Alternating States with "ba..., ba..."
When describing a situation that keeps changing back and forth, or a state of indecision, Romanian uses the paired correlative conjunctions ba..., ba.... This translates directly to "now..., now..." or "sometimes..., sometimes...".
| now (correlative) | ba |
You place ba immediately before the two words or phrases that are alternating. This works seamlessly with adjectives, directions, nouns, or verbs.
To see this in action, let's navigate a winding passageway (culoarul întortocheat) in an endless labyrinth (un labirint nesfârșit).
| The labyrinth is now dark, now bright. | Labirintul este ba întunecos, ba luminos. |
| You go now left, now right in the winding passageway. | Mergi ba la stânga, ba la dreapta în culoarul întortocheat. |
Alternating Nouns, Verbs, and Adverbs
The flexibility of ba..., ba... means you can use it to link almost any two contrasting elements you encounter.
If you are alternating between seeing different objects, like a door and a trap (capcana), ba goes right before the nouns. If the ceiling (tavanul) is moving in different directions, ba goes before the verbs.
| She sees now a door, now a trap. | Ea vede ba o ușă, ba o capcană. |
| The ceiling now descends, now rises slowly. | Tavanul ba coboară, ba urcă încet. |
You can also alternate adverbs of place, such as here and there (aici, acolo), to describe where an echo (ecoul) is heard.
| The endless echo is heard now here, now there. | Ecoul nesfârșit este auzit ba aici, ba acolo. |
