G1.2 Questions in Romanian - Advanced level
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Questions in Romanian - Advanced level
In the previous lesson on interrogatives you learned how to ask basic questions in Romanian.
In this lesson we’ll explain how to ask more complex questions in Romanian with the help of:
- Interrogative pronouns: Cine (Who), Ce(What), Care(Which one)...
- Interrogative adjectives:Care carte (which book), Câtă cafea (how much coffee)...
- your feedback
Romanian Interrogative pronouns: Cine (Who), Ce(What), Care(Which one)...
The comprehensive examples below list all Romanian interrogative pronouns together with all the possible combinations of pronouns and prepositions.
When asking questions, the interrogative pronouns Cine? (Who?) Ce? (What?) Care(Which?) Cât/Câtă/Câți/Câte? (How much/How many?) are extremely useful!
The pronoun Cine? (Who?) refers to beings, and Ce? (What?) to things.
Care? (Which one?) involves the choice among different options.
Cât, câtă, câți, câte? (How much/How many?) refer to the quantity or number of objects.
Except for ce? (what?) which is invariable, the others change their form according to the case, and even to the number or gender, as shown in the following table:
We're referring below to Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive what is this?
Look at this sentence: "The boy gave a pen to the girl". "The boy" is the subject thus it falls under the Nominative case. The object given by the boy: "a pen" is in the Accusative case. To whom does the boy give the pen? "to the girl" which is in the Dative case.
The Genitive case expresses possession: The boy's pen. "The boy" is in the Genitive case.
| Pronouns Nominative case | Pronouns Accusative case | Pronouns Genitive case | Pronouns Dative case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cine este la ușă? (Who is at the door?) |
Cu cine ai venit? (Who have you come with?*) Pe cine suni ? (Who are you calling?*) Pentru cine ai cumpărat cadoul? (Who have you bought the gift for?*) La cine s-a uitat? (Who has he/she looked at?*) Despre cine vorbea el? (Who was he talking about?*) De cine s-a luat? (Who has he/she picked on?*) |
Al cui angajat sunteți? (Whose employee are you?) A cui este geanta aceasta? (Whose bag is this?) Ai cui sunt acești ochelari? (Whose glasses are these?) Ale cui sunt cheile acestea? (Whose keys are these?) |
Cui îi trimiți e-mailul? (Who are you sending the e-mail to?) Cui îi dăm premiul? (Who do we give the prize to?) |
| Start learning | Start learning | ||
| Ce se întâmplă? (What's going on?) |
Ce ai găsit? (What have you found?) | Cu ce scrii? (What are you writing with?) Pe ce își cheltuie românii banii? (What are Romanians spending their money on?) La ce te uiți? (What are you looking at?) De ce nu vrei să vii? (Why don’t you want to come?) Despre ce este vorba in film? (What is the film/movie about?) |
|
| Care [dintre sportive] a câștigat? (Which one [sportswomen] won? |
Pe care i-ai văzut? (Which ones have you seen?) Cu care a plecat? (Which one has he left with?) |
Al căruia (m.sg.) este pixul? (Whose pen is it? you are literally saying To who does the pen belong?*) A căruia (m.sg.) este harta? (Whose map is it? you are literally saying To who does the map belong?*) Al căreia (f.sg.) este creionul? (Whose pencil is it? you are literally saying To who does the pencil belong?*) A căreia (f.sg.) este floarea? (Whose flower is it? you are literally saying To who does the flower belong?*) Ai cărora (m/f.pl.) sunt copiii? (Whose children are these? you are literally saying To who do the children belong?*) Ale cărora (m/f.pl.) sunt scaunele? (Whose chairs are these? you are literally saying To who do the chairs belong?*) Al/a/ai/ale căruia/căreia/cărora are rarely used in spoken colloquial Romanian; The version with Al/a/ai/ale cui? is preferred: Al cui este pixul? There is no difference in meaning. |
Căruia (m.sg.) îi arătăm rezolvarea ? (To who do we show the solution?*) Căreia (f.sg.) (f.sg.) îi vom cumpăra biletul ? (To who are we going to buy the ticket?*) Cărora (m/f.pl.) să le acordăm atenție ? (To who should we pay attention?*) |
|
Cât (m.sg.) e ceasul? (What time is it? you are literally saying How much is the clock?) Câți (m.pl.) au reușit? (How many have succeeded?) Câte (f.pl.) au mâncat? (How many have eaten?) |
Cât (m.sg.) ai cumpărat? (How much have you bought?) Câtă (f.sg) au făcut? (How much have they made?) Câți(m.pl.) ai prins? (How many have you caught?) Câte(m.pl.) ați numărat ? (How many have you counted?) Pentru câți să cumpăr bilete la teatru? (For how many shall I buy the tickets to the theater ?) |
Copiii câtor (m./f.pl.) au intrat? (The children of how many have entered?) |
Câtor (m./f.pl.) le-ați mulțumit? (How many have you thanked?) |
| * in spoken language Who is used, however in written English Whom is preferred. | |||
Interrogative adjectives: Which book, What part
First of all, what is an adjective? It's simple, an adjective qualifies a noun. For example "Which book have you bought?". "Which" is a pronominal adjective because it qualifies the noun "book".
Let's look at the many cases in which a Pronominal adjective can be.
As in English, Cât, Câtă (how much) is referring to uncountable nouns, whereas Câte, Câți (how many) is used for countable nouns.
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2 comments
'Whose' in Pronouns Genitive Case
Hi, thank you for the wonderful lessons. In the Pronouns Genitive Case section the use of 'Whose' is not used and does not translate like this. You wouldn't say'Whose colleague is the pen'. You would say either 'To whom does the pen belong' or 'To which colleague does the pen belong' or 'To whom does the pen belong' or 'Which colleague does the pen belong to'
Thank you Sarah for bringing
Thank you Sarah for bringing this to my attention. Would you say that only that sentence is wrong "Whose colleague is the pen?" or is it more generalized. I will redo my research and then would certainly correct the lesson. If you would have the time to cross-check my corrections it would be great.
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