Breakdown of Omul așteaptă poliția pe stradă.
aștepta
to wait
pe
on
strada
the street
omul
the man (human being)
poliția
the police
Questions & Answers about Omul așteaptă poliția pe stradă.
Why is there no word for "for" in this sentence?
In English, we say "wait for", but the Romanian verb a aștepta (to wait) takes a direct object. This means you don't need a preposition. The phrase așteaptă poliția literally translates to "is waiting the police".
How does omul mean "the man"?
In Romanian, the word for "the" (the definite article) attaches to the end of the noun rather than coming before it. The base word is om (man or person), and adding the suffix -ul makes it omul (the man).
Why does poliția end in "a"?
Why doesn't stradă have a "the" ending, since the translation says "on the street"?
After simple prepositions like pe (on), în (in), or la (at), Romanian usually drops the "the" ending from the noun. So instead of saying pe strada (on the street), you just say pe stradă.
Does așteaptă translate to "waits" or "is waiting"?
It translates to both! Romanian doesn't have a separate "-ing" tense for actions happening right now. The present tense așteaptă covers both "he waits" and "he is waiting".
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