Breakdown of Ceasul vechi cade de pe perete dacă nu îl fixezi bine.
nu
not
dacă
if
peretele
the wall
ceasul
the clock
vechi
old
a cădea
to fall
de pe
off
îl
it
a fixa
to fix
bine
well
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Questions & Answers about Ceasul vechi cade de pe perete dacă nu îl fixezi bine.
Why is the definite article attached to the noun in ceasul rather than placed before it?
Romanian expresses the definite article as a suffix. ceas means “clock,” and ceasul means “the clock.”
Why is the adjective vechi placed after ceasul, and can I say it before?
Attributive adjectives usually follow the noun in Romanian: ceasul vechi. You can prepose it (vechiul ceas), but then the article moves to the adjective and the tone becomes more formal or emphatic.
What does cade de pe perete literally mean, and why do we need de pe?
Literally, cade = “falls” and de pe = “off of” (expressing movement away from a surface). perete is “wall.” If you said just pe perete, it would mean “on the wall,” not “off the wall.”
Why is the pronoun îl placed before fixezi, and why is there no hyphen?
Because the clause begins with dacă (“if”) and contains the negative nu, both trigger proclisis (clitic before verb): nu îl fixezi. Hyphens attach only to pronouns that come after affirmative main-clause verbs (e.g. fă-l “do it”), not after nu or in subordinate clauses.
Why is fixezi in the present indicative and not in the subjunctive?
This is a zero/type I conditional expressing a general truth (“falls if you don’t fix it well”). In Romanian, both clauses use the present indicative for such general conditions.
What role does dacă play here?
dacă means “if” and introduces the conditional clause. In Romanian, “if” clauses with dacă normally take the indicative when stating real or habitual conditions.
Why is îl used instead of another pronoun like o?
îl is the masculine-singular direct-object pronoun, matching ceasul (a masculine noun). o would be the feminine-singular form.