Learn Hardcore Romanian: Sora mea preferă istorie, dar fratele meu preferă matematică. - My sister prefers history, but my brother prefers math.

-a is the feminine singular definite article (for many feminine nouns)
-le here is part of the masculine singular definite form of frate → fratele

Why is it sora mea and fratele meu, not mea sora or meu frate?

Romanian normally places possessive adjectives after the noun, unlike English.

English: my sister, my brother
Romanian: sora mea, fratele meu

The natural order is:

[noun + definite article] + [possessive adjective]
sora + mea
fratele + meu

You can say things like sora mea cea mare (“my older sister”), but putting the possessive before the noun (mea sora) is either wrong or sounds poetic/archaic, not normal everyday speech.

Why is it mea in sora mea but meu in fratele meu?

The possessive adjective “my” must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies:

soră (sora) is feminine singular → mea
frate (fratele) is masculine singular → meu

Basic pattern for “my”:

masculine singular: meu – fratele meu (my brother)
feminine singular: mea – sora mea (my sister)
masculine plural: mei – frații mei (my brothers)
feminine plural: mele – surorile mele (my sisters)

So you choose meu / mea / mei / mele depending on the noun’s gender and number.

Why don’t we say istoria or matematica here? Why are istorie and matematică without an article?

When you talk about school subjects or academic fields in a general way, Romanian usually uses the bare noun, without the definite article:

preferă istorie = (she/he) prefers history (as a subject, in general)
preferă matematică = (he) prefers mathematics (math)

You would use the definite forms istoria, matematica when referring to something more specific, for example:

Istoria României este interesantă. – The history of Romania is interesting.
Matematica de azi a fost grea. – Today’s math (class/work) was hard.

In the original sentence, we are talking about what subjects they like in general, so the indefinite forms istorie, matematică are appropriate.

Is istorie feminine? How can I tell the gender of words like istorie and matematică?

Yes, both istorie and matematică are feminine nouns.

Romanian gender is partly predictable from endings:

Many nouns ending in -ie (istorie, chimie, biologie) are feminine.
Many nouns ending in -că / -ică (matematică, muzică, logică) are also feminine.

You usually learn the gender together with the noun (e.g. o istorie, o matematică → the article o is feminine). Over time the endings become familiar signals of gender, but there are exceptions, so exposure and practice are important.

Why is the verb preferă the same form with both sora mea and fratele meu?

The sentence contains two clauses, each with its own subject and verb:

Sora mea preferă istorie – My sister prefers history.
fratele meu preferă matematică – my brother prefers math.

In Romanian, the verb a prefera (“to prefer”) has the same form for he, she, and they in the present tense:

eu prefer – I prefer
tu preferi – you (sg.) prefer
el / ea preferă – he / she prefers
noi preferăm – we prefer
voi preferați – you (pl.) prefer
ei / ele preferă – they prefer

So sora mea (she) → preferă
and fratele meu (he) → preferă

They are both 3rd person, and 3rd person uses preferă in the present tense.

Should there be pe before istorie or matematică, like preferă pe istorie?

No. You do not use pe here.

The particle pe is mainly used:

with direct objects that are specific people or beloved animals:
- Văd pe Maria. – I see Maria.
- Iubesc pe câinele meu. – I love my dog.
sometimes with very specific or personified things.

But with general, non-personal objects like school subjects, you normally don’t use pe:

Prefer istorie. – I prefer history.
Prefer matematică. – I prefer math.

So pe would be incorrect in this sentence.

Could I say just Ea preferă istorie, dar el preferă matematică instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, that sentence is correct and natural:

Ea preferă istorie, dar el preferă matematică.
She prefers history, but he prefers math.

The difference is:

Sora mea / fratele meu specify the relationship: my sister, my brother.
Ea / el only say she / he, without telling you that they’re siblings or related to the speaker.

In the original sentence, the emphasis is on who they are to the speaker (my sister, my brother). With ea / el, you just talk about two people, not necessarily relatives.

Why is the conjunction dar used? Could I use însă or ci instead of dar?

dar is the most common word for “but” in Romanian and fits perfectly here.

dar = but (neutral, most frequent)
însă = but / however (often a bit more formal or contrastive; still common in speech)
ci = but (rather) – used only after a negation to contrast two things

In your sentence:

Sora mea preferă istorie, dar fratele meu preferă matematică. ✅
Sora mea preferă istorie, însă fratele meu preferă matematică. ✅ (also correct; slightly more formal or emphatic)
Sora mea nu preferă istorie, ci matematică. ✅
My sister does not prefer history, but (rather) math.

So you could swap dar for însă, but ci would require a prior nu (negation) and a different structure.

Why is there a comma before dar?

There’s a comma before dar because it connects two independent clauses (each has its own subject and verb):

Sora mea preferă istorie
fratele meu preferă matematică

In Romanian (as in English), when a coordinating conjunction like dar joins two full clauses, you normally place a comma before it:

… istorie, dar … matematică.

If the second part weren’t a full clause, a comma might not be necessary, but here it is.

How do you pronounce the tricky sounds in sora mea preferă istorie, dar fratele meu preferă matematică?

Key pronunciation points:

ă – a short, neutral vowel (like the a in English sofa):
- preferă = pre-FE-rə
- matematică = ma-te-MA-ti-kə
ea in mea is a diphthong:
- mea ≈ “meh-ah” blended, like “may-ah” but shorter → [me-a]
ie in istorie:
- istorie = is-TO-ri-e (four syllables)
fratele = FRA-te-le (stress on the first syllable)

Typical stress:

SÓ-ra mea pre-FE-ră is-TÓ-ri-e, dar FRÁ-te-le meu pre-FE-ră ma-te-MÁ-ti-kă.

Romanian is mostly phonetic, so once you learn the sound of each letter (especially ă, e, i, o, a, ă, â, î), reading aloud becomes much easier.