Learn Romanian: Băiatul cântă foarte frumos. - The boy sings very beautifully.

Băiatul cântă foarte frumos.

The boy sings very beautifully.

Breakdown of Băiatul cântă foarte frumos.

beautiful / beautifully

cânta

to sing / to play (music), perform

Questions & Answers about Băiatul cântă foarte frumos.

How do we know cântă is the correct form for the boy?

Cântă comes from the regular verb a cânta (to sing). For most regular verbs ending in -a, the form for he, she, or it is made by replacing the final -a with -ă. Since the subject is băiatul (the boy), we use this form.

Where is the word for 'the' in băiatul?

In Romanian, 'the' attaches to the end of the noun rather than being a separate word before it. The base word is băiat (boy). Because it is a masculine noun, we add the suffix -ul to make băiatul (the boy).

Frumos usually means 'beautiful'. Why does it translate to 'beautifully' here?

In English, we usually add '-ly' to turn an adjective into an adverb to describe an action. In Romanian, you often just use the basic dictionary form of the adjective. So frumos works perfectly as an adverb meaning 'beautifully' to describe how he sings.

Can cântă also mean playing a musical instrument?

Yes! The verb a cânta means both 'to sing' and 'to play an instrument'. If the boy were playing the piano, you would still use cântă. Here, since no instrument is mentioned, it simply translates to 'sings'.