Breakdown of Unde sunt orașele și drumurile?
fi
to be (sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt)
și
and
unde
where
orașul
the city
drumul
the road
Questions & Answers about Unde sunt orașele și drumurile?
Why does the word for "the cities" end in -le?
In Romanian, the word for "the" attaches to the end of the noun. The singular word for "city" is oraș. To make it plural ("cities"), we add -e to get orașe. Because it is a neuter noun, the plural definite article ("the") is -le. Attaching it gives us orașele ("the cities").
How do we build the word drumurile from its singular form?
The singular word for road is drum. Just like oraș, it is a neuter noun, but it takes a different plural ending: -uri. This makes drumuri ("roads"). To say "the roads", we add the same neuter plural article -le to the end, giving us drumurile.
How do I know whether to use -e like in orașe or -uri like in drumuri for neuter nouns?
Unfortunately, there isn't a strict rule for which neuter nouns take -e and which take -uri. It is best to memorize the plural form when you learn a new neuter noun. However, as this sentence shows, both forms will always use -le to mean "the" in the plural!
Doesn't sunt mean "I am"? Why is it used here for "are"?
You are right that eu sunt means "I am". However, the verb a fi (to be) shares the exact same form for "they are". So, sunt translates to both "I am" and "they are" depending on the context. Here, since we are talking about cities and roads (they), sunt translates to "are".
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