SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module?

Question

Node.js

NodeJs version 12.
Swears on any import. require works fine, but it became interesting why the import does not work and what is this strange error (I did not find an answer in Google). You can't use imports outside of a module, but how can you define that module?
import express from 'express'

Answer 1

Decided using this

let app = 123;

module.exports = { app }

And connect
const { app } = require('./app')

Answer 2

You need to add this
"type": "module" to package.json

Answer 3

Good afternoon.
Apparently, you do not have Babel configured. Those. either use the old notation (require) or install babel

npm install --save-dev @babel/core @babel/cli @babel/node @babel/preset-env