De ce copiii mănâncă doar fructe?

Why do the children eat only fruits?

Breakdown of De ce copiii mănâncă doar fructe?

• a mânca: to eat
• de ce: why
• copilul: the child
• doar: only

Questions & Answers about De ce copiii mănâncă doar fructe?

What is the function of de ce in this sentence?

de ce is the standard Romanian phrase for why. You use it to ask about the reason or cause of something. Unlike pentru ce (“for what”), which asks about purpose or intention, de ce asks for an explanation of a fact or action.

Why is copiii spelled with double i at the end?

Romanian marks the definite article on plural nouns by adding -i (for masculine/feminine nouns ending in a vowel). The indefinite plural of copil (“child”) is copii (“children”), and adding the plural definite article gives copiii (“the children”).

Why is there no article before fructe?

Here fructe is an indefinite plural noun referring to fruits in general. In Romanian, when you speak about a category or unspecified items in the plural, you normally omit the article. If you wanted to say “some fruits,” you could use niște fructe. If you wanted “the fruits,” you’d say fructele.

Why is doar placed before fructe, and what does it modify?