Case Forms of Question Words (pe cine, cui, al cui) | Romanian Grammar

English asks about a person with one caseless word: "Who came?", "Who did you see?", "Who did you give it to?", "Whose is this?" — every role reuses who (with whom a fading formal option) and leans on prepositions to mark the rest. Romanian does the opposite: it builds the grammatical role into the question word itself, giving you a four-way case paradigm. Cine? is the subject, Pe cine? the direct object, Cui? the recipient ("to/for whom"), and Al cui? the possessor ("whose"). This page is about choosing the right case form when you ask a question — first for cine (who), then for care (which one), which carries an identical paradigm. Get this paradigm into your reflexes early; it underlies every well-formed question about a person.

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The core idea: "who / whom / to whom / whose" is a full case paradigm in Romanian, not one word plus prepositions. English's to whom, for whom, with whom collapse onto distinct Romanian case forms: the dative cui covers both "to whom" and "for whom" in one word, with no preposition at all.

The paradigm of cine (who)

Cine refers to a person, and because Romanian pronouns preserve case, the single English "who" fans out into four forms depending on the role the person plays in the sentence.

Case	Form	English	Asks about
Nominative	cine	who	the subject — who does it
Accusative	pe cine	whom	the direct object — who it's done to
Dative	cui	(to/for) whom	the recipient or beneficiary
Genitive	al / a / ai / ale cui	whose	the possessor

The first question to ask yourself is always what role the person plays — and that decides the form before you say a word.

Cine? — who (nominative, the subject)

When the person you're asking about does the action, use bare cine. This is the form you meet first and use most.

Cine a sunat adineauri?

Who called just now?

Cine vine cu noi la munte weekendul ăsta?

Who's coming to the mountains with us this weekend?

Pe cine? — whom (accusative, the direct object)

When the person receives the action — is the thing being seen, called, invited, helped — cine takes the personal-object marker pe, giving pe cine. This pe is the same marker that flags definite human direct objects throughout Romanian (o văd pe Maria), so it is not a quirk of questions; it is the regular accusative of a person.

Pe cine ai văzut la concert aseară?

Who(m) did you see at the concert last night?

Pe cine inviți la ziua ta?

Who(m) are you inviting to your birthday?

Pe cine aștepți de o jumătate de oră?

Who have you been waiting for half an hour?

Notice the second and third examples: English uses "for" with waiting but no preposition with inviting. Romanian uses pe cine for both, because in Romanian a aștepta ("to wait for") and a invita ("to invite") both take a plain direct object — the "for" in English "wait for" is part of the English verb, not a case marker.

Cui? — to/for whom (dative, the recipient)

When the person is the one to whom or for whom something is given, said, sent, or done, use the dative cui. Crucially, cui carries the dative meaning all by itself — there is no preposition. English bolts on "to" or "for"; Romanian bakes it into the form. Cui very often co-occurs with a doubling dative clitic (i-, le-), exactly as in statements (îi dau Mariei → Cui îi dau?).

Cui i-ai dat cheile de la mașină?

Who did you give the car keys to? (dative cui + doubling clitic i-)

Cui îi scrii la ora asta?

Who are you writing to at this hour?

Cui i se cuvine premiul?

Who does the prize go to / who deserves the prize?

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The dative cui already means "to/for whom" — never reach for a preposition to build it. English "to whom" and "for whom" are one Romanian word: cui. This is the single most common case-form error English speakers make in Romanian questions (see Common Mistakes below).

Al cui? — whose (genitive, the possessor)

For "whose," the genitive cui is introduced by the genitival article al / a / ai / ale, which agrees not with the owner but with the thing possessed. So you choose the article by looking at the noun that is owned: al for a masculine singular, a for a feminine singular, ai for a masculine plural, ale for a feminine plural.

Possessed noun	Article	Question
câinele (masc. sg.)	al	Al cui e câinele?
mașina (fem. sg.)	a	A cui e mașina?
pantofii (masc. pl.)	ai	Ai cui sunt pantofii?
cheile (fem. pl.)	ale	Ale cui sunt cheile?

Al cui e telefonul ăsta de pe masă?

Whose phone is this on the table? (al matches masc. telefonul)

A cui a fost ideea să venim cu cortul?

Whose idea was it to come camping? (a matches fem. ideea)

Ale cui sunt hainele astea aruncate pe scaun?

Whose clothes are these thrown on the chair? (ale matches fem. pl. hainele)

care has the same paradigm

The selecting question word care ("which one," choosing from a known set — see care vs ce) inflects for case in exactly the same way as cine. The difference is only meaning: care presupposes a set, cine does not. The forms run parallel.

Case	cine (who)	care (which one)	English
Nominative	cine	care	who / which one
Accusative	pe cine	pe care	whom / which one (object)
Dative	cui	căruia / căreia / cărora	to which one
Genitive	al cui	al cărui / al cărei / al căror	of which one / whose

The key wrinkle is that care in the dative and genitive has gendered, numbered forms (because, unlike the invariable cui, care agrees with the person or thing chosen): dative căruia (masc. sg.), căreia (fem. sg.), cărora (pl.); genitive al cărui (masc. sg.), al cărei (fem. sg.), al căror (pl.).

Pe care îl iei, pe ăsta sau pe ăla?

Which one are you taking, this one or that one? (accusative pe care, doubling clitic îl)

Avem doi candidați buni — căruia îi dăm postul?

We have two good candidates — which one do we give the job to? (dative căruia)

Avem două firme ofertante; ale cărei condiții ți se par mai bune?

We have two bidding firms; which one's terms seem better to you? (genitive ale cărei, agreeing with fem. pl. condiții) (formal)

In practice you'll use the care dative and genitive forms (căruia, al cărei…) far more often as relative pronouns than in questions, but they do appear in selecting questions, especially in careful or formal speech.

Prepositions still lead — but only the genuine ones

Romanian never strands a preposition at the end of a question. When a real preposition is involved — cu (with), despre (about), pentru (for, in the sense of "on behalf of / for the sake of") — it leads the question word, and cine then sits in the accusative after it.

Cu cine ai vorbit la telefon?

Who did you talk to on the phone? (cu + cine)

Despre cine vorbiți de o oră?

Who have you been talking about for an hour? (despre + cine)

Pentru cine sunt florile astea?

Who are these flowers for? (pentru + cine — note: this is not the dative)

That last one is the subtle line to hold. Pentru cine? ("for whom," in the sense of "destined for which person") uses the preposition pentru + accusative — it is not the dative cui. The dative cui covers the "recipient/beneficiary of the verb's action" (Cui i-ai dat? = who did you give it to), while pentru cine marks a concrete "intended for" relationship. Both come out as "for whom" in English, which is exactly why this needs spelling out.

Common Mistakes

The errors here are almost all transfer from English's caseless, preposition-driven "who."

Don't use the dative cui with a preposition tacked on for "to whom":

❌ La cine ai dat cartea?

Incorrect — the recipient of 'give' is the dative cui, with no preposition: Cui i-ai dat cartea?

✅ Cui i-ai dat cartea?

Who did you give the book to?

Don't drop pe on a direct-object "whom":

❌ Cine ai sunat aseară?

Incorrect — a human direct object takes pe: Pe cine ai sunat aseară?

✅ Pe cine ai sunat aseară?

Who(m) did you call last night?

Don't use the nominative cine where the dative cui is required:

❌ Cine îi place filmul?

Wrong case — 'who(m) does the film please / who likes it' uses the dative experiencer: Cui îi place filmul?

✅ Cui îi place filmul?

Who likes the film? (lit. 'to whom is the film pleasing')

Don't use bare cui for "whose" — that's the dative; "whose" needs the genitival article:

❌ Cui e mașina asta?

Means 'to whom is this car?' — for 'whose' you need the genitival article: A cui e mașina asta?

✅ A cui e mașina asta?

Whose car is this?

Don't match the genitival article to the owner instead of the possessed thing:

❌ A cui sunt pantofii? (thinking 'a' because the owner might be a woman)

Incorrect — the article tracks the possessed noun; pantofii is masc. pl., so: Ai cui sunt pantofii?

✅ Ai cui sunt pantofii?

Whose shoes are these?

Key Takeaways

"Who/whom/to whom/whose" is a case paradigm in Romanian: cine (nom.), pe cine (acc.), cui (dat.), al/a/ai/ale cui (gen.).
The dative cui means "to/for whom" on its own — no preposition. This is the top transfer error from English.
A direct-object "whom" takes the personal marker pe: Pe cine?
For "whose," the genitival article (al/a/ai/ale) agrees with the possessed noun, not the owner.
care runs the same paradigm — pe care, dative căruia/căreia/cărora, genitive al cărui/al cărei/al căror — but its dative and genitive are gendered and numbered, unlike the invariable cui.
A genuine preposition (cu, despre, pentru) leads the question and takes the accusative; pentru cine ("for whom, intended for") is distinct from the dative cui.

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