Learn Romanian: Bunicul are un porc mare. - The grandfather has a big pig.

In Romanian, the word for "the" (the definite article) attaches to the end of the noun instead of coming before it. The basic word for "grandfather" is bunic. Because it's a masculine word, we add -ul to the end to say "the grandfather", making it bunicul.

Does are mean the same thing as the English word "are"?

No, this is a "false friend"! In Romanian, are means "he has", "she has", or "it has". It is a form of the verb a avea (to have). If you wanted to say "The grandfather is", you would use este instead.

Why does the sentence say porc mare instead of mare porc?

In Romanian, adjectives (describing words like "big" or "good") usually come after the noun they describe. So instead of saying "a big pig", you literally say "a pig big" (un porc mare).

If I wanted to say "a big cow" using the feminine word vacă, would mare change its ending?

Actually, no! While most Romanian adjectives change their ending depending on whether the noun is masculine or feminine, mare is an exception. It stays exactly the same for both masculine and feminine nouns in the singular. So you would say un porc mare (masculine) and o vacă mare (feminine).