What does “fosta” mean in Romanian?

Romanian doesn’t need a separate word for “ex.” It takes fost (“former,” the past participle of fi, “to be”) and just lets the adjective stand alone as a noun. The base adjective is fostă; add the definite article (the suffixed -a) and it becomes fosta (“the ex-girlfriend”), with the masculine fostul (“the ex-boyfriend”). The ending alone tells you who it is — no extra noun, no “boyfriend/girlfriend” attached. The gender is baked right into the word.

Normally fost sits in front of a noun: fostul președinte (“the former president”), fosta mea școală (“my former school”). Drop the noun and the adjective does the work itself — m-am întâlnit cu fosta (“I met up with my ex”). The title here, Când vrei să te împaci cu fosta, means “When you want to make up with your ex,” and the whole scene is someone smoothing things over by ordering her dessert delivered by courier. The same move powers fostul (ex-boyfriend, ex-husband) and the plural foștii — handy any time the context already makes clear who the “former” one is.