Cheile noastre sunt pe masă.

Our keys are on the table.

Breakdown of Cheile noastre sunt pe masă.

• a fi: to be
• masa: the table
• pe: on
• cheia: the key
• noastre: our

Questions & Answers about Cheile noastre sunt pe masă.

What does cheile mean, and why doesn’t the sentence use chei?

Cheile means “the keys”.

• chei = keys (indefinite, without “the”)
• cheile = the keys (definite, with “the”)

In Romanian, the definite article (the) is added to the end of the noun, not in front of it as in English:

• o cheie = a key
• cheia = the key
• chei = keys
• cheile = the keys

So Cheile noastre sunt pe masă literally starts with “The keys of-ours are on table.” → “Our keys are on the table.”

Is cheile singular or plural, and what is the singular form?

Cheile is plural.

The forms are:

• Singular: cheie = a key
• Definite singular: cheia = the key
• Plural: chei = keys
• Definite plural: cheile = the keys

So in the sentence, Cheile is talking about more than one key.

Why is it noastre and not noștri, nostru, or noastră?

Romanian possessive adjectives (my, your, our, etc.) must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

• cheie / chei is feminine
• cheile is feminine plural

The forms of our are:

• nostru – masculine singular (e.g. băiatul nostru – our boy)
• noastră – feminine singular (e.g. fata noastră – our girl)
• noștri – masculine plural (e.g. băieții noștri – our boys)
• noastre – feminine plural (e.g. cheile noastre – our keys)

Because cheile is feminine plural, the correct form is noastre → cheile noastre.

Why does noastre come after cheile, instead of before like in English (“our keys”)?

In English, possessive adjectives come before the noun: our keys.

In Romanian, the normal order is the opposite: noun + possessive.

• cheile noastre = our keys
• casa mea = my house
• mașina lui = his car

So Cheile noastre matches the typical Romanian order: [noun] + [possessive].

Could the sentence be „Noastre sunt cheile pe masă” or „Sunt cheile noastre pe masă”?

• „Noastre sunt cheile pe masă” – sounds wrong/unnatural. You can’t just move noastre to the front like that.
• „Sunt cheile noastre pe masă?” – this is fine as a question: “Are our keys on the table?”

Romanian word order is fairly flexible, but:

• For a neutral statement, Cheile noastre sunt pe masă is the natural order.
• For emphasis or questions, you can move parts:
  
  • Pe masă sunt cheile noastre. – “On the table are our keys.” (emphasis on the location)

Why is the verb sunt used here and not este?

Sunt is the 3rd person plural form of the verb a fi (to be).
Este is the 3rd person singular form.

• el / ea este = he / she / it is
• ei / ele sunt = they are

Since the subject cheile noastre (our keys) is plural, the verb must also be plural:

• Cheia noastră este pe masă. – Our key is on the table. (singular)
• Cheile noastre sunt pe masă. – Our keys are on the table. (plural)

What does pe mean in this sentence, and why not use la or în?

In this context, pe means “on” (physically on a surface).

• pe masă = on the table

Some common contrasts:

• pe = on (a surface) → pe masă (on the table), pe scaun (on the chair)
• la = at / to (a place) → la masă (at the table), la școală (at school)
• în = in / inside → în casă (in the house), în cutie (in the box)

So for something physically placed on top of the table, pe masă is the right choice.

Why is it masă and not masa, if we say “on the table” in English?

Grammatically:

• masă = table (indefinite)
• masa = the table (definite)

So pe masă literally is “on a table”.
However, in many fixed expressions or obvious contexts, Romanian can omit the definite article where English uses “the”, especially with locations:

• la școală – at (the) school
• la muncă – at (the) work
• pe masă – on (the) table

In Cheile noastre sunt pe masă, context usually makes it clear which table, so we naturally translate it as “on the table”, even though Romanian doesn’t mark it as definite here.

How do you pronounce Cheile noastre sunt pe masă?

Approximate pronunciation (IPA):

• Cheile – /ˈke.je.le/
• noastre – /ˈno̯a.stre/
• sunt – /sunt/ or /sɨnt/ (both common, depending on region)
• pe – /pe/
• masă – /ˈmasə/

Whole sentence: /ˈke.je.le ˈno̯a.stre sunt pe ˈmasə/.

Rough English-like approximation: “KEH-yeh-leh NOAH-streh soont peh MA-suh.”

What do the special Romanian letters ă and ș represent in this sentence?

In this sentence you see ă (in masă). There’s no ș here, but it appears in words like noștri.

• ă – a short, unstressed vowel, like the a in English “sofa” or the e in “taken”.
  
  • masă (/ˈmasə/) – last sound is that schwa-like vowel.

When writing Romanian, it’s important to include these diacritics, because they can distinguish words (for example, masă “table” vs. masa “the table” vs. masa without correct diacritics can be confusing).

Can I say „Cheile sunt noastre” instead of „Cheile noastre sunt pe masă”?

These sentences mean different things:

• Cheile noastre sunt pe masă. – Our keys are on the table.
• Cheile sunt noastre. – The keys are ours.

In Cheile sunt noastre, noastre is not just an adjective; it functions as a possessive pronoun (“ours”).
To say “The keys are ours” even more clearly, Romanian often uses:

• Cheile sunt ale noastre.

So:

• To say “our keys”: cheile noastre.
• To say “are ours”: (sunt) ale noastre or simply sunt noastre in context.

How would I say “These are our keys” using this structure?

You can say:

• Acestea sunt cheile noastre. – These are our keys.

Breakdown:

• Acestea – these (for feminine plural nouns)
• sunt – are
• cheile noastre – our keys (feminine plural)

If you point to them and just say Cheile noastre sunt pe masă, you’re adding the information about location: “Our keys are on the table.”