Acest restaurant este mai liniștit decât cel de lângă pod.

to be

Breakdown of Acest restaurant este mai liniștit decât cel de lângă pod.

• restaurantul: the restaurant
• liniștit: quiet
• acest: this
• mai: more
• decât: than
• cel: the one
• de lângă: next to
• podul: the bridge

Questions & Answers about Acest restaurant este mai liniștit decât cel de lângă pod.

What does mai liniștit mean in this sentence?

Mai liniștit is the comparative form of the adjective liniștit (“quiet”). To say “quieter,” Romanian places mai (“more”) before the positive adjective. Thus, mai liniștit = “quieter.”

Why is decât used here? Can’t we say ca instead?

In standard Romanian, comparisons of inequality (“more/less … than”) are formed with mai … decât. Using ca in this context is colloquial or non-standard. So the correct construction is mai liniștit decât (“quieter than”).

Why is it acest restaurant and not această restaurant?

Romanian adjectives (including demonstratives like acest) must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Restaurant is a masculine singular noun, so the matching form is acest (masc. sing.), not această (fem. sing.).

What exactly does cel de lângă pod mean?

Cel is a masculine singular demonstrative pronoun meaning “the one.” De lângă is a compound preposition meaning “by/near,” and pod means “bridge.” Together, cel de lângă pod = “the one near the bridge,” i.e. “that [restaurant] by the bridge.”

Why isn’t there an article before pod?

Romanian definite articles are suffixes (e.g. podul = “the bridge”). After many prepositions (especially compounds like de lângă), the noun stays in its indefinite form. De lângă pod literally means “by (a) bridge.” If you wanted “by the bridge” (a specific one), you could say de lângă podul, but in this comparative phrase the indefinite form is more natural.

How would you express “this is the quietest restaurant” in Romanian?

The superlative of inequality uses cel mai + adjective. So “the quietest” = cel mai liniștit. The full sentence becomes:
Acest restaurant este cel mai liniștit de lângă pod.

Can we shorten este to e in everyday speech?

Yes. In spoken and informal written Romanian, este often contracts to e. So you can say:
Acest restaurant e mai liniștit decât cel de lângă pod.

Could I drop cel and say …decât restaurantul de lângă pod instead?

Absolutely. You can replace the pronoun cel with the full noun phrase restaurantul + definite article:
…decât restaurantul de lângă pod
It’s slightly longer but equally correct.