Learn Romanian: Fata este acolo.

Romanian attaches words like "the" to the very end of the noun. For most feminine words that end in -ă, like fată, you drop the -ă and add -a to say "the". So, fată (girl) becomes fata (the girl).

The words fată and fata look almost identical. How do I tell the difference when speaking?

The ending sounds are completely different. The -ă in fată is a short "uh" sound, exactly like the "a" at the end of the English word "sofa". The -a in fata is a wide, open "ah" sound, like the "a" in "father".

Is it okay to shorten este to e in this sentence?

Yes! You can absolutely say Fata e acolo. Both este and e mean "is". The word este is the standard form you will see in writing, while e is just a shorter version people use all the time when speaking naturally.

What is the word for "here" if I want to say the girl is close to me?

The Romanian word for "here" is aici. To say "The girl is here", you would just swap the location words and say Fata este aici.