Question words (ce, unde, cine)

Asking "Who"

In Romanian, forming a question with a question word is straightforward. You simply start the sentence with the question word, keep the normal word order, and raise your pitch at the end of the sentence. There are no helper words like "do" or "does" to worry about.

Let's start with the word cine (who). We will also learn our first profession: profesorul (the teacher).

Asking "Where" and Describing People

To ask about locations, we use the question word unde (where).

Before we look at some examples, it is important to know that Romanian nouns referring to people often change their endings based on whether the person is male or female. You already know profesorul (the male teacher), but for a female teacher, you use profesoara. Similarly, we have studentul (the male student) and studenta (the female student).

Asking "What"

To ask about objects or abstract concepts, use the question word ce (what).

We will practice this with a few common objects: dicționarul (the dictionary) and televizorul (the television). You can use your new question words alongside the location words you already know to talk about things around you.