Omul vede taraba.

Because -ul is the Romanian definite article attached to the end of the noun.

• om = man
• omul = the man

Romanian usually puts the at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word before it.

For the same reason: the noun is definite.

• tarabă = a stall
• taraba = the stall

With many feminine nouns, the indefinite form ends in -ă, and the definite singular form ends in -a.

Romanian normally uses a postposed definite article, which means the article is added to the end of the noun.

So instead of having a separate word like English the, Romanian says:

• omul = the man
• taraba = the stall

This is one of the big structural differences between English and Romanian.

Vede is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb a vedea, meaning to see.

So:

• a vedea = to see
• vede = he sees / she sees / it sees

In this sentence, because the subject is omul, it means the man sees.

It can often cover both ideas, depending on context.

Romanian does not usually have a separate everyday verb form exactly like the English present continuous. So vede can mean:

• sees
• is seeing

In a simple sentence like Omul vede taraba, English will usually translate it as The man sees the stall.

Mostly because of the normal Romanian word order here: subject + verb + object.

• Omul = subject
• vede = verb
• taraba = direct object

So the most natural reading is The man sees the stall.

In this sentence, the noun forms themselves do not strongly mark subject versus object, so word order does a lot of the work.

Because taraba is an inanimate direct object.

In Romanian, pe is often used before a direct object when that object is a specific person, or sometimes another animate being. For example, you often get pe with people, but not with ordinary things.

So:

• Omul vede taraba = normal
• no pe is needed before taraba

Yes, Romanian word order is more flexible than English word order, but Omul vede taraba is the most neutral version.

This sentence is a plain subject-verb-object statement. Other word orders are possible for emphasis, contrast, or style, but they may sound less neutral and may require extra elements in some cases.

So for a learner, Omul vede taraba is the safest basic pattern.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

OH-mool VEH-deh ta-RAH-bah

More exactly:

• omul = /ˈo.mul/
• vede = /ˈve.de/
• taraba = /taˈra.ba/

A few pronunciation notes:

• e is like e in bet
• a is a clear ah
• u is like oo in food
• Romanian r is usually tapped or lightly rolled
• the stress falls on:
  • O-mul
  • VE-de
  • ta-RA-ba

The dictionary forms are:

• om = man
• tarabă = stall
• a vedea = to see

In actual sentences, Romanian words often appear in changed forms:

• om becomes omul
• tarabă becomes taraba
• a vedea becomes vede

So when looking words up, you usually need the base form, not the form used in the sentence.