Questions & Answers about Spune-mi unde este centrul.
What is the construction Spune-mi?
Spune is the 2nd-person singular imperative of the verb a spune (“to say/tell”). The attached -mi is the enclitic dative pronoun for “to me.” Put together, Spune-mi literally means “Tell me.”
Why is there a hyphen between Spune and mi?
In Romanian, when you attach an enclitic pronoun to an imperative verb, you join them with a hyphen. This signals that mi (“to me”) is an enclitic pronoun glued onto the command spune.
Could I say Îmi spune unde este centrul instead?
You can say Îmi spune unde este centrul, but this is a statement in the indicative: “He/she/it tells me where the center is,” or in a polite indirect ask, “Tell me where the center is” by implication. It uses the proclitic pronoun îmi before the verb. To give a direct command, you need the imperative + enclitic: Spune-mi.
Why is the noun centrul written with -ul at the end?
Romanian marks the definite article as a suffix. Centru means “center,” and centrul means “the center.” This is how Romanian normally forms definite nouns in the nominative/accusative case.