Copiii mâncaseră deja, așa că au acceptat doar un pahar cu apă.

The children had already eaten, so they accepted only a glass of water.

Breakdown of Copiii mâncaseră deja, așa că au acceptat doar un pahar cu apă.

• apa: the water
• un: a
• a mânca: to eat
• cu: with

Questions & Answers about Copiii mâncaseră deja, așa că au acceptat doar un pahar cu apă.

Why does copiii have three i’s?

Because copiii = copii (children) + the definite article -i (the).

So the steps are:

• copil = child
• copii = children
• copiii = the children

That gives you three written i’s:

• one from the stem,
• one from the plural ending,
• one from the definite article.

In pronunciation, you do not pronounce them as three fully separate long vowels in normal speech. It sounds roughly like ko-PII with a clear palatal ending.

What tense is mâncaseră?

Mâncaseră is the pluperfect (Romanian: mai mult ca perfectul).

It corresponds to English had eaten.

So:

• Copiii mâncaseră deja = The children had already eaten

This tense is used because that action happened before the next past action:

• first: they had eaten
• later: they accepted only a glass of water

How is mâncaseră formed?