Learn Romanian: Copilul se spală pe păr. - The child washes his hair.

Se is a reflexive pronoun meaning "himself" or "herself." In Romanian, daily routine actions like washing, dressing, or waking up are often reflexive. Literally, the sentence says "The child washes himself on the hair."

Why do we use pe păr ("on hair") instead of a word for "his"?

In Romanian, when you talk about doing a routine action to your own body parts or hair, you don't usually use possessive words like "my" or "his." Instead, you use a reflexive pronoun (like se) to show who is receiving the action, plus the preposition pe (on) before the body part. So, se spală pe păr is the natural way to say "washes his hair."

How would I say "I wash my hair" using this pattern?

You would change the reflexive pronoun and the verb to match "I" (eu). It becomes mă spăl pe păr. The word mă is the accusative reflexive pronoun for "myself."

Why is the word for "the child" copilul and not just copil?

Copil means "child" or "a child." To say "the child," Romanian attaches the definite article (the word for "the") directly to the end of the noun. For masculine nouns like copil, we add -ul, making it copilul.