O să invităm și vecina la această sărbătoare de familie.

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Breakdown of O să invităm și vecina la această sărbătoare de familie.

• această: this
• de: of
• și: also
• familia: the family
• o să invităm: to be going to invite
• vecina: the neighbor
• sărbătoarea: the celebration

Questions & Answers about O să invităm și vecina la această sărbătoare de familie.

What does O să mean here, and how is it different from using vom invita?

O să is a very common way to express the future in spoken Romanian. It’s followed by the present tense of the verb:

• O să invităm = We are going to invite / We will invite.

You could also say:

• Vom invita și vecina… – this uses the synthetic future (voi, vei, va, vom, veți, vor
  • infinitive).

Differences:

• O să + present
  
  • Very common in everyday speech.
  • Neutral, slightly more colloquial.
• voi/vom invita
  
  • Slightly more formal or written.
  • Taught first in many textbooks.

Both are correct and mean the same thing in this sentence.

Why is the verb invităm in the present tense if the sentence talks about the future?

With O să, Romanian uses the present tense form of the verb to refer to the future:

• a invita (to invite), present tense:
  
  • (eu) invit
  • (tu) inviți
  • (el/ea) invită
  • (noi) invităm
  • (voi) invitați
  • (ei/ele) invită

So O să invităm literally looks like “We are going to we-invite”, but functionally it’s just a future:

• O să invităm = We will invite / We are going to invite.

The future meaning comes from O să, not from a special “future” verb ending.

Why isn’t there a word for we in the sentence? Where is the subject?

Romanian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (eu, tu, el, noi, etc.) are often omitted, because the verb ending already shows the person and number.

• invităm clearly indicates 1st person plural (“we”).

You could say:

• Noi o să invităm și vecina…

but noi is usually only added for emphasis or contrast:

• Noi o să invităm vecina, nu ei.
  We will invite the neighbor, not them.

Why is it vecina and not vecină or vecin?

Romanian uses a definite article attached to the end of the noun.

Base forms:

• vecin – (male) neighbor
• vecină – (female) neighbor

With the definite article (“the”):

• vecinul – the male neighbor
• vecina – the female neighbor

So:

• vecină = a (female) neighbor
• vecina = the (female) neighbor

In the sentence, vecina means “the female neighbor”, referring to a specific neighbor that is already known in context.

How would I say our neighbor or the neighbor lady more explicitly?

You can add a possessive or a descriptive word:

• vecina noastră – our (female) neighbor
• vecina de la etajul trei – the neighbor from the third floor
• vecina de vis‑a‑vis – the neighbor from across the street

So a fuller version of the sentence could be:

• O să invităm și vecina noastră la această sărbătoare de familie.
  We will also invite our (female) neighbor to this family celebration.

What does și mean here, and why is it before vecina?

In this sentence, și means “also / too / as well”.

Position:

• și normally comes right before the word or phrase it modifies.

Here:

• și vecina = also the neighbor / the neighbor too.

Examples:

• O să invităm și vecina. – We’ll also invite the neighbor.
• O să invităm vecina și verișorii. – We’ll invite the neighbor and the cousins.
  (Here și is used as “and” between two nouns.)

So și can mean:

• “also / too / as well” (adverb)
• “and” (conjunction), depending on context and position.

Could I say O să invităm și pe vecina? What’s the difference with or without pe?

Yes, you can say:

• O să invităm și pe vecina la această sărbătoare de familie.

In Romanian, human direct objects often take the preposition pe:

• Invităm pe vecina. – We are inviting the (female) neighbor.
• Văd pe Maria. – I see Maria.

However, in everyday speech, pe can be omitted with some verbs (like a invita), especially when the meaning is very clear:

• Invităm vecina. – also correct, and very common.

Nuance here:

• O să invităm și vecina – sounds completely natural.
• O să invităm și pe vecina – slightly more emphatic or “careful” speech; the pe can highlight that she is a specific person in the set of invitees.

Both versions are acceptable.

Why is the preposition la used before această sărbătoare? Could I use another preposition?

la is the normal preposition to express inviting someone to an event or place:

• a invita pe cineva la ceva – to invite someone to something

So:

• la această sărbătoare de familie = to this family celebration.

You generally would not replace la here with another preposition like în or către. For events, la is strongly preferred:

• la petrecere – to the party
• la nuntă – to the wedding
• la concert – to the concert

What exactly does această mean, and how is it different from asta?

Both refer to “this”, but they differ in register and formality.

• această – more standard / neutral / formal, used in both speech and writing.
• asta – more colloquial / informal, very common in everyday speech.

They also have to agree with the noun’s gender and number. For sărbătoare (feminine singular), you can have:

• această sărbătoare – this celebration (neutral/standard)
• sărbătoarea asta – this celebration (more colloquial; note the article -a moves to the noun)

So alternatives:

• la această sărbătoare de familie – standard.
• la sărbătoarea asta de familie – more casual speech.

Why is it această sărbătoare, not aceasta sărbătoare?

Romanian has different forms of the demonstrative depending on position and function.

For a feminine singular noun:

• această – used before the noun:
  
  • această sărbătoare – this celebration
• aceasta – used more often by itself or after the noun (as a pronoun or stressed form):
  
  • Sărbătoarea aceasta e importantă. – This celebration is important.
  • Aceasta e sărbătoarea noastră. – This is our celebration.

In your sentence, because the demonstrative is directly before the noun, you need această, not aceasta.

Why doesn’t sărbătoare de familie have a definite article? Why not sărbătoarea de familie?

The noun is already “specified” by the demonstrative această (“this”), so it usually appears in the indefinite form:

• această sărbătoare de familie = this family celebration.

If you move the demonstrative after the noun, you attach the definite article to the noun:

• sărbătoarea de familie aceasta – this family celebration
  (more formal / emphatic, less common in everyday speech)

So:

• această sărbătoare (no article on sărbătoare)
• sărbătoarea aceasta (article -a on sărbătoare)

Both structures mark definiteness, but only one of them will carry the actual definite article at a time.

Does sărbătoare de familie always mean something like “family holiday,” or can it be any kind of gathering?

sărbătoare de familie literally means “family celebration/holiday” and can refer to:

• A family member’s birthday
• An anniversary
• A religious holiday celebrated within the family
• Any special family occasion or festive gathering

It’s a fairly broad expression: it emphasizes that it is a festive event related to or centered on the family, not just an ordinary family meeting or visit.

For a more neutral “family gathering / get‑together,” Romanians might say:

• reuniune de familie – family reunion/gathering
• întâlnire de familie – family meeting/gathering

How would the sentence change if the neighbor were male instead of female?

You would change the noun and its article to the masculine form:

• O să invităm și vecinul la această sărbătoare de familie.
  We will also invite the (male) neighbor to this family celebration.

Forms:

• vecin – (male) neighbor
• vecinul – the male neighbor (with definite article -ul)

Everything else in the sentence stays the same.