Dialogue: At the Restaurant

A full restaurant scene is the natural home of Romanian's most counterintuitive construction for English speakers: the dative-experiencer verb a plăcea ("to be pleasing"). You don't "like" the soup — the soup "is pleasing to you," and you show up in the dative: Îmi place supa ("I like the soup," literally "to-me is-pleasing the soup"). Layer on top of that the conditional for polite ordering (Aș lua..., "I'd have..."; Mi-ar plăcea..., "I'd like..."), the waiter's recommendation language (Vă recomand..., "I recommend to you..."), the partitive, and the ritual of splitting the bill (separat sau împreună?), and you have a scene that exercises the heart of Romanian's dative grammar in completely natural use.

This page presents a fuller restaurant dialogue, then annotates it line by line: recommendations, the dative-experiencer a plăcea, conditional ordering, the courses, and paying.

The dialogue

Two diners (Clientul 1, Clientul 2) are seated; the waiter (Chelnerul) takes their order, suggests dishes, and brings the bill at the end. Everyone uses the polite register.

Line by line

Ce ne recomandați? / Vă recomand — recommendation language

You ask for a recommendation with a recomanda ("to recommend"), a dative verb: you recommend something to someone. The dative pronoun appears as a clitic — ne ("to us") in Ce *ne recomandați? ("What do you recommend [to] us?"), *vă ("to you") in Vă recomand... ("I recommend [to] you..."). English drops the "to us / to you"; Romanian builds it in.

The waiter's specialitatea casei ("the house specialty," with the definite specialitatea + genitive casei) and specialitatea zilei ("the dish of the day") are the phrases you'll hear most. Notice the genitive again: specialitatea casei = "the specialty of the house."

Îmi place / Nu-mi plac — the dative-experiencer a plăcea

Here is the centerpiece. A plăcea does not mean "to like"; it means "to be pleasing," and it flips the English structure inside out. The thing you enjoy is the subject, and the person who enjoys it is in the dative:

Two consequences fall out of this. First, the verb agrees with the food, not with you: one soup → place (singular), but the cabbage rolls (plural) → plac (plural). Second, you appear as a dative clitic — îmi ("to me"), îți ("to you"), îi ("to him/her"), ne ("to us"), vă ("to you-pl"), le ("to them").

For emphasis or contrast, Romanian adds the stressed dative pronoun mie ("to me") in front of the clitic — and the clitic still has to be there: Mie *îmi place ciorba ("*I like the soup [but you might not]"). You cannot drop the clitic îmi even when mie is present; the two co-occur. This is the clitic doubling that defines the construction.

This same dative shows up in Mi-ar plăcea ("I'd like / I'd enjoy"), the conditional of a plăcea: mi ("to me") + ar (conditional auxiliary) + plăcea. It's the soft, wistful "I'd love to..." — Mi-ar plăcea un grătar ("I'd like a grill platter"). The same possessive-style dative underlies phrases like Mi-e foame ("I'm hungry," literally "to-me-is hunger") — see the possessive dative.

Aș lua / Aș vrea — ordering in the conditional

The order itself is framed in the conditional for politeness, just as in any service setting. The default verb is a lua ("to take/have"): Aș lua... ("I'd have...," literally "I'd take..."), the Romanian equivalent of English "I'll have the..." You'll also hear Aș vrea / Aș dori ("I'd like"). Bare present Iau o ciorbă ("I'll have a soup") is possible but blunter.

o ciorbă, niște sarmale, o sticlă de vin — courses and the partitive

The food itself shows the count/quantity grammar of any Romanian meal. A single dish takes the indefinite article: o ciorbă ("a soup"), un grătar ("a grill platter"). An unspecified plural takes niște ("some"): niște sarmale ("some cabbage rolls"). And a measured drink uses the partitive de: o sticlă *de vin ("a bottle *of wine"), un pahar *de apă ("a glass *of water").

The course vocabulary is worth learning as a frame: aperitiv ("starter"), felul întâi ("the first course," with the ordinal întâi), felul doi / felul principal ("the main course"), desert ("dessert"). Felul uses the definite article because you mean the first/second course of this meal.

Nota, separat sau împreună? — paying and splitting

To pay you ask for the bill: Nota, vă rog or Plata, vă rog ("the bill / the payment, please"), with the definite article. Then comes the split question: separat sau împreună? ("separately or together?"). To pay your own share you say plătesc eu partea mea ("I'll pay my part"); to treat someone, fac eu cinste ("it's on me," literally "I'll do the honor") or te invit eu ("it's my treat").

Common Mistakes

Treating a plăcea like English "to like" (subject = the person):

Failing to agree the verb with the (plural) food:

Dropping the dative clitic when adding the stressed mie:

Ordering with the blunt present instead of the polite conditional:

Forgetting the partitive de before the contents of a measure:

Key Takeaways

• A plăcea is a dative-experiencer verb: the food is the subject (verb agrees with it — place / plac) and you are the dative clitic (îmi, îți, îi...), optionally doubled by stressed mie, ție....
• Mi-ar plăcea is the conditional of a plăcea — the soft "I'd love to/like".
• Order in the conditional: Aș lua ("I'll have") or Aș vrea / Aș dori, never the blunt Vreau.
• Use a recomanda with a dative clitic (Vă recomand...); the house specialty is specialitatea casei (genitive).
• A single dish takes o / un, an unspecified plural takes niște, and a measured drink takes the partitive de (o sticlă *de vin*).
• Ask for the definite Nota / Plata, vă rog and settle with separat sau împreună?; to treat someone, fac eu cinste.