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Cafeaua caldă este în cana mare.

Cafeaua caldă este în cana mare.
The hot coffee is in the big mug.
From Lesson 66:Setting the Table·Romanian

Questions & Answers about Cafeaua caldă este în cana mare.

Why is the word for coffee cafeaua and not just cafea?
Cafeaua means "the coffee." In Romanian, the word for "the" is attached to the end of the noun. The base word is cafea. For feminine words that end in -ea, the suffix you add to say "the" is -ua.
Doesn't Romanian usually drop the attached "the" after prepositions like în? Why is it în cana here?
Great catch! Normally, after prepositions like în (in) or pe (on), the noun drops the attached "the" (so you would just say în cană for "in the mug"). But there is an exception: if the noun is followed by a descriptive adjective (like mare), the "the" comes back! So it becomes în cana mare.
Why is the word for hot caldă and not cald?
In Romanian, adjectives change to match the gender of the noun they describe. Since cafea is a feminine noun, the basic masculine adjective cald changes to its feminine form by adding an -ă, becoming caldă.
If adjectives change to match the noun, why isn't mare (big) spelled differently to match the feminine noun cana?
Mare is a type of adjective that ends in -e. These adjectives are exactly the same for both masculine and feminine singular nouns. You don't need to change it; it stays mare whether you are talking about a big mug (o cană mare) or a big boy (un băiat mare).

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