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Râul mic este foarte curat.

Râul mic este foarte curat.
The small river is very clean.
From Lesson 70:In the Wild·Romanian

Questions & Answers about Râul mic este foarte curat.

Why does râul mean "the river"? Where is the word for "the"?
In Romanian, the word for "the" is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word before it. The base word is râu (river). The ending -l is the word for "the", and it is connected to the noun by the linking vowel u.
Why is mic (small) placed after the noun instead of before it?
In English, we say "the small river", but in Romanian, adjectives (describing words) almost always come after the noun they describe. So, the word order is literally "the river small" (râul mic).
Would the words mic and curat change if we were talking about a feminine noun?
Yes! In Romanian, adjectives change to match the gender of the noun. Râu behaves like a masculine word in the singular, so we use the base forms mic and curat. If we were describing a feminine word like apa (the water), they would get feminine endings: apa mică este foarte curată.
Could I use e instead of este in this sentence?
Absolutely. E is just a shorter, slightly more conversational version of este. They both mean "is" and are completely interchangeable, so Râul mic e foarte curat is perfectly correct and very common in everyday speech.

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