De când merge la târgul de vechituri, Ana caută viniluri.

Here, de când means since or ever since.

It introduces the point in time from which something started and has continued. So the idea is:

• De când merge la târgul de vechituri... = Ever since she has been going to the flea market...

A learner should also know that de când? can be a direct question meaning since when?, but in this sentence it is not a question; it is a conjunction introducing a clause.

This is a very common Romanian-English difference.

Romanian often uses the present tense after de când to express an action or situation that began in the past and still continues now. English usually prefers the present perfect or present perfect continuous in this kind of sentence.

So:

• merge literally looks like goes
• caută literally looks like looks for

But in context, English may translate them more naturally as:

• has been going
• has been looking

So the Romanian present tense is doing more work here than the English simple present would.

Grammatically, merge is the present tense form of a merge and literally means goes.

However, in this sentence, because of de când, the natural English interpretation is often has been going.

So the short answer is:

• form: goes
• meaning in context: often closer to has been going

This is one of those places where you should not translate the Romanian tense too mechanically.

Literally:

• târgul = the market / the fair
• de vechituri = of old things / of second-hand stuff / of junk

So târgul de vechituri literally means something like the market of old things, but the natural English translation is the flea market.

This is a set expression in Romanian.

Because Romanian normally uses la after a merge when talking about going to a place.

So:

• merge la școală = goes to school
• merge la magazin = goes to the shop
• merge la târgul de vechituri = goes to the flea market

The preposition la is the normal choice here.

The ending -ul is the Romanian definite article, meaning the.

So:

• târg = a market / market
• târgul = the market

That means la târgul de vechituri is to the flea market, not just to a flea market.

If you wanted an indefinite version, you could say:

• la un târg de vechituri = to a flea market

Viniluri is an indefinite plural, meaning vinyl records in general, not a specific known set.

So:

• viniluri = vinyl records
• niște viniluri = some vinyl records
• vinilurile = the vinyl records

In this sentence, Ana is looking for vinyl records as a general category, so the bare plural viniluri works well.

Yes, viniluri is a normal and common word in modern Romanian, especially in music-related contexts.

It usually means vinyl records.

You can also say:

• discuri de vinil

That is a bit more explicit and literally means vinyl discs / vinyl records.

So both are possible:

• Ana caută viniluri
• Ana caută discuri de vinil

The first is shorter and very natural in everyday use.

The comma separates the introductory subordinate clause from the main clause.

Structure:

• De când merge la târgul de vechituri, = subordinate clause
• Ana caută viniluri. = main clause

Romanian normally uses a comma in this kind of sentence when the subordinate clause comes first.

Not really. De când means since / ever since, not whenever.

If you want whenever, Romanian would normally use something like:

• Când merge la târgul de vechituri, Ana caută viniluri.
• Ori de câte ori merge la târgul de vechituri, Ana caută viniluri.

So the sentence you were given suggests an action that started at some point in the past and has continued since then, not simply a repeated habit every time she goes.

Because Romanian word order is flexible.

The speaker chose to put the time clause first:

• De când merge la târgul de vechituri, ...

and then the main clause:

• Ana caută viniluri.

This ordering emphasizes the time relationship first. You could rearrange things in some contexts, but this version is very natural.

For an English speaker, it may feel slightly more front-loaded, but in Romanian this is completely normal.