Are you traveling to Romania soon and want to equip yourself with critical Romanian questions? Or are you an avid learner of the Romanian language who wants to take it a step further by learning Romanian question words? Well, we got you covered!
Whatever your reason may be, you are in the right place. In this article, we will explore how to formulate Romanian questions used in daily conversations. This will come in handy when speaking with a native speaker. After all, asking questions is important and sometimes inevitable. It allows us to find out more information about a thing or clarify the confusion.
Romanian Grammar Tips To Know
Before we go any further, If you want to learn Romanian questions actively, you must know some essential grammar tips. These tips will show you how to form your questions from the Romanian words you already know. Once you understand the core of question formation in this language, asking questions will be a walk in the park.
Focus On The Interrogative Tone
The Romanian language has similarities with the English language. Just like it is possible to turn an affirmative sentence into an interrogative sentence by stressing some syllables in English, you can also turn an affirmative sentence into a question in Romanian by using the same tone.
For example, let’s say you are conversing with a friend in English, and he says something surprising like ‘Jane just gave birth.’ Having no prior knowledge about that information, you suddenly ask, ‘Wait, what? Jane just gave birth?‘. You will notice that the pitch of your voice went higher when asking the question. The same thing applies to the Romanian language.
So, in Romanian, you raise the pitch of your voice to change an affirmative sentence to a question. However, you should note that these questions only demand a Yes or No answer.
If you know some Romanian phrases and you will love to get a yes or no answer to similar questions, raise the pitch of your voice, and you are good to go!
Place The Verb First In A Sentence
While this structure may not make sense in English, it is acceptable in Romanian. You can literally place a verb in the form of a sentence, and boom! You have a question. For example, if ele sunt un cuplu means they are a couple, and sunt is the verb, then sunt else un cuplu can mean, ‘Are they a couple?’.
Omitting The Subject
Another ‘grammatical rule’ accepted in the Romanian language is omitting the subject while using an interrogative tone. In Romanian, conjugation verbs refer to specific pronouns. Therefore, a native speaker will know who or what you are addressing even if you skip the relative pronoun.
Therefore, unlike the English Language, omitting the subject, especially in spoken Romanian, is acceptable. Here are the examples of the former Romanian questions with their subject removed.
| Romanian | English | Literal Meaning | Pronunciation |
| Duci acasă | Are you going home? | Are going home? | |
| Sunt un cuplu? | Are they a couple? | Are a couple | |
| Am bani | I have no money? | No Money |
Romanian Question Words
Now that we’ve covered the various ways of asking questions, it is time to focus on Romanian interrogative pronouns. Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions and play a huge role in sentences. Check the table below to see the translations.
Let’s say you want to ask where the bathroom is. The Romanian question word will be, Unde este toaleta?
Easy Romanian Questions To Know
Asking Tag Questions
Asking a tag question is pretty straightforward in the Romanian language. Nu-i așa is used for forming tag questions. So, for example. If you want to ask, ‘they are are a couple, isn’t it?’ The right Romanian translation will be ele sunt un cuplu, nu-i așa? The only difference between English tag questions and Romania’s is that Nu-i asa can be a substitute for most tag questions such as “doesn’t it, ” “doesn’t it,” “don’t you, ” etc.
Wrapping Up
We’ve explored the various grammatical methods of asking questions in Romanian and have listed popular questions used in daily conversations. Remember, you can change most sentences to a question using an interrogative tone and the words we shared above.
I hope you learned one or two things from this article. On this note, allow me to introduce you to the best resource to help you discover everything there is to know about the Romanian language. Check out the section below!
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