Breakdown of Pentru sora mea, istoria este la fel de interesantă ca matematica.
Questions & Answers about Pentru sora mea, istoria este la fel de interesantă ca matematica.
In Romanian, the normal order is noun + possessive adjective, not the other way around:
- soră = a sister
- sora = the sister
- sora mea = my sister
Putting mea before the noun (mea soră) is wrong by itself. If you want the possessive before the noun, you must also add a special possessive article:
- sora mea = my sister (neutral)
- a mea soră = my sister (more emphatic, a bit formal/poetic)
So in everyday Romanian, sora mea is the natural, neutral way to say my sister.
pentru usually means for in the sense of in someone’s opinion / to someone / intended for someone.
In this sentence:
- Pentru sora mea ≈ For my sister / As far as my sister is concerned
You cannot replace pentru here with most other prepositions:
- la sora mea – would mean something like “at my sister’s (place)”
- despre sora mea – “about my sister”
- către sora mea – “towards my sister”
None of these express a personal point of view. So pentru is the correct choice to show that this is her perspective.
Pentru sora mea is a fronted prepositional phrase giving context (“for my sister / from my sister’s point of view”). In Romanian, when such a phrase is moved to the beginning for emphasis or clarity, it’s usually followed by a comma:
- Pentru sora mea, istoria este…
Without emphasis, you could also put this phrase at the end, where no comma is needed:
- Istoria este la fel de interesantă ca matematica pentru sora mea.
So the comma reflects the fact that Pentru sora mea is detached from the main clause and used as an introductory element.
Istoria and matematica are in the definite form:
- istorie = history (indefinite)
- istoria = the history
- matematică = math / mathematics (indefinite)
- matematica = the math / the mathematics
In Romanian, school subjects and fields of study are very often used with the definite article when you speak about them in general:
- Istoria îmi place. = I like (the) history.
- Matematica este grea. = Math is hard.
So istoria and matematica here refer to history in general and math in general, and the definite article sounds natural in Romanian, even if English doesn’t use the in this context.
la fel de … ca … is the standard way to say as … as … (equality of degree).
Structure:
- la fel de
- adjective/adverb (in the right form) + ca
- noun/pronoun
- adjective/adverb (in the right form) + ca
In your sentence:
- la fel de = as …
- interesantă = interesting (feminine singular form)
- ca matematica = as math
So:
- istoria este la fel de interesantă ca matematica
≈ history is as interesting as math
Other common variants:
- la fel de interesantă ca și matematica – often heard in speech, but many grammarians consider ca și here redundant or incorrect; ca alone is enough.
- la fel de interesantă precum matematica – more formal/literary, using precum instead of ca.
Adjectives in Romanian agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- istoria is feminine singular.
- Therefore, the adjective must also be feminine singular: interesantă.
Base form of the adjective: interesant
Common forms:
- masculine singular: interesant
- feminine singular: interesantă
- masculine plural: interesanți
- feminine plural: interesante
Some quick examples:
- Băiatul este interesant. – The boy is interesting. (m.sg)
- Fata este interesantă. – The girl is interesting. (f.sg)
- Băieții sunt interesanți. – The boys are interesting. (m.pl)
- Fetele sunt interesante. – The girls are interesting. (f.pl)
In your sentence, interesantă matches istoria (f.sg), not matematica, even though matematica is also feminine singular. The adjective always agrees with the grammatical subject (istoria).
Different words are used for different kinds of comparisons:
ca – used in equality or similarity comparisons
- la fel de interesantă ca matematica = as interesting as math
- este ca tine = (he/she/it) is like you
decât – used in inequality comparisons (with mai, mai puțin, etc.)
- mai interesantă decât matematica = more interesting than math
- mai mic decât tine = smaller than you
cât – often used in questions or comparisons of quantity/extent
- Cât de interesantă e istoria? = How interesting is history?
- nu e atât de interesantă cât crezi = not as interesting as you think
Your sentence expresses equality (as interesting as), so ca is the correct choice:
la fel de interesantă ca matematica.
Yes, you can say:
- Istoria este la fel de interesantă ca matematica.
- Istoria e la fel de interesantă ca matematica.
They both mean the same thing.
e is simply a short, informal form of este. It’s very common in speech and in informal writing. este can sound a bit more careful or formal, but it’s perfectly normal in any context.
What you generally do not do in neutral standard Romanian is omit the verb entirely in this kind of sentence; you normally keep e/este.
Yes, you can move it:
Pentru sora mea, istoria este la fel de interesantă ca matematica.
– Neutral meaning, but with extra focus on the sister’s point of view (what follows is “according to my sister”).Istoria este la fel de interesantă ca matematica pentru sora mea.
– Still understandable and correct. The focus feels a bit more on the comparison itself, and pentru sora mea sounds like an afterthought specifying for whom this is true.
Both are grammatical. The version with the phrase at the beginning is slightly more natural when you explicitly want to contrast her opinion with someone else’s.
You’d need to adjust:
The noun and possessive:
- soră → frate (brother)
- sora mea (my sister) → fratele meu (my brother)
The prepositional phrase:
- Pentru sora mea → Pentru fratele meu
The rest of the sentence stays the same, because istoria (history) is still feminine singular, so interesantă remains unchanged.
Full sentence:
- Pentru fratele meu, istoria este la fel de interesantă ca matematica.
= For my brother, history is as interesting as math.