Questions & Answers about El este un prieten rău.
Why is El used at the beginning, and can I drop it?
Romanian is a pro-drop language, which means the subject pronoun can often be omitted because the verb ending already signals person and number.
- El este un prieten rău. includes El for emphasis or clarity (“He is a bad friend”).
- You can drop it in most contexts: Este un prieten rău. or even contract este to e in speech: E un prieten rău.
What is este, and can it be contracted?
- Este is the third-person singular present tense of a fi (“to be”), equivalent to “he/she/it is.”
- In colloquial Romanian, it’s very common to contract it to e:
• El e un prieten rău.
• Or drop El entirely: E un prieten rău. - In formal writing or speech you’ll normally use the full form este.
What role does un play here, and how does it agree with the noun?
- Un is the masculine singular indefinite article (“a” or “an”).
- Romanian articles agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they modify.
- For feminine singular you use o (e.g., o fată bună – a good girl).
- In the plural, indefinite articles are typically omitted (e.g., prieteni răi – bad friends).