Breakdown of Copiii poartă haine curate la școală.
școala
the school
la
at
copilul
the child
curat
clean
a purta
to wear
haina
the garment
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Questions & Answers about Copiii poartă haine curate la școală.
What does copiii mean and why does it have an -ii suffix?
Copiii means the children. In Romanian, the definite article is attached to the end of the noun. For plural animate nouns the article is usually -ii, so copil becomes copiii. Without the suffix (i.e., copii) it would simply mean children (indefinite).
Why is the verb poartă used here and why does it look the same for singular and plural?
Poartă is the 3rd person present indicative of a purta (to wear). Romanian uses the same form poartă for both he/she wears and they wear. You know it’s plural here because the subject copiii is explicitly plural.
Why isn’t there an article before haine? Shouldn’t it be hainele?
Haine is the indefinite plural of haină (a piece of clothing) and means clothes in a general sense. Adding -le (making hainele) would turn it into the clothes (definite). Here we want clean clothes in general, so we leave it indefinite.
How does the adjective curate agree with haine?
Romanian adjectives must match the noun’s gender and number. Haine is feminine plural, so curat (clean) takes the feminine plural ending -e, becoming curate. (Masculine plural would be curați; singular feminine curată; singular masculine curat.)
What is the function of la in la școală? Does it mean to school or at school?
The preposition la can express destination or location. In la școală, it covers both to school (destination) and at school (location/activity). If you want to emphasize “inside the building,” you’d say în școală (in school).
Why isn’t there a pronoun like ei (they) before poartă?
Romanian often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows person and number. Since poartă matches 3rd person and we have copiii as the subject, adding ei is unnecessary. You could include Ei poartă haine curate… only for emphasis.
Can the phrase la școală move to the beginning of the sentence for emphasis?
Yes. You can say La școală copiii poartă haine curate to highlight at school. Romanian word order is relatively flexible, though the neutral sequence remains Subject-Verb-Object-Adverbial.