Adu lămâia pentru salată.

Bring the lemon for the salad.

Breakdown of Adu lămâia pentru salată.

• pentru: for
• a aduce: to bring
• salata: the salad
• lămâia: the lemon

Questions & Answers about Adu lămâia pentru salată.

What does Adu mean in this sentence?

Adu is the imperative (command) form of the verb a aduce, which means “to bring.” Here it’s the 2nd person singular imperative: “Bring (you).”

How do you conjugate a aduce in the imperative for other persons?

For a aduce, the affirmative imperatives are:

• 2nd person singular: adu (Bring!)
• 1st person plural: să aducem or more colloquially aducem (Let’s bring!)
• 2nd person plural: aduceți (Bring! – formal or plural you)

Negative imperatives use nu + subjunctive: e.g. nu aduce.

Why is it lămâia and not just lămâie?

Romanian marks the definite article by adding a suffix to the noun.

• lămâie = “a lemon” (indefinite)
• lămâia = “the lemon” (definite)

Here you want a specific lemon for the salad, so you use the definite form lămâia.

How does the enclitic article work in Romanian?

Unlike English, which places “the” before a noun, Romanian attaches it to the end. For feminine nouns ending in -e (like lămâie), you add -a to form the definite: lămâie → lămâia. Masculine nouns ending in a consonant add -ul; neuter nouns follow masculine patterns in the singular and feminine in the plural.

What role does pentru play, and what case does it govern?

Pentru means “for” in the sense of purpose or benefit. It always takes the accusative case. In our example, salată is a feminine noun; when you say “for the salad,” you leave it in its bare form (salată) because Romanian doesn’t change the form further beyond the enclitic article (which here is omitted: you could say pentru salată, not pentru salăta).

Could you use a different preposition instead of pentru here?

You could also hear de + definite article in some contexts: lămâie de salată, literally “lemon of salad,” but that would more likely describe a type or flavor (“salad lemon”) rather than “bring the lemon for the salad.” For purpose or intended use, pentru is the most natural choice.

How is ă pronounced in Romanian?

The letter ă is a mid-central, unstressed vowel (schwa), similar to the ‘a’ in English about. In lămâie, you get:

• lă = [lə]
• mâi = [məj]
• e = [e] (close to the ‘e’ in met)

So lămâie = [ləˈməje].

How would you say “Bring the lemons for the salad” (plural)?

You use the plural of lămâie, which is lămâi, plus the plural definite article -le:

• adu lămâile pentru salată
  This literally means “Bring the lemons for the salad.”