Learn Hardcore Romanian: Cine trebuie să aducă apa la ședință?

Cine is the Romanian interrogative pronoun for who. It asks which person carries out the action. In questions it always comes at the beginning.

Why is trebuie followed by să plus another verb?

The verb trebuie (“must” / “have to”) requires the subjunctive mood in Romanian. The particle să is used before the subjunctive form of the verb that follows.

What mood and person is aducă, and why isn’t it the infinitive?

Aducă is the third-person singular subjunctive of a aduce (“to bring”). Because trebuie să triggers the subjunctive, you cannot use the infinitive here—you use să aducă for “that he/she brings.”

Why does Romanian use să before aducă, and is it always needed?

In Romanian, să marks the subjunctive. After certain verbs and expressions of necessity, desire, possibility, etc., you must use să + subjunctive. You cannot drop să if you want the subjunctive mood; omitting it would be ungrammatical here.

Why is the noun apa used instead of apă, and what does that mean?

Apă is the indefinite noun “water.” When you talk about the water (a specific, known water), you add the definite article as a suffix: apă → apa. So here apa means the water.

What role does la play in la ședință, and what case does it govern?

La is a preposition meaning to or at. With la, the noun stays in the nominative form but takes its definite article: ședință (meeting) becomes ședința when definite—though in speech you often drop the article after la, giving la ședință = “to the meeting.”

How do you pronounce ședință, and what is the accent on ș?

Ș (S with a comma) is pronounced like English “sh.” Ședință is pronounced [ˈʃedintsə]. The diacritic under the s indicates that “sh” sound, and the final ă is a relaxed “uh.”

Why is the subject (who) placed at the very start, whereas English can move “who” around?

Romanian questions typically begin with the interrogative pronoun (Cine, Ce, Unde, etc.). In English you can say “Who should bring the water?” or “The water should who bring?” (wrong), but Romanian always positions Cine at the front.

How could I rephrase this more informally or colloquially?

Colloquially, you might drop trebuie and say “Cine aduce apa la ședință?” (“Who’s bringing the water to the meeting?”). It’s less “must” and more like “who will.”