Când familia vizitează bunicii, toți ajută în bucătărie și se gătește toată ziua.

When the family visits the grandparents, everyone helps in the kitchen and people cook all day.

Breakdown of Când familia vizitează bunicii, toți ajută în bucătărie și se gătește toată ziua.

• în: in
• și: and
• când: when
• tot: all
• familia: the family
• bucătăria: the kitchen
• a găti: to cook
• a ajuta: to help
• ziua: the day
• a vizita: to visit
• bunicul: the grandparent
• toți: everyone

Questions & Answers about Când familia vizitează bunicii, toți ajută în bucătărie și se gătește toată ziua.

Why is it familia and not familie? What does the -a at the end mean?

Familie is a family (indefinite), while familia is the family (definite).

Romanian usually attaches the definite article to the end of the noun:

• o familie = a family
• familia = the family

So Când familia vizitează… literally means When the family visits…, with familia being the subject (singular).

What exactly does bunicii mean, and why does it end in -ii?

The base noun is bunic = grandfather. Its plural is bunici = grandparents / grandfathers.

When you add the definite article for the plural, bunici becomes bunicii:

• bunici = grandparents
• bunicii = the grandparents

So bunicii here means the grandparents (of the family). The -ii at the end is the definite plural ending for many masculine nouns.

In English we say their grandparents. Where is their in bunicii? Should it be bunicii lor?

Romanian often omits possessive words like lor (their) when the relationship is obvious from context.

Here, familia is visiting bunicii, and it is naturally understood they are their grandparents. So:

• Când familia vizitează bunicii = When the family visits (their) grandparents.

You can say bunicii lor for emphasis or clarity:

• Când familia vizitează bunicii lor…

Both are grammatically correct; the version without lor is just more natural and less heavy.

Who does toți refer to, and why is it masculine plural?

Toți means everyone / all (of them) and refers to all the family members who are visiting.

Romanian uses the masculine plural form as the default for mixed groups or when the gender is not specified:

• toți = all (masculine plural / mixed group)
• toate = all (feminine plural, only women/girls or feminine nouns)

Here, toți ajută means everyone helps, assuming a mixed or unspecified group of people.

Why is it în bucătărie and not something like la bucătărie?

În bucătărie literally means in the kitchen, indicating being inside the room.

• în bucătărie = in the kitchen (inside it)
• la bucătărie could be used in some dialects/contexts but is much less common and can sound off in standard Romanian for a physical room.

For the normal meaning they help in the kitchen, în bucătărie is the natural choice.

Why do we say se gătește? What does the se do, and who is the subject?

Se gătește is an impersonal / reflexive construction.

• a găti = to cook
• se gătește ≈ there is cooking, people cook, cooking is done

Here, there is no explicit subject. Romanian uses se + 3rd person singular to talk generally about what happens:

• Se gătește toată ziua. = Cooking goes on all day / They cook all day / One cooks all day.

The se turns it into a kind of impersonal passive: the focus is on the activity, not on who is doing it.

What is the difference between se gătește toată ziua and forms like gătesc toată ziua or gătim toată ziua?

All are correct but have different focuses:

• Se gătește toată ziua.
  – Impersonal / general: There is cooking all day, Cooking is done all day.
  – Neutral about who cooks.

• Gătesc toată ziua.
  – They cook all day (subject = they, understood from context).
  – Focuses a bit more on the people.

• Gătim toată ziua.
  – We cook all day.
  – Explicitly includes the speaker.

In your sentence, se gătește toată ziua fits nicely after toți ajută, keeping the emphasis on the activity in the house, not on exactly who is cooking.

Why is it toată ziua and not tot ziua or just toată zi?

Zi (day) is feminine, and the usual expression for all day (long) is:

• toată ziua = all the day → all day

Breakdown:

• toată = all (feminine singular)
• ziua = the day (definite singular of zi)

So:

• toată ziua = all day
• toată zi is not idiomatic here
• tot ziua is grammatically wrong; tot is masculine singular and doesn’t agree with ziua (feminine).

Why is the present tense (vizitează, ajută, se gătește) used if this describes a repeated habit?

Romanian, like English, uses the present simple for habits and repeated actions:

• Când familia vizitează bunicii, toți ajută…
  = When the family visits the grandparents, everyone helps… (whenever this happens)

You could emphasize the repeated nature with something like De fiecare dată când familia vizitează… (Every time the family visits…), but the plain present is already understood as habitual in this kind of sentence.

Can I move parts of the sentence around, like in English? For example, starting with toți ajută or moving the când-clause?

Yes, Romanian word order is relatively flexible, as long as the sentence remains clear.

Both of these are natural:

• Când familia vizitează bunicii, toți ajută în bucătărie și se gătește toată ziua.
• Toți ajută în bucătărie și se gătește toată ziua când familia vizitează bunicii.

Moving things inside the când-clause, however, changes the meaning:

• Când familia vizitează bunicii… = When the family visits the grandparents…
• Când bunicii vizitează familia… = When the grandparents visit the family… (reversed roles)

So you can reorder clauses for emphasis, but swapping subject and object will change the meaning.

Why is there a comma after bunicii?

The când-clause (Când familia vizitează bunicii) is a subordinate clause (a dependent clause of time) placed before the main clause.

In Romanian, when a subordinate clause comes first, it is normally followed by a comma:

• Când familia vizitează bunicii, toți ajută în bucătărie…

If you put the time clause at the end, you usually don’t need a comma:

• Toți ajută în bucătărie și se gătește toată ziua când familia vizitează bunicii.