Learn Romanian: Băiatul nu poartă pantalonul roșu. - The boy is not wearing the red trousers.

Băiatul nu poartă pantalonul roșu.

The boy is not wearing the red trousers.

Breakdown of Băiatul nu poartă pantalonul roșu.

Questions & Answers about Băiatul nu poartă pantalonul roșu.

Why do both băiatul and pantalonul end in -ul?

In Romanian, the word for "the" (the definite article) attaches to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word in front. Both băiat (boy) and pantalon (trouser) are masculine nouns, so they take the ending -ul to mean "the boy" and "the trouser".

Wait, if pantalonul is singular, why is it translated as "the trousers"?

In English, words like "trousers" or "pants" are always plural, even when you mean just one pair. In Romanian, a single pair of pants is usually singular: un pantalon (a trouser) or pantalonul (the trouser). If you said pantalonii, it would usually mean multiple pairs!

Why does roșu come after the noun it describes?

Unlike English, where we say "the red trousers", Romanian typically places the descriptive adjective after the noun. So it translates in the order of "the trouser red" (pantalonul roșu).

The English translation says "is not wearing", but doesn't poartă also mean "wears"?

Yes! Romanian does not have a separate "is doing" (present continuous) tense. The single word poartă can mean either "wears" (in general) or "is wearing" (right now). You simply figure out which one is meant from the context.