Stressed dative pronouns (mie, ție, lui)

Conjugation 4 Verbs Ending in -î

Some Conjugation 4 verbs end in -î instead of -i. To form the past participle for these verbs, you simply drop the -î and add -ât.

For example, a hotărî (to decide) becomes hotărât, a coborî (to go down) becomes coborât, and a urî (to hate) becomes urât.

Stressed Dative Pronouns

When a waiter mixes up your table's order, you need to be very clear about exactly who gets which dish. To add strong emphasis, Romanian uses stressed (or full) dative pronouns.

These stressed pronouns do not replace the unstressed pronouns (like îmi, îți, le) that you already know. Instead, they are used alongside them in the same sentence. This "doubling" clarifies and emphasizes the recipient.

Emphasizing "To Me" and "To You"

To emphasize that something is brought to me or you, pair mie with îmi (or mi-), and ție with îți (or ți-). The stressed pronoun usually comes after the verb, but it can also be placed at the beginning of the phrase for even stronger contrast.

Emphasizing "To Him" and "To Her"

For the third person singular, pair lui (to him) or ei (to her) with the unstressed pronoun îi (or i-).

Emphasizing Plural Recipients

To emphasize plural recipients, use vouă for "to you all" (paired with vă / v-) and lor for "to them" (paired with le).

Contrasting and Clarifying

You will frequently see these stressed pronouns used when contrasting two different recipients to clear up confusion.