In everyday spoken Romanian, you will often hear native speakers replace the standard relative pronoun care (who, which, that) with the casual word de. It is invariable, meaning it never changes form to match gender or number.
De as the Direct Object
When the noun described by de receives the action, you must include a direct object pronoun next to the verb, just as you would with pe care.
For a feminine singular noun like vânăta (the eggplant), use the pronoun -o:
| The eggplant that I bought is fresh. | Vânăta de am cumpărat-o e proaspătă. |
For masculine singular nouns, use l-:
| The boy that you saw is selling this zucchini. | Băiatul de l-ai văzut vinde dovlecelul ăsta. |
For plural nouns, use le-:
| Are the celery and the leek that you brought on the table? | Țelina și prazul de le-ai adus sunt pe masă? |
De as the Subject
When the noun is the subject of the relative clause (performing the action), the structure is even simpler. Just place de directly after the noun—no extra object pronouns are needed.
| The spinach, I bought it from the same man who sells the dill. | Spanacul, l-am cumpărat de la același om de vinde mărarul. |
| The customer who is looking for the dill always buys a lot of greens. | Clientul de caută mărarul cumpără mereu multă verdeață. |
| The quince, I put it in the bag that's on the chair. | Gutuia, am pus-o în punga de e pe scaun. |
Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io