"The fish from the table is good."

Translation: Peștele de pe masă este bun.

[DanaMootII]

so why is it that either 'este' or 'e' can be used here?

[Caesar_Imperator]

Because they are interchangeable in almost every context. "Este" is just that little bit more formal.

[celestebancos]

I thought "the table" was masa. I guess it's an idiom, where in Romanian you don't use the definite article in that phrase?

[pereskia]

There is no definite article after a preposition usually.

[Lurch_M]

You could take it as an idiom. A more detailed explanation is that you don't use the articulated version of "masă" here, because it's clear which table the speaker talks about.

[Luvlinguae]

You have the same phrasal feature in Italian: "da tavola"/"da tavolo". Perhaps it is a trait amongst Romance languages.

[MajaxPlop]

Actually in French you almost always need the article but it may be an exception since French has been highly influenced by German

[BembyN]

here is an excellent answer for this https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/19086406