Learn Romanian: Fiul său citește o carte. - His son is reading a book.

Fiul său citește o carte.

His son is reading a book.

Breakdown of Fiul său citește o carte.

Questions & Answers about Fiul său citește o carte.

Why does the word for son have a definite article (Fiul) if we are saying "his son"?

In Romanian, possessive adjectives like său (his/her) must come directly after a noun with a definite article. Fiul means "the son", so you are literally saying "the son his". If you just said fiu său, it would be grammatically incorrect.

How do we know său means "his" here and not "her"?

Without context, we actually don't! The possessive adjective său can mean either "his" or "her". It takes this masculine form because the possessed noun, fiul (the son), is masculine. Romanian possessive adjectives change to match the gender of the thing being owned, not the owner.

Why is the definite article on fiu just -l instead of -ul?

Most masculine nouns get -ul added to the end to mean "the" (like bărbatul for "the man"). However, because fiu already ends in the letter u, you just add the -l to get fiul.

Does citește translate to "reads" or "is reading"?

It translates to both! Romanian doesn't have a separate verb form for continuous actions happening right now (like the English "-ing"). The word citește means both "reads" and "is reading". You just pick the translation that makes the most sense in English.