Breakdown of Pe când eram elev, nu aveam internet acasă.
Questions & Answers about Pe când eram elev, nu aveam internet acasă.
Pe când is a fixed expression that roughly means “back when / at the time when / while”. It often adds a slightly more nostalgic or story‑like tone than a simple când.
- Pe când eram elev… ≈ “Back when I was a pupil…”
- Când eram elev… ≈ “When I was a pupil…”
Both are grammatically correct. Când is more neutral and more common in everyday speech. Pe când can sound a bit more expressive or literary, but you will hear it in normal conversation as well.
You cannot normally drop pe and keep its nuance; pe când works as a unit.
Eram and aveam are in the imperfect tense in Romanian. The imperfect is used for:
- Ongoing or repeated actions in the past
- Background descriptions
So:
- Pe când eram elev – “When I was (generally) a pupil” (a long period, a background state)
- nu aveam internet acasă – “I didn’t have internet at home” (a habitual/continuous situation during that period)
If you said:
- Când am fost elev, nu am avut internet acasă.
this would sound more like you are treating being a pupil as a single, completed block of time, which is less natural here. It’s not wrong grammatically, but the imperfect (eram, aveam) is the natural choice for a long-lasting situation in the past.
Romanian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns are usually omitted when the verb form already shows the person.
- eram = I was / we were (context decides)
- aveam = I had / we had (again, context decides)
Context normally makes clear whether it’s I or we. If you really wanted to emphasize the subject, you could say:
- Eu, când eram elev, nu aveam internet acasă. – stressing “I”.
But in neutral sentences, eu is left out. The subject is understood from the verb endings and from context.
After verbs like a fi (“to be”), when you state someone’s profession, status, role, Romanian usually drops the article:
- Sunt profesor. – I am a teacher.
- Era medic. – He/She was a doctor.
- Pe când eram elev… – When I was a pupil…
You do use an article if you’re describing a specific or characterized person:
- Eram un elev bun. – I was a good pupil.
- Era un elev problemă. – He was a problem pupil.
So:
- eram elev = “I was (a) pupil” in a general, role‑sense → no article
- eram un elev bun = “I was a good pupil” → article is needed
No, elev and student refer to different levels of education.
elev = a pupil in primary, middle, or high school
- masculine: elev
- feminine: elevă
student = a university student (someone in higher education)
- masculine: student
- feminine: studentă
So Pe când eram elev normally means “When I was in school (before university).”
If you want to talk about university:
- Pe când eram student, nu aveam internet acasă. – When I was a university student, I didn’t have internet at home.
Acasă is a special adverb meaning “at home” (or, in some contexts, “home” as a direction, like “homeward”).
- Sunt acasă. – I am at home.
- Merg acasă. – I’m going home.
In this sentence:
- nu aveam internet acasă = “I didn’t have internet at home.”
Alternatives:
- la mine acasă – at my place / at my home
- în casă – literally “in the house” (inside the building, more physical)
La casa mea would sound more like “at my house (as a building)”, not the usual way to express “at home” in this context. Acasă is the natural, idiomatic choice.
Internet in Romanian behaves like a mass/abstract noun (like “water” or “music” in English). When you talk about it in general, you often omit the article:
- Nu aveam internet acasă. – I didn’t have internet at home.
- Ai internet la serviciu? – Do you have internet at work?
You can also use the definite article when you’re talking about the internet as a specific known thing:
- Internetul nu merge. – The internet (connection) isn’t working.
- Internetul a schimbat lumea. – The internet has changed the world.
Both internet and internetul are correct; the choice depends on general vs specific meaning. In your sentence, the bare form is the most natural.
The sentence has two parts:
- Pe când eram elev – a time clause (“when I was a pupil”)
- nu aveam internet acasă – the main clause (“I didn’t have internet at home”)
In Romanian, when a subordinate clause like this comes before the main clause, it is normally separated with a comma:
- Când eram mic, îmi plăcea să desenez.
- Pe când locuiam la țară, mergeam des la bunici.
If you reverse the order, the comma usually disappears:
- Nu aveam internet acasă când eram elev.
Both orders are acceptable; the meaning is the same.
Yes, that is also grammatically correct:
- Nu aveam internet acasă pe când eram elev.
This structure is less common than putting pe când eram elev at the beginning or using când at the end:
- Nu aveam internet acasă când eram elev.
All of these are understandable. The differences are mostly about style and emphasis, not basic grammar. The original:
- Pe când eram elev, nu aveam internet acasă.
feels slightly more story‑like, setting the time frame first as background.
The infinitives are:
- a fi – to be
- a avea – to have
Here we’re using the imperfect tense, 1st person singular:
- eu eram – I was
- eu aveam – I had
Full imperfect (singular) for each:
a fi (to be)
- eu eram – I was
- tu erai – you were
- el/ea era – he/she was
a avea (to have)
- eu aveam – I had
- tu aveai – you had
- el/ea avea – he/she had
In everyday speech, the subject pronoun (eu) is usually omitted, as in your sentence.
In careful, standard written Romanian, you usually write:
- nu aveam
In informal speech and informal writing, people often contract it:
- n-aveam internet acasă.
That’s similar to English “I don’t have” → “I don’t”; spoken language gets shorter. Both nu aveam and n-aveam are understood the same way, but nu aveam is the neutral, standard form.