb + location
• Biblioteca
  • este
    • în stânga
• piața
  • este
    • în dreapta

So for an English speaker, the sentence structure feels quite familiar.

Yes. Romanian word order is flexible, and you can move the location phrase for emphasis.

For example:

• În stânga este biblioteca, iar în dreapta este piața.

This still means the same thing, but it emphasizes the locations more strongly. The original sentence is the more straightforward, neutral version.