Learn Romanian: Cheia este sub carte. - The key is under the book.

In Romanian, the word for "the" (the definite article) is attached to the end of the noun, instead of being a separate word in front. The base word for "key" is cheie. Because it's a feminine noun ending in "-e", adding "the" changes the ending to -a, making it cheia.

How do you pronounce the beginning of cheia?

The letter combination ch followed by e or i makes a hard "k" sound in Romanian. It is not pronounced like the "ch" in "cheese". Therefore, cheia sounds roughly like "kay-ah".

Could I use e instead of este in this sentence?

Yes, absolutely. Both este and e mean "is". Este is the full written form and is slightly more formal, while e is the short form used all the time in everyday spoken Romanian. Cheia e sub carte is completely correct and very natural.

The English translation says "under the book", but carte just means "book" without "the". Why isn't it cartea?

This is one of the most surprising rules for beginners! In Romanian, after simple location words (prepositions) like sub (under), pe (on), or în (in), you almost always drop the "the" ending from the noun. Even though you mean a specific book, you must use the base word carte instead of cartea.