Breakdown of Ideea lor este foarte bună.
fi
to be (sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt)
foarte
very
bun
good
lor
their
ideea
the idea
Questions & Answers about Ideea lor este foarte bună.
Why does lor come after the noun, unlike in English where we say "their idea"?
In Romanian, possessive words like lor (their), lui (his), and ei (her) almost always come after the noun they possess.
Why is the word for idea spelled ideea here instead of just idee?
When you use a possessive word like lor after a noun, that noun must have a definite article (the equivalent of "the" in English) attached to its end. So, you start with the feminine noun idee (idea) and add the article -a to get ideea (the idea). Literally, this sentence says "The idea of them is very good."
Since ideea is feminine singular, shouldn't lor change its ending to match it?
No! Unlike the possessive words for "my" or "your", the 3rd-person possessives lui (his), ei (her), and lor (their) are invariable. This means lor is always lor, no matter if it is describing one feminine idea (ideea lor) or multiple masculine dogs (câinii lor).
Why is the adjective bună instead of bun?
Adjectives must match the noun they describe. Since ideea is a feminine singular noun, the adjective takes the feminine singular form bună instead of the masculine form bun. It does not matter that lor (their) refers to multiple people; the adjective only cares about the noun.
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