Questions & Answers about Nu vreau să pierd trenul.
What role does să play in Nu vreau să pierd trenul?
să is the marker for the subjunctive in Romanian. After verbs of will or desire (like vreau), you use să + infinitive to express “to do something.” In English it corresponds roughly to “to” in “I want to go,” even though it’s grammatically different.
Why isn’t there a direct object marker pe before trenul?
Romanian uses pe only with definite, human or animate direct objects (e.g., pe Maria, pe doctor). Trenul (the train) is inanimate, so you don’t use pe.
Why is the noun tren written as trenul?
Romanian attaches the definite article to the end of the noun. So tren (train) becomes trenul (the train). If it were indefinite you’d say un tren (a train).
Is pierd a special form? What’s the infinitive?
The infinitive is a pierde (to lose/miss). pierd is the first-person subjunctive form used after să. If you conjugated it in the indicative for “I lose,” it would be pierd as well, but here it’s subjunctive because of să.