Question 1

The English translation uses the word 'there' twice. Why does Romanian only use acolo once?

Accepted Answer

English uses 'there' in two ways in this sentence: once as a placeholder subject ('There are...') and once to show location ('...there'). Romanian does not use placeholder subjects. The verb sunt simply means 'are', and acolo means 'there' (in that place). So, saying acolo sunt perfectly covers both the location and the fact that the cows exist.

Question 2

Why is there a de between douăzeci and vaci?

Accepted Answer

In Romanian, numbers from 20 onwards require the preposition de (which translates roughly to 'of') right before the noun they are counting. For numbers 1 through 19, you put the number directly next to the noun, like două vaci (two cows). But starting at 20, you must say douăzeci de vaci (literally 'twenty of cows').

Question 3

What is the singular form of vaci, and does the pronunciation change?

Accepted Answer

The singular word for cow is vacă. To make it plural, the feminine ending -ă changes to -i. This change also affects pronunciation: the 'c' in vacă has a hard 'k' sound (like in 'cat'), but because it is followed by an 'i' in vaci, it changes to a soft 'ch' sound (like in 'cheese').

Question 4

Since vaci is feminine, do I need to change the number 20 to match its gender?

Accepted Answer

No, the word for 20 is always douăzeci. Even though the word itself is built using the feminine word for two (două), compound numbers like this do not change to match the gender of the noun they are counting. You would use the exact same word for a masculine noun, for example, douăzeci de bărbați (twenty men).

Acolo sunt douăzeci de vaci.

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