Gheara este lungă.

Because Romanian usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun.

• gheară = claw / a claw
• gheara = the claw

So the -a at the end is not just part of the basic word here; it shows definiteness.

Yes. Gheară is feminine. That matters because adjectives in Romanian must agree with the noun in gender and number.

That is why the sentence uses lungă, the feminine singular form of long.

Because Romanian adjectives agree with the noun.

Since gheara is feminine singular, the adjective must also be feminine singular:

• lung = masculine singular
• lungă = feminine singular
• lungi = plural

So Gheara este lungă is grammatically matched all the way through.

Este is the 3rd-person singular present form of a fi, meaning to be.

So it works like is in English. It links the subject gheara with the description lungă.

Structure:

• Gheara = subject
• este = is
• lungă = predicate adjective

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

• Gheara este lungă = fully correct, slightly more formal or careful
• Gheara e lungă = fully correct, more conversational

Both are natural.

Roughly GHEA-ra, with the stress on the first syllable.

A few helpful points:

• gh before e keeps a hard g sound, like g in go
• ghea is pronounced as one syllable
• the final -ra is light and unstressed

So the important thing is: hard g, not the softer sound you might expect from ge in Romanian.

Lungă is roughly LOON-guh, with stress on the first syllable.

• u sounds like oo in boot
• ă is a short, neutral vowel, similar to the a in sofa

So:

• lung ≈ loong
• lungă ≈ LOON-guh

Normally, no. In a standard sentence like this, Romanian keeps the verb to be:

• Gheara este lungă
• Gheara e lungă

If you say only gheara lungă, that is usually not a full sentence anymore. It becomes a noun phrase meaning the long claw.

They are different structures:

• Gheara este lungă = a full sentence = The claw is long
• gheara lungă = a noun phrase = the long claw

So adding este turns it from a phrase into a complete statement.

The plural version is:

Ghearele sunt lungi.

Changes:

• gheara → ghearele = the claws
• este → sunt = are
• lungă → lungi = plural adjective

So Romanian changes both the noun and the adjective, and also the verb.

The normal, neutral order is Gheara este lungă.

Romanian can change word order for emphasis, but that is less basic and often sounds marked:

• Gheara este lungă = neutral
• Este lungă gheara = possible, but more emphatic or context-dependent
• Lungă este gheara = even more marked, often literary or dramatic

For everyday learning, Gheara este lungă is the best pattern to use.