Pun farfuria și o ceașcă pe masă pentru Ana.

Pun is the 1st person singular present form of a pune = to put / to place / to set.

So Pun farfuria și o ceașcă... means I put... or I am putting..., depending on context. Romanian present tense often covers both English simple present and present continuous.

Romanian usually leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed, because the verb ending already shows the subject.

• pun = I put
• pui = you put
• pune = he/she puts

So Pun farfuria... is perfectly natural. You can say Eu pun..., but that adds emphasis, like I’m the one putting it.

This shows the difference between the definite article and the indefinite article in Romanian.

• farfurie = plate
• farfuria = the plate
  Romanian usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun.
• o ceașcă = a cup
  The indefinite article is a separate word.

So:

• farfuria = the plate
• o ceașcă = a cup

Because the sentence means the plate and a cup, not a plate and a cup or the plate and the cup.

So:

• farfuria refers to a specific, known plate
• o ceașcă refers to an unspecified cup

This works the same way as English article choice.

Here, o is the feminine singular indefinite article, so it means a / an.

Romanian o can also be the feminine form of the numeral one, so the form is sometimes the same. Context tells you which meaning is intended.

In this sentence, the most natural reading is a cup, not one cup.

Here, pe is just the normal preposition meaning on:

• pe masă = on the table

You are right that Romanian also uses pe in another way, before certain direct objects, especially specific people:

• Văd pe Ana = I see Ana

But that is a different use. In pe masă, pe is simply a location preposition.

Romanian often uses a bare noun after common prepositions in everyday location expressions:

• pe masă = on the table / on a table
• în casă = in the house / at home
• la școală = at school

English often needs the where Romanian does not. So pe masă is very natural Romanian. The context tells you whether English should be on the table or on a table.

If you want to make the table more explicitly specific, Romanian can do that too:

• pe masa din bucătărie = on the kitchen table
• pe masa Anei = on Ana’s table

Pentru Ana means for Ana.

It shows the beneficiary of the action: the person for whose benefit the speaker is putting the items on the table.

Because Ana is a proper name, it normally appears without an article:

• pentru Ana = for Ana

Yes. Romanian can also use an indirect-object construction, for example:

• Îi pun Anei farfuria și o ceașcă pe masă.

That also means something like I put the plate and a cup on the table for Ana.

But pentru Ana is very clear and straightforward, especially for showing the meaning for Ana.

No, Romanian word order is fairly flexible.

Your sentence is natural:

• Pun farfuria și o ceașcă pe masă pentru Ana.

But you may also hear:

• Pun pe masă farfuria și o ceașcă pentru Ana.
• Pentru Ana pun farfuria și o ceașcă pe masă.

The meaning stays similar, but the emphasis changes a little depending on what comes earlier.

A rough English guide is CHYASH-kuh.

Useful parts:

• ce at the beginning sounds roughly like che in check
• ș sounds like sh
• ă is a short neutral vowel, like the a in sofa

So ceașcă is approximately CHYASH-kə, with the stress on the first syllable.