Breakdown of Mesajul pe care îl primești este lung, dar ușor de înțeles.
a fi
to be
dar
but
lung
long
pe
on
îl
it
care
that
mesajul
the message
a primi
to receive
ușor de înțeles
easy to understand
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Questions & Answers about Mesajul pe care îl primești este lung, dar ușor de înțeles.
Why do we use pe care instead of just care in Mesajul pe care îl primești?
In Romanian, when a relative pronoun like care refers to a direct-object noun, you must introduce it with the direct-object marker pe.
- care alone works when it’s a subject or after a preposition you’re already using (e.g. „O problemă care apare…”).
- Here mesajul is what you “receive” (direct object), so you need pe care = “which (object)”.
What is the role of îl in this sentence?
îl is the masculine singular direct-object personal pronoun (“it”) referring back to mesajul. Romanian verbs normally show all their arguments:
- Mesajul pe care (which)
- îl primești (you receive it)
Without îl, the verb primești would have no object.
Can we drop îl and say Mesajul pe care primești este lung…?
No. In Romanian you cannot omit the object pronoun when the verb requires one. Saying „Mesajul pe care primești” would leave primești without any object, and the listener wouldn’t know what you’re receiving.
Why is there a comma before dar in lung, dar ușor de înțeles?
You separate coordinate elements with a comma in Romanian, just like in English. Here lung and ușor de înțeles are two opposing adjectives joined by dar (“but”), so you write:
…lung, dar ușor de înțeles.
How does ușor de înțeles work grammatically?
- ușor = “easy” (adjective)
- de înțeles = “to understand” (preposition de
- past participle used like an infinitive complement)
Together ușor de înțeles literally means “easy of understanding,” i.e. “easy to understand.”
- past participle used like an infinitive complement)
Why do we need este (“is”)? Couldn’t we just say Mesajul… lung, dar ușor de înțeles?
Romanian normally requires the copula este (or its contraction e) in predicative clauses to link the subject to its description. Omitting it sounds elliptical or poetic, not standard written Romanian.
Why is înțeles spelled with ț and ș? Are those diacritics optional?
- ț (t-cedilla) and ș (s-cedilla) are distinct letters in Romanian.
- înțeles without diacritics (inteles) can be ambiguous.
In formal and correct writing you should always use diacritics. In informal chat or on devices without Romanian keyboards, people sometimes skip them, but it’s not standard.