What should I do? Ce să fac?
English needs should to ask what to do. Romanian puts the question word straight in front of să + subjunctive: Ce să fac? (What should I do?). You ask it to get advice, or to yourself when you are stuck. Every question word works the same way: unde să (where), cui să-i (to whom), pe cine să (whom), cu cine să (with whom), cum să (how). After cui, the dative pronoun comes along: cui să-i spun?
| question | what it asks |
|---|
| Ce faci? | what are you doing? (a fact) |
| Ce trebuie să faci? | what do you have to do? (a duty) |
| Ce să faci? | what should you do? (a choice) |
Said with a shrug, ce să faci? also means what can you do? And keep it apart from the indignant Eu să depun documentul din nou?! (Me, submit it again?!): that one is an outburst, not a real question.
I don't know what to do: nu știu ce să fac
After nu știu or spune-mi, the same question word + să gives English what to, where to, how to. Compare nu știu unde merge (I don't know where he is going: a fact you are missing) with nu știu unde să merg (I don't know where to go: a decision you have not made yet).
Nowhere to sleep: n-am unde să dorm
Put nu am in front instead of asking, and you say there is nowhere, no one or nothing to …: n-am unde să dorm (I have nowhere to sleep), n-are cu cine să vorbească (he has no one to talk to).
Two of these are fixed phrases you will hear every day:
- n-am ce face: there's nothing I can do (about it). Here the verb keeps its dictionary form, with no să.
- n-am de ales: I have no choice.
Both change with the person: n-avem ce face, n-ai de ales.
