Questions & Answers about Ieri am mers cu metroul la oraș.
What tense is am mers, and when do Romanians use it?
am mers is the perfectul compus (compound past) of a merge (to go). Romanians use this tense to describe a completed action in the past—equivalent to the English simple past “I went”—even though it literally translates as “I have gone.”
How is am mers formed in Romanian grammar?
It combines the present tense of the auxiliary a avea (am, “I have”) with the past participle of a merge (mers, “gone”). So am + mers = “I have gone,” used idiomatically as “I went.”
Why do we say cu metroul to mean “by subway”?
In Romanian, cu is the preposition for means of transport. You also use the vehicle noun in its definite form, so metrou (“subway”) becomes metroul (“the subway”). Together, cu metroul means “by (the) subway.”
Why does metroul have the definite article suffix -l?
Romanian attaches its definite article to the end of the noun as a suffix. metrou + -l = metroul (“the subway”). When talking about public transport methods, Romanian normally uses the definite form.
Why isn’t there a definite article in la oraș? Shouldn’t it be la orașul?