Breakdown of Contorul de apă este lângă racordul flexibil.
a fi
to be
lângă
next to
racordul flexibil
the flexible hose connection
contorul de apă
the water meter
Questions & Answers about Contorul de apă este lângă racordul flexibil.
Why do contorul and racordul end in -ul?
Because -ul is the Romanian definite article for many masculine/neuter singular nouns.
So:
- contor = meter
- contorul = the meter
- racord = connector / fitting / connection
- racordul = the connector / the fitting
Unlike English, Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the.
Why is it contorul de apă and not just an adjective meaning water meter?
Romanian often uses de + noun to express this kind of relationship.
So:
- contor de apă = literally meter of water
- natural English translation: water meter
Here apă stays indefinite and follows de. This is a very common pattern in Romanian:
- sticlă de apă = bottle of water
- pahar de vin = glass of wine
So contorul de apă is the normal way to say the water meter.
Why doesn’t apă have an article too?