Copiii se spală pe mâini înainte de masă.

The children wash their hands before the meal.

Breakdown of Copiii se spală pe mâini înainte de masă.

• copilul: the child
• înainte de: before
• pe: on
• a se spăla: to wash oneself

Questions & Answers about Copiii se spală pe mâini înainte de masă.

What does Copiii mean and why is there -ii at the end?

Copiii means the children. In Romanian the definite article is attached as a suffix. For masculine nouns ending in -i, the plural definite suffix is -ii. So you have:
• copii = children (indefinite)
• copiii = the children (definite or generic)

Why is there a se before spală and what does it do?

The se is the third-person reflexive pronoun. It turns a spăla (to wash something) into a se spăla (to wash oneself). Thus se spală means “he/she/it washes himself/herself/itself” or “they wash themselves,” depending on context.

Why is the verb form spală the same for singular and plural, and how do we know it’s plural here?

In Romanian, verbs ending in -a use the same ending -ă for both 3rd person singular (el/ea) and 3rd person plural (ei/ele). That means spală can mean “he/she washes” or “they wash.” We know it’s plural here because the subject Copiii is clearly plural.

What is the role of pe in pe mâini? Can we just say se spală mâini?

When washing a body part, Romanian requires the preposition pe plus the body part in the accusative case. So a se spăla pe mâini literally “to wash oneself on hands” = “to wash one’s hands.” Omitting pe in this construction is ungrammatical.