Breakdown of Ei o respectă pe șefa lor.
ei
they; them (after a preposition)
lor
their
o
it / her (f, direct object)
pe
(marks a specific human direct object)
respecta
to respect
șefa
the boss
Questions & Answers about Ei o respectă pe șefa lor.
Why do we need the word o before the verb?
o is a short pronoun meaning "her". Because the direct object (șefa lor) is a specific person, Romanian grammar requires this "double marking." You must use both the short pronoun (o) before the verb and the marker pe before the noun. Literally, it is like saying "They her respect pe their boss.".
What does pe mean in this sentence?
In this context, pe does not translate to anything in English. It is simply a grammatical marker placed before a direct object when that object is a specific human being (like a boss, a relative, or someone's name).
Could I just say "Ei respectă șefa lor" without o and pe?
If the word for female boss is șefă, why is it written here as șefa?
șefa means "the boss" (the basic noun șefă plus the definite article -a at the end). In Romanian, when you use a possessive word like lor (their) after a noun, that noun is required to have its "the" ending attached to it.
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