Nu pleca fără să iei pașaportul din sertar.

Because this is a negative command addressed to one person.

In Romanian, the 2nd person singular negative imperative usually uses:

• nu
  • short infinitive

So:

• a pleca = to leave
• Pleacă! = Leave! (positive command)
• Nu pleca! = Don’t leave! (negative command)

A form like Nu pleci usually means You are not leaving or You don’t leave, not a command.

This is a very common Romanian pattern and often surprises English speakers.

For many verbs:

• positive singular command = special imperative form
• negative singular command = nu
  • infinitive

So:

• Pleacă! = Leave!
• Nu pleca! = Don’t leave!

Another example:

• Vino! = Come!
• Nu veni! = Don’t come!

So the sentence follows a normal Romanian rule.

Fără să means without + a clause, often where English would use without + -ing.

So:

• fără = without
• să iei = that you take / for you to take

Together:

• fără să iei pașaportul = without taking the passport

Romanian often uses a full clause with să, where English prefers a gerund:

• Nu pleca fără să iei pașaportul.
• literally: Don’t leave without that you take the passport.
• natural English: Don’t leave without taking the passport.

Because iei is the correct 2nd person singular form of the verb a lua (to take).

The present forms of a lua are:

• eu iau
• tu iei
• el/ea ia
• noi luăm
• voi luați
• ei/ele iau

After să, Romanian uses the subjunctive, and for most persons the form looks like the present tense, just introduced by să:

• să iau
• să iei
• să ia
• etc.

So:

• fără să iei = without taking / without you taking

Să lua is not correct here, and ieiți is not a Romanian form.

Yes, să iei is a subjunctive construction.

Romanian uses să + verb in many places where English uses:

• an infinitive
• a gerund (taking)
• or another subordinate structure

After fără să, Romanian normally uses the subjunctive:

• fără să iei = without taking
• fără să spui nimic = without saying anything
• fără să mă vezi = without seeing me

So the subjunctive is required by the structure fără să.

Pașaportul means the passport.

Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun:

• pașaport = passport
• pașaportul = the passport

In this sentence, the speaker means a specific passport, presumably the one the listener needs. That is why Romanian uses the definite form.

Compare:

• Ia un pașaport. = Take a passport.
• Ia pașaportul. = Take the passport.

It is:

• pașaport = passport
• -ul = the masculine/neuter singular definite article

So:

• pașaportul = the passport

Romanian attaches the definite article to the noun instead of putting a separate word before it, unlike English.

A few similar examples:

• băiat → băiatul = the boy
• sertar → sertarul = the drawer
• telefon → telefonul = the phone

Because din means from inside / out of, which fits the idea of taking something out of a drawer.

• din sertar = out of the drawer / from the drawer

A passport is inside the drawer, so din is the natural choice.

De la usually means from in the sense of:

• from a person
• from a place
• from someone’s location
• from an institution

Examples:

• de la Maria = from Maria
• de la școală = from school

But with containers or enclosed spaces, Romanian often uses din:

• din cutie = out of the box
• din buzunar = out of the pocket
• din sertar = out of the drawer

Both can be possible in Romanian, but they are used a bit differently.

• din sertar = from/out of the drawer, often natural even without explicitly marking the noun as definite
• din sertarul = from/out of the specific drawer

In everyday Romanian, din sertar can sound perfectly natural when the context already makes it clear which drawer is meant.

If you want to make it more explicitly specific, you could say:

• din sertarul biroului = from the desk drawer
• din sertarul de sus = from the top drawer

So the version in your sentence is normal and idiomatic.

It is the direct object of iei, so it is in the accusative function.

In Romanian, for many nouns, the nominative and accusative forms look the same, especially without extra markers.

Here:

• iei ce? = you take what?
• pașaportul = the passport

So pașaportul is the thing being taken.

More or less, yes, but it sounds less natural in English.

Word-by-word:

• Nu = not / don’t
• pleca = leave
• fără = without
• să = that / to (subjunctive marker, not translated directly)
• iei = you take
• pașaportul = the passport
• din sertar = from/out of the drawer

A very literal version would be:

• Don’t leave without that you take the passport out of the drawer.

But natural English is:

• Don’t leave without taking the passport from the drawer.
• or Don’t leave without taking the passport out of the drawer.

Yes, that is grammatically possible.

• fără să iei = more common, everyday, very natural
• fără a lua = also correct, but often a bit more formal or impersonal

So:

• Nu pleca fără să iei pașaportul din sertar.
  is the most natural conversational version.

While:

• Nu pleca fără a lua pașaportul din sertar.
  is correct, but sounds slightly more formal or written.

The given word order is the most natural one, but Romanian does allow some flexibility.

Standard order:

• Nu pleca fără să iei pașaportul din sertar.

Possible variations for emphasis might exist, but they are less neutral. For example, you could emphasize the object:

• Nu pleca fără să iei din sertar pașaportul.

This can sound like you are emphasizing where to take it from or setting up the location first.

Still, the original version is the best neutral choice for learners.

Iei can be tricky for English speakers.

It is one syllable in normal speech for many speakers, something like yay but with a Romanian sound quality, not exactly English yay.

A rough guide:

• iei ≈ yay / yey

But try to hear native audio if possible, because English spelling is a poor guide.

The important thing is that it comes from a lua:

• eu iau
• tu iei

So you should learn iei as a whole form, not build it from spelling.

Yes. This sentence is addressed to one person using the informal singular form.

Clues:

• Nu pleca = singular command
• să iei = singular you take

If you were speaking to several people, or using a formal/plural form, you would change it:

• Nu plecați fără să luați pașaportul din sertar.

That can mean:

• Don’t leave (you all) without taking the passport from the drawer.
• or formal singular Don’t leave, sir/ma’am...

So the original sentence is informal singular: you = one person, familiar tone.