Accusative prepositions (în, la, pe, din, cu)

Location and Direction (la, în, pe)

Prepositions connect words to show location, direction, or origin. In English, we say "in the house" or "to the school." In Romanian, there is an important rule to remember: when a general noun follows most prepositions (like în, la, pe, and din), it drops its definite article. For example, școala (the school) becomes școală.

Use la to mean "at" a location or "to" a destination:

He goes to school.
El merge la școală.
We eat at the restaurant.
Noi mâncăm la restaurant.

For position, use în for "in" or "inside", and pe for "on":

The girl reads a book in the room.
Fata citește o carte în cameră.
A big dog runs on the street.
Un câine mare fuge pe stradă.

Origin (din)

When talking about where someone is coming from or stepping out of, use din (from / out of). You will often use this with the verb a veni (to come).

The woman comes out of the store.
Femeia vine din magazin.
I come from the market.
Eu vin din piață.

You can also use din to describe where something is permanently located, linking a noun to its origin:

The restaurants in the city are very expensive.
Restaurantele din oraș sunt foarte scumpe.

Transportation and Accompaniment (cu)

To say you are traveling "by" a certain type of vehicle, or doing something "with" someone, use the preposition cu (with).

Important exception: Unlike the prepositions above, nouns following cu keep their definite article. For example, "car" is mașină, but "by car" is cu mașina.

You go to the mountain by car.
Voi mergeți la munte cu mașina.

Putting It Together

Once you know these prepositions, you can easily combine them to describe a complete path of movement in a single sentence.

The man goes out of the restaurant onto the street.
Bărbatul iese din restaurant pe stradă.
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