Avaria este urgentă.

to be

Breakdown of Avaria este urgentă.

• urgent: urgent
• avaria: the breakdown

Questions & Answers about Avaria este urgentă.

Why does avarie become avaria here?

Because Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, not before it.

• avarie = a breakdown / a malfunction / damage
• avaria = the breakdown / the malfunction / the damage

So the final -a is the feminine singular definite article.

This is very different from English, where you say the as a separate word.

What part of speech is este?

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

So:

• eu sunt = I am
• tu ești = you are
• el/ea este = he/she/it is

In this sentence, este means is.

Can I say e instead of este?

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

So both are correct:

• Avaria este urgentă.
• Avaria e urgentă.

The version with este may sound a little more full or formal, while e is extremely common in speech.