Learn Hardcore Romanian: Asistenta îmi explică rețeta și îmi arată cum să iau medicamentul. - The nurse explains the prescription to me and shows me how to take the medicine.

Each verb (explică, arată) has its own indirect object: she explains to me and she shows me. Romanian tends to attach the clitic pronoun to every verb that logically needs it.

If you drop the second îmi:

Asistenta îmi explică rețeta și arată cum să iau medicamentul.

this is grammatically possible but sounds a bit incomplete or less natural in everyday speech, because arată then has no explicit indirect object. It would sound more like “she explains the prescription to me and shows how to take the medicine” (without clearly saying to whom she shows it).

So the original sentence with îmi twice is the most natural and clear.

Why is it îmi and not mă?

Romanian distinguishes between:

accusative (direct object): mă (me)
dative (indirect object): îmi (to me / for me)

In this sentence, “me” is an indirect object: the nurse explains something to me, shows something to me.

The patterns are:

a explica ceva cuiva – to explain something to someone → uses dative = îmi
a vedea pe cineva – to see someone → would use accusative = mă

So:

Asistenta mă explică – incorrect (it would sound like “the nurse explains me”)
Asistenta îmi explică rețeta – correct (the nurse explains the prescription to me)

That’s why îmi (dative) is required, not mă (accusative).

Why is there no preposition like “about”? Why is it explică rețeta, not explică despre rețetă?

In Romanian, a explica is normally used without a preposition before its object:

a explica ceva – to explain something
a explica ceva cuiva – to explain something to someone

So:

Asistenta îmi explică rețeta.
literally: The nurse to‑me explains the prescription.

Using despre here would be wrong in standard Romanian:

✗ Asistenta îmi explică despre rețetă. – not correct

You only use despre with verbs that naturally take “about”:

a vorbi despre ceva – to talk about something
a citi despre ceva – to read about something

But a explica directly takes its object without despre.

Why is it rețeta and medicamentul, not o rețetă and un medicament?

Romanian puts the definite article at the end of the noun:

rețetă – a prescription / recipe
rețeta – the prescription
medicament – a medicine / a drug
medicamentul – the medicine

In your sentence, we are talking about specific, known things:

the prescription the doctor has just given
the medicine you are supposed to take

So Romanian marks that “specific / known” meaning by using the definite forms:

rețeta – that particular prescription
medicamentul – that particular medicine

If you said:

Asistenta îmi explică o rețetă. – The nurse explains a (random) prescription to me.
Asistenta îmi arată cum să iau un medicament. – The nurse shows me how to take a (non‑specific) medicine.

the meaning would be more vague or generic, not about the specific items in front of you.

Does rețetă mean “recipe” or “prescription”?

Rețetă can mean both, depending on context:

Cooking recipe
- o rețetă de prăjitură – a cake recipe
Medical prescription
- o rețetă de la medic – a prescription from the doctor

In your sentence:

Asistenta îmi explică rețeta…

because we are talking about medicamentul (the medicine), the context clearly makes rețeta mean medical prescription, not a cooking recipe.

So the word is the same; the meaning is disambiguated by the situation and surrounding vocabulary.

What does cum să iau literally mean, and why use să here?

Cum să iau literally is:

cum – how
să iau – that I take / should take

Romanian uses the subjunctive with să very often where English uses “to + verb”:

English: how to take (the medicine)
Romanian: cum să iau (medicamentul)

So îmi arată cum să iau medicamentul corresponds to:

she shows me *how to take the medicine*

The structure cum să + subjunctive is the natural way in Romanian to say:

how to do something – cum să fac ceva
when to come – când să vin
what to say – ce să zic

Using să here is not optional; cum iau medicamentul would mean something more like “how I take the medicine” (describing a habit), not “how to take the medicine” (an instruction).

Why is it iau and not ia in cum să iau medicamentul?

The verb a lua (to take) has these present indicative forms:

eu iau – I take
tu iei – you (sg) take
el/ea ia – he/she takes
noi luăm
voi luați
ei/ele iau

The present subjunctive is built from these same shapes, with să in front:

să iau, să iei, să ia, să luăm, să luați, să ia

In cum să iau medicamentul, the implied subject is eu (I), because it is linked to îmi (to me):

îmi arată cum să iau medicamentul
she shows me how I should take the medicine

So we must use the 1st person singular form: să iau.
If we said cum să ia medicamentul, that would mean:

how he/she should take the medicine / how they should take the medicine.

So:

să iau – I should take
să ia – he/she/they should take

Could we say cum iau medicamentul instead of cum să iau medicamentul?

It’s grammatically possible but the meaning changes.

îmi arată cum să iau medicamentul
– she shows me how to take the medicine (instruction, recommendation, future action)
îmi arată cum iau medicamentul
– she shows me how I (usually) take the medicine (descriptive, like demonstrating your current habit)

In real life, when a nurse is instructing you, you want the instructional / recommended meaning, so Romanian uses să + subjunctive: cum să iau.

Using cum iau here would sound odd in this context, as if she were watching and describing your already-established way of taking it.

Why can’t we say Asistenta explică-mi rețeta instead of Asistenta îmi explică rețeta?

The position of clitic pronouns like îmi depends on the verb form:

Indicative, subjunctive, conditional, future
The clitic usually goes before the verb (proclitic):
- îmi explică – she explains to me
- să îmi explice – that she explains to me
- mi-ar explica – she would explain to me
So in your sentence, present indicative:
- Asistenta îmi explică rețeta. – correct
- ✗ Asistenta explică-mi rețeta. – wrong in this tense
Imperative (commands)
With affirmative imperatives, the clitic goes after the verb and attaches to it:
- Explică-mi rețeta! – Explain the prescription to me!
- Arată-mi cum să iau medicamentul! – Show me how to take the medicine!

So:

In a statement: îmi explică
In a command: explică-mi

Your sentence is a statement, not a command, so it needs îmi explică, not explică-mi.

The English meaning is “The nurse is explaining…” / “is showing…”. Why does Romanian just use explică and arată?

Romanian does not have a separate present continuous form like English “is explaining / is showing”. The simple present covers both:

habitual action:
- Ea explică rețete pacienților. – She explains prescriptions to patients.
action happening right now:
- Ea îmi explică rețeta. – She is explaining the prescription to me.

So:

Asistenta îmi explică rețeta și îmi arată cum să iau medicamentul.

can correspond to:

The nurse explains the prescription to me and shows me how to take the medicine.
or
The nurse is explaining the prescription to me and is showing me how to take the medicine.

Context clarifies whether it’s a general habit or a current action. Here, the presence of one concrete prescription and medicine makes the “right now” reading natural.

How do I pronounce îmi and the special vowels like î and ă in this sentence?

Key sounds:

î (in îmi, explică, medicamentul – the last one has plain i, but you’ll see î often)
- Written: î or â
- Sound: a central vowel, somewhere between English “uh” in “put” and “ee” in “see”, but more tense and central
- There is no perfect English equivalent. Lips relaxed, tongue central.
îmi sounds roughly like: /ɨmʲ/ – something like “eem” but with the vowel pulled toward the center of the mouth.
ă (in words like asistentă, though here you have Asistenta with final a marking the definite article)
- Sound: like the a in English “sofa” or “about” (the unstressed “uh” sound).
- asistentă ≈ ah-see-STEN-tuh
Stress and syllables in your sentence:
- A-sis-TEN-ta – stress on TEN
- Î-mi – one stressed syllable
- ex-PLI-că – stress on PLI
- re-ȚE-ta – stress on ȚE
- și – like English “she” but short
- î-mi – again
- a-RĂ-tă – stress on RĂ
- cum – like “koom” (short “oo”)
- să – short “suh”
- IAU – like “yow” in “yowl”
- me-di-ca-MEN-tul – stress on MEN

Putting it together slowly and rhythmically will help; Romanian stress is fairly regular, and vowels are short and clear.