Dacă îți este sete, umple paharul cu apă rece.

In Romanian, to be thirsty is expressed idiomatically as a-i fi sete, literally something like thirst is to you.

So:

• îți = to you
• este = is
• sete = thirst

So îți este sete means you are thirsty.

You cannot say ești sete, because sete is a noun (thirst), not an adjective. Romanian uses a noun here, while English uses the adjective thirsty.

îți is an unstressed dative pronoun, meaning to you.

It comes from the pronoun tu and is used in expressions like:

• îți este foame = you are hungry
• îți este somn = you are sleepy
• îți este sete = you are thirsty

This dative structure is very common in Romanian with physical states and sensations.

Yes. Ți-e sete is the very common spoken contraction of îți este sete.

So these are equivalent:

• Dacă îți este sete...
• Dacă ți-e sete...

The full version sounds a bit more careful or neutral; the shorter version is very common in everyday speech.

Yes. Este and e both mean is.

So all of these are possible:

• îți este sete
• îți e sete
• ți-e sete

The differences are mostly about style and register:

• este = fuller, slightly more formal or careful
• e = shorter, very common in speech
• ți-e = very natural everyday contraction

Because Dacă îți este sete is a subordinate clause introduced by dacă (if), and it comes before the main clause.

Structure:

• Dacă îți este sete = if you are thirsty
• umple paharul cu apă rece = fill the glass with cold water

Romanian normally uses a comma when this kind of clause comes first.

Yes. Umple is the 2nd person singular imperative of a umple (to fill).

It is telling one person, informally, to do something:

• Umple paharul! = Fill the glass!

So in the full sentence, it means:

• If you are thirsty, fill the glass with cold water.

This is the singular informal command, used when speaking to one person addressed as tu.

The sentence given uses the informal singular command: umple.

If you were speaking politely to one person or to several people, you would use umpleți:

• Dacă vă este sete, umpleți paharul cu apă rece.

So:

• umple = command to one person you address as tu
• umpleți = command to you (plural) or formal you

Because Romanian usually drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb form already shows the person:

• umple = you (singular) fill!

So tu is unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Umple paharul. = normal
• Tu umple paharul. = unusual unless strongly emphatic

Romanian is a pro-drop language, unlike English.

Paharul means the glass, with the definite article attached to the end:

• pahar = glass
• paharul = the glass

Romanian often uses the definite article in places where English might also say the glass, but sometimes Romanian can sound more definite than English. In a context like this, paharul can mean the relevant glass, the one at hand, or the one understood from context.

The important grammar point is that Romanian usually puts the at the end of the noun:

• băiatul = the boy
• cartea = the book
• paharul = the glass

Romanian has a postposed definite article, which means the is added to the end of the noun instead of appearing as a separate word before it.

Examples:

• pahar = glass

• paharul = the glass

• băiat = boy
• băiatul = the boy

This is one of the big differences from English.

After a umple (to fill), Romanian often uses cu to show what something is being filled with:

• a umple paharul cu apă = to fill the glass with water

So here:

• cu = with
• apă rece = cold water

This matches English quite closely: fill the glass with cold water.

Because in Romanian, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• apă rece = cold water
• carte bună = good book
• om înalt = tall man

English usually puts adjectives before the noun, but Romanian usually puts them after.

Yes, adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number.

Here:

• apă is singular feminine
• rece is the singular form used here with apă

So apă rece is the correct agreement.

Some Romanian adjectives change more visibly, while others, like rece, may not show a dramatic change in this form.

Yes. Dacă ești însetat also means if you are thirsty.

There are two common ways to express this idea:

• îți este sete = literally thirst is to you
• ești însetat / însetată = you are thirsty

The first one is extremely common and idiomatic. The second uses an adjective:

• însetat for a male
• însetată for a female

So both are possible, but îți este sete is especially common in everyday Romanian.

The main special letters here are:

• ă in Dacă, paharul, apă
• î in îți

A simple learner-friendly guide:

• ă = a short neutral vowel, like the a in English sofa
• î = a close central sound that English does not really have; it may sound unusual at first

Very roughly:

• Dacă ≈ DUH-kuh
• îți has a tight central vowel followed by ts
• apă ≈ AH-puh

Also:

• ce in rece is pronounced like che in check, so rece sounds roughly like RE-che

The given word order is natural and standard:

• Dacă îți este sete, umple paharul cu apă rece.

Romanian does allow some flexibility, but not all changes sound equally natural.

For learners, this is the safest pattern:

1. Dacă... clause first
2. comma
3. main command

So it is best to learn this sentence exactly as written before experimenting with other orders.

It breaks down like this:

• Dacă = if
• îți este sete = you are thirsty
• umple = fill
• paharul = the glass
• cu apă rece = with cold water

So the grammar is:

If + condition, command

That pattern is very common in Romanian:

• Dacă ești obosit, dormi. = If you are tired, sleep.
• Dacă îți este foame, mănâncă. = If you are hungry, eat.

This makes the sentence a useful model to copy.