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Când aveți timp, spuneți-le copiilor unde mergem.

Când aveți timp, spuneți-le copiilor unde mergem.
When you have time, tell the children where we are going.

Breakdown of Când aveți timp, spuneți-le copiilor unde mergem.

a avea
to have
a merge
to go
unde
where
când
when
timpul
the time
copilul
the child
a spune
to tell
le
them
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Questions & Answers about Când aveți timp, spuneți-le copiilor unde mergem.

What person and number is aveți, and does it mean “you have” singular or plural?

aveți is the 2nd person plural present indicative of a avea (“to have”). In Romanian this form can address either:

  • multiple people (“you all have”), or
  • one person formally (the polite dumneavoastră).
Why is the present indicative used after Când instead of the future tense or subjunctive?

When când (“when”) introduces a time clause in Romanian, the present indicative is normally used even if you refer to a future moment. It’s an idiomatic choice to keep things simple:

  • Când aveți timp literally “when you have time,” but naturally implies “when you will have time.”
Is spuneți here the indicative or the imperative form?

In this sentence, spuneți is the 2nd person plural imperative (“tell”). It coincides in form with the present indicative, but context (a request) makes it an imperative.

What is the -le in spuneți-le, and to what does it refer?

The suffix -le is a 3rd person plural dative clitic pronoun meaning “to them.” It refers back to copiilor (“the children”), so spuneți-le = “tell them.”

Why is le attached to spuneți instead of placed before the verb?

Romanian clitic pronouns attach to affirmative imperatives, infinitives, and certain other verb forms. In an affirmative command you append the pronoun with a hyphen: spuneți + le → spuneți-le.

Why is copiilor in the dative plural rather than the nominative?

With a spune (“to tell”), the person you tell something to is an indirect object and takes the dative case. The dative plural of copii (“children”) is copiilor = “to the children.”

In the subordinate clause unde mergem, why does unde come before the verb?

This is a subordinate interrogative clause (“where we are going”). Romanian word order for such clauses is:

  1. interrogative word (unde)
  2. verb (mergem)
  3. (implicit) subject (“we”).

No inversion is needed, unlike in a direct question.

How can I make this request more polite or formal?

You can add vă rog and use the subjunctive for extra politeness:
“Când aveți timp, vă rog să le spuneți copiilor unde mergem.”
Here să le spuneți is the subjunctive form, softened by vă rog (“please”).

Could I say După ce aveți timp instead of Când aveți timp, and would the meaning change?
Yes. După ce aveți timp (“after you have time”) is perfectly acceptable. It emphasizes sequence (“after”), while când (“when”) is more general about timing. Both convey roughly the same idea.