Breakdown of Iarna începe în luna decembrie.
în
in
luna
the month
începe
to start
decembrie
December
iarna
the winter
Questions & Answers about Iarna începe în luna decembrie.
Why does the sentence use iarna (the winter) instead of just iarnă (winter)?
In Romanian, when you make a general statement about a subject, you must attach the definite article (the equivalent of the English word "the"). While in English we usually just say "Winter begins...", Romanian requires iarna (literally "the winter"). The base word is iarnă, and replacing the final -ă with -a makes it "the winter".
Do I have to say luna decembrie (the month of December) or can I just say în decembrie?
You can definitely just say în decembrie! Both are perfectly correct and very common in Romanian. Adding luna (the month) just makes it sound a little more formal or descriptive, exactly like saying "in the month of December" in English.
Is it a typo that decembrie isn't capitalized?
No, it is perfectly correct! Unlike in English, the months of the year (like decembrie, ianuarie, etc.) and the days of the week are not capitalized in Romanian, unless they happen to be the very first word of a sentence.
Why does începe start with the letter î instead of â?
The letters î and â make the exact same sound in Romanian. Which one you use depends entirely on where the sound is located in the word. You must always use î at the very beginning or the very end of a word (like începe). You use â when the sound is in the middle of a word (like România).
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