Probabil merită să ne strângem; împărțim nota sau Andrei face cinste.

Here a merita is being used impersonally: merită să... means something like it’s worth it to... or it’s probably a good idea to....

So merită is not he/she deserves here, and it is not we deserve either. If you wanted to say we deserve, then you would use merităm.

• Merită să mergem = It’s worth going
• Merităm mai mult = We deserve more

Because Romanian normally uses să + subjunctive after merită when the next idea is an action.

So:

• merită să ne strângem
• literally: it is worth that we gather/get together

This is a very common Romanian pattern:

• trebuie să... = must / have to...
• vrea să... = wants to...
• merită să... = it’s worth to...

English often uses an infinitive here, but Romanian usually prefers să + verb.

Ne is the reflexive pronoun for us / ourselves.

The difference is:

• a strânge = to gather / collect something
• a se strânge = to gather together / to get together

So să ne strângem means that we are the ones gathering together.

Also, Romanian clitic pronouns usually come before the verb, so ne goes before strângem, not after it.

Functionally, it is subjunctive, because it comes after să: să ne strângem.

But the actual form strângem looks the same as the 1st person plural present indicative form. That is very normal in Romanian. For many verbs, the subjunctive and present forms look identical, and să is what tells you the clause is subjunctive.

So:

• ne strângem = present indicative, we gather / we are getting together
• să ne strângem = subjunctive, that we gather / for us to get together

Usually, no: â and î represent the same sound in standard Romanian.

The main difference is spelling position:

• î is normally used at the beginning and end of a word
• â is normally used inside a word

So:

• împărțim starts with that sound, so it uses î
• strângem has that sound inside the word, so it uses â

This is mainly an orthography rule, not a pronunciation difference.

Because nota is the definite form: the bill.

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

• notă = a note / a grade / a bill
• nota = the note / the grade / the bill

In this sentence, the bill is a specific, known thing in the situation, so Romanian uses the definite form nota.

Yes. Notă can mean several things depending on context:

• note
• grade/mark
• bill/check in a restaurant context

So împărțim nota is understood from the situation, not from the noun alone. Romanian often relies on context this way.

Because Romanian often uses the present tense for immediate plans, proposals, or practical options.

So împărțim nota sau... is a natural conversational way to present a choice, similar to English:

• We split the bill, or Andrei treats.

It sounds direct and natural. Romanian does not always need a future form or a modal like let’s in this kind of context.

Because Romanian is a pro-drop language. The verb endings usually make the subject clear enough.

Here:

• împărțim already tells you the subject is we
• face already tells you the subject is he/she

So:

• împărțim nota = we split the bill
• Andrei face cinste = Andrei treats

You can add pronouns for emphasis, contrast, or clarity, but they are often unnecessary.

A face cinste is an idiomatic expression. In this kind of context, it means to treat, especially by paying for others.

So Andrei face cinste means that Andrei is the one paying.

It is not meant literally as makes honor. It is just a fixed Romanian expression.

Also, the people being treated can be left unstated if they are obvious from context. A more explicit version could be:

• Andrei ne face cinste = Andrei is treating us

It can mean different things depending on structure and context.

In everyday social situations, a face cinste often means to treat someone.

But there is also the expression îi face cinste, which means something like it does him/her credit or it reflects well on him/her.

So learners should be careful: the words are the same, but the meaning depends on how the phrase is built.

Because probabil is a sentence adverb here, and placing it first is a very natural way to qualify the whole statement.

So Probabil merită... means that the speaker is framing the entire idea as probable or tentative.

Romanian allows some flexibility, but sentence-initial probabil is very common and natural:

• Probabil vine mâine.
• Probabil merită să ne strângem.

It gives the sentence a smooth, conversational opening.