Breakdown of Blocul este liniștit dimineața.
a fi
to be
dimineață
in the morning
liniștit
quiet
blocul
the building
Questions & Answers about Blocul este liniștit dimineața.
What does blocul refer to here? Is it a city block or a building?
In this sentence, blocul means the apartment building (a block of flats), not a city block.
In Romanian:
- bloc = apartment block / apartment building
- blocul = the apartment building (with the definite article attached)
Why is the attached to the end of bloc as -ul instead of using a separate word?
Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, not in front as English does.
- bloc = a block / block
- blocul = the block (the apartment building)
So -ul is the masculine/neuter singular definite article, equivalent to English the in this context.
What is the difference between este and e?
Both mean is (3rd person singular of a fi = to be).
- este – full form, neutral, used in writing and careful speech
- e – shorter, very common in everyday speech and also accepted in writing
You can say:
- Blocul este liniștit dimineața.
- Blocul e liniștit dimineața.
Both are correct; the meaning is the same.