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Learn Hardcore Romanian: Publicul aplaudă actorul. - The audience applauds the actor.

Hardcore Romanian
/Rehearsing an amateur theatre production
/Publicul aplaudă actorul.

Publicul aplaudă actorul.

Publicul aplaudă actorul.

The audience applauds the actor.

Breakdown of Publicul aplaudă actorul.

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Questions & Answers about Publicul aplaudă actorul.

Why do both publicul and actorul end in -ul?

Because Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, not before it as English does.

public = audience / public
publicul = the audience
actor = actor
actorul = the actor

So -ul here means the.

This is one of the first big differences English speakers notice in Romanian:

English: the actor
Romanian: actorul

Is publicul singular or plural?

It is grammatically singular.

Even though an audience contains many people, Romanian treats publicul as a singular collective noun, just like English often does with the audience.

That is why the verb is singular:

Publicul aplaudă = The audience applauds

If you wanted a clearly plural subject, you would use a plural noun such as spectatorii (the spectators).

Why is the verb aplaudă singular?

Because it agrees with publicul, which is singular.

A aplauda means to applaud, and aplaudă is the 3rd person singular present form:

el/ea aplaudă = he/she applauds
publicul aplaudă = the audience applauds

So the sentence literally follows the same agreement idea as English:

singular subject → singular verb form

How do I know that publicul is the subject and actorul is the object?

Mostly from word order and meaning.

Romanian often uses the normal order:

subject + verb + object

So in:

Publicul aplaudă actorul

the most natural reading is:

publicul = subject
actorul = direct object

Also, a applauda usually means someone applauds someone else, so the audience applauds the actor is the expected interpretation.

One important thing for learners: in Romanian, the forms of many nouns are the same in the nominative and accusative, so you often rely on:

word order
context
sometimes extra markers like pe

Should there be a pe before actorul?

Very often, yes, in everyday Romanian you will hear:

Publicul îl aplaudă pe actor.

When the direct object is a specific person, Romanian commonly marks it with pe. Very often a clitic pronoun also appears:

îl ... pe actor

So a more typical modern spoken version is:

Publicul îl aplaudă pe actor.

The sentence you were given, Publicul aplaudă actorul, is still understandable and structurally useful for learning, but many native speakers would prefer pe actor when referring to a specific human being.

What exactly is aplaudă? Is it the dictionary form?

No. The dictionary form is:

a aplauda = to applaud

The form in the sentence, aplaudă, is a conjugated present-tense form, specifically:

3rd person singular present

So:

eu aplaud = I applaud
tu aplauzi = you applaud
el/ea aplaudă = he/she applauds

Here it matches publicul.

Why is there no word for the before the nouns?

Because Romanian usually does not use a separate word like English the. Instead, the definite article is attached to the noun.

Compare:

English: the audience
Romanian: publicul
English: the actor
Romanian: actorul

This is completely normal in Romanian and happens very often.

Why is there no subject pronoun like it or they?

Romanian usually does not need a subject pronoun when the verb form already makes the person and number clear.

So instead of saying something like:

It applauds the actor

Romanian simply says:

Publicul aplaudă actorul

If the subject noun is already present, adding a pronoun would usually be unnecessary.

Can I change the word order?

Yes, but the meaning or emphasis may change.

The neutral, most basic order is:

Publicul aplaudă actorul.

If you switch the nouns:

Actorul aplaudă publicul. that means:
The actor applauds the audience.

Romanian can also move words around for emphasis, but then context becomes more important. For beginners, it is safest to treat the original sentence as standard subject + verb + object order.

What case is actorul in here?

It is the direct object, so functionally it is in the accusative.

However, in this form, actorul looks the same as the nominative form with the definite article. That is normal in Romanian: many masculine singular nouns have identical nominative/accusative forms.

So learners should not expect a special ending here. The role is understood from syntax and context.

Is publicul the same as the public or the audience?

It can mean either, depending on context.

In a sentence about applauding an actor, publicul is most naturally understood as:

the audience

In other contexts, it can also mean:

the public

So the noun has a broader meaning, but here the performance context makes audience the best fit.

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