Dumneavoastră ați mâncat pâine azi?

Did you eat bread today?

Breakdown of Dumneavoastră ați mâncat pâine azi?

• pâinea: the bread
• azi: today
• a mânca: to eat
• dumneavoastră: you

Questions & Answers about Dumneavoastră ați mâncat pâine azi?

What does Dumneavoastră mean and how does it differ from tu?

Dumneavoastră is the polite or plural form of “you,” used in formal contexts or when speaking to more than one person. Tu is the informal singular “you,” used with friends, family or peers.

Why is the verb form ați mâncat used here instead of mănânci or mâncați?

Romanian uses the compound perfect (perfect compus) to express a completed action in the past. Ați is the 2nd-person plural (or formal) form of the auxiliary verb a avea (“to have”), and mâncat is the past participle of a mânca (“to eat”).

• Mănânci = you eat (present, informal).
• Mâncați = you eat (present, plural/formal).
• Ați mâncat = you have eaten (past).

Is ați an auxiliary plus a separate pronoun, or one single verb form?

In ați, the root a is the auxiliary a avea in 3rd-person singular indicative (“has/have”), and -ți is the 2nd-person plural ending. It’s not ai (2nd singular) + -ți (clitic)—it simply means “you (pl./formal) have.”

Does the past participle mâncat change according to gender or number?

When you use a avea as the auxiliary, the past participle does not agree with the subject. So mâncat remains the same whether it’s a man, a woman, one person or many.

Why is there no article before pâine? How do I say “the bread”?

Without an article, pâine is indefinite—“bread” in general. To specify “the bread,” use the enclitic definite article -a:
Dumneavoastră ați mâncat pâinea azi?

Why is azi placed at the end? Can I move it?

Romanian word order is fairly flexible. Azi (“today”) can go at the beginning (Azi ați mâncat pâine?) or at the end (ați mâncat pâine azi?). Starting with azi puts extra emphasis on when.

Must I invert the subject and verb to form a question, like in English?

No. You can simply use intonation and a question mark. The normal S-V-O order often stays the same, but you may also swap subject and verb without adding new words:
Ați mâncat pâine azi? is just as correct and common.