Questions & Answers about Eu nu citesc numele ei.
Why is the word for 'her' (ei) the exact same as the word for 'they'?
That is a common quirk of Romanian! The word ei means 'they' (for a feminine group) when used as a subject, but it also means 'her' or 'hers' when used to show possession. You can tell which one it is by its position in the sentence. Because it comes right after a noun here (numele), it is the possessive 'her'.
Does ei change its spelling if the noun before it is masculine or plural?
No, it does not! Unlike some other possessive words you might learn, third-person possessives like ei (her), lui (his), and lor (their) are completely invariable. This means ei stays exactly the same no matter the gender or number of the thing being owned.
Why does the sentence use numele (the name) instead of just nume (name)?
In Romanian, when you use a possessive word like ei after a noun, that noun almost always needs a definite article attached to its end. The word nume means 'name', and the suffix -le makes it numele ('the name'). So, the Romanian structure is literally 'the name her'.
Why does the verb a citi (to read) become citesc here?
The verb a citi belongs to a common group of verbs that add the special suffix -esc when conjugated for eu (I). Instead of just attaching a regular ending to the root, you add this extra chunk to get eu citesc.
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