To ask a question about a person or thing, Romanian uses four interrogative pronouns: cine (who), ce (what), care (which one), and cât / câtă / câți / câte (how much / how many). The first three you will use constantly from your earliest conversations. The twist for an English speaker is that English asks "who?" the same way no matter the grammatical role — "Who came?", "Who did you see?", "Who did you give it to?" all start with the same caseless "who." Romanian does not: it inflects the question word for case openly, so "whom did you see?" is Pe cine ai văzut? (accusative), "to whom did you give it?" is Cui i-ai dat? (dative), and "whose is this?" is Al cui e? (genitive). Learning these case forms early saves a lot of relearning later. (For care and ce placed in front of a noun — care carte?, ce film? — see the interrogative determiners page; this page is the pronouns standing alone.)
The four interrogative pronouns
| Pronoun | Asks | Refers to | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| cine | who | persons | Cine e la ușă? |
| ce | what | things, open identity | Ce vrei? |
| care | which one | persons or things, from a set | Care îți place? |
| cât / câtă / câți / câte | how much / how many | quantity | Cât costă? Câți sunt? |
cine — who (persons, open)
Cine e la telefon?
Who's on the phone?
Cine a luat ultima felie de pizza?
Who took the last slice of pizza?
ce — what (things, open identity)
Ce vrei să bei, cafea sau ceai?
What do you want to drink, coffee or tea?
Ce s-a întâmplat cu telefonul tău?
What happened to your phone?
care — which one (selecting from a known set)
care asks you to pick one out of a set the speaker already has in mind. The choice between care and ce is the classic English-speaker trap, and it is worked through on the care vs ce vs cine page; in short, ce is open ("what, anything") and care presupposes a set ("which of these").
Avem două torturi — care îți place mai mult?
We have two cakes — which one do you like more?
Care dintre voi conduce diseară?
Which of you is driving tonight?
cât — how much / how many
cât agrees in gender and number with what it counts: cât (masc. sg.), câtă (fem. sg.), câți (masc. pl.), câte (fem. pl.).
Cât costă biletul până la Brașov?
How much is the ticket to Brașov?
Câți oameni încap în mașina ta?
How many people fit in your car?
The case forms of cine
This is the heart of the page. Because cine refers to a person, it carries the full case system that pronouns preserve. The subject form cine is just one of four shapes.
| Case | Form | English | Role in the question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | cine | who | subject — who does it |
| Accusative | pe cine | whom | direct object — who it's done to |
| Dative | cui | to/for whom | recipient |
| Genitive | al / a / ai / ale cui | whose | possessor |
Pe cine? — whom (accusative)
When the question word is the direct object, cine takes the object marker pe, giving pe cine. This pe is the same personal-object marker that appears on definite human objects throughout Romanian.
Pe cine ai văzut la petrecere?
Whom did you see at the party?
Pe cine suni la ora asta?
Who are you calling at this hour?
Cui? — to/for whom (dative)
The dative form cui asks about the recipient — "to whom / for whom." It often pairs with a doubling dative clitic (i-, le-), exactly as in statements.
Cui i-ai dat cheile?
Who did you give the keys to? (dative cui + clitic i-)
Cui îi pasă de asta?
Who cares about that?
Al cui? — whose (genitive)
The genitive cui is introduced by the genitival article al / a / ai / ale, which agrees with the thing possessed: Al cui e câinele? ("Whose dog is this?" — al matches masculine câinele), A cui e mașina? ("Whose car is this?" — a matches feminine mașina).
Al cui e telefonul ăsta de pe masă?
Whose phone is this on the table? (al = masc. telefonul)
A cui idee a fost să venim pe jos?
Whose idea was it to come on foot? (a = fem. idee)
Ale cui sunt cheile astea?
Whose keys are these? (ale = fem. pl. cheile)
ce and care after a preposition
Like cine, the other interrogatives combine with prepositions, which lead the phrase (no English-style stranding): Cu ce ai venit? ("What did you come by?"), Despre ce vorbiți? ("What are you talking about?"), La care te referi? ("Which one do you mean?").
Cu cine mergi în vacanță?
Who are you going on holiday with? (cu + cine)
Despre ce e filmul?
What's the film about? (despre + ce)
Common Mistakes
English speakers mostly trip on the missing case marking: leaving out pe for "whom," using nominative cine where the dative cui is needed, and stranding prepositions.
Don't use bare cine for a direct object — "whom" needs pe:
❌ Cine ai invitat la nuntă?
Incorrect — a direct-object 'whom' takes pe: Pe cine ai invitat?
✅ Pe cine ai invitat la nuntă?
Whom did you invite to the wedding?
Don't use cine for "to whom" — the dative is cui:
❌ La cine ai dat cartea?
Wrong case frame for a recipient — 'to whom (did you give)' is the dative Cui.
✅ Cui i-ai dat cartea?
Who did you give the book to?
Don't use ce for "which one" when a set is in play — that's care:
❌ Sunt trei rochii — ce o iei?
Incorrect — choosing from a known set is care, not ce.
✅ Sunt trei rochii — care o iei?
There are three dresses — which one are you taking?
Don't strand the preposition at the end as English does:
❌ Cine mergi cu?
Incorrect — the preposition leads: Cu cine mergi?
✅ Cu cine mergi?
Who are you going with?
Don't forget the genitival article on "whose":
❌ Cui e mașina asta?
Incomplete — 'whose' needs the genitival article matching the possessed noun: A cui e mașina? (Cui alone is the dative 'to whom'.)
✅ A cui e mașina asta?
Whose car is this?
Key Takeaways
- The four interrogative pronouns: cine (who), ce (what), care (which one), cât/câtă/câți/câte (how much/many).
- cine carries the full case paradigm: subject cine, object pe cine, dative cui, genitive al/a/ai/ale cui.
- For "whose," the genitival article (al/a/ai/ale) matches the possessed noun; cui alone is the dative "to whom."
- Prepositions always lead the question (cu cine, despre ce) — no stranding.
- Use care (not ce) when choosing from a known set.
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- care vs ce vs cineA2 — Choosing between Romanian care, ce, and cine — which/that, what, and who — including why care is the all-purpose relative pronoun even where English uses 'that'.
- Relative Pronoun care (who, which, that)B1 — care is the all-purpose Romanian relative pronoun covering English who, which, and that — invariable as a subject (omul care vine), but a direct object takes pe care plus a doubling clitic (cartea pe care o citesc), and possession uses the inflected genitive a cărui / a cărei / ale căror and the dative căruia / căreia / cărora.
- Interrogative Determiners (care, ce, cât)A2 — Romanian's question-words used before a noun — care (which, from a set), ce (what, what kind), and cât/câtă/câți/câte (how much/many) — including why care selects and inflects while ce stays open and invariable, and how cât agrees with its noun.
- Case Marking on PronounsB1 — Why Romanian pronouns preserve a far richer case system than nouns — distinct nominative (eu, tu, el), accusative (mă/pe mine, te/pe tine), and dative (îmi/mie, îți/ție) forms, split into clitic and strong sets — and how this is where most of the real case-learning happens.
- The Direct Object Marker 'pe'A2 — Romanian flags specific, animate direct objects with the little word pe and an agreeing doubling clitic that arrive as a pair — Îl văd pe Ion, O cunosc pe Maria, Te aștept pe tine — a structure English has no equivalent for.
- The Dative (indirect object, 'to')B1 — The dative marks the recipient or beneficiary of an action ('to/for someone') using the same form as the genitive — with obligatory clitic doubling and a set of verbs whose government you learn one by one.