The partitive preposition (dintre)

The Partitive Preposition "dintre"

When you want to talk about a portion of a larger group—such as "many of them," "a few of the buyers," or "the best among the options"—Romanian uses the partitive preposition dintre ("of" or "among").

Use dintre right before a plural pronoun to express a quantity or fraction of that group:

Since we have the result, many of them offered positive feedback.
Din moment ce avem rezultatul, mulți dintre ei au oferit feedback pozitiv.
The target of the project is to select ten of them.
Obiectivul proiectului este să selectăm zece dintre ele.

Using "dintre" with Plural Nouns

When using dintre before a plural noun, the noun must be articulated (take the attached definite article) if it is followed by a modifier, such as an adjective or possessive word:

We want to interview a few of the representative buyers.
Vrem să intervievăm câțiva dintre cumpărătorii reprezentativi.
Many of our clients are the target of the campaign.
Mulți dintre clienții noștri sunt ținta campaniei.

Without modifiers, the plural noun stays in its unarticulated form:

Which of the products is popular in this segment?
Care dintre produse este popular în acest segment?

Proportions and Comparisons

You can use dintre to express the proportion of a specific demographic within a larger segment:

The proportion of women among the consumers is surprising.
Proporția femeilor dintre consumatori este surprinzătoare.
A year ago, the share of men among the participants was small.
În urmă cu un an, ponderea bărbaților dintre participanți era mică.

You can also use it to rank items or single out a target from a broader list of options:

This target is the most important of the options.
Această țintă este cea mai importantă dintre opțiuni.
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