Question 1

How does the word cineva work, and does it change if I'm expecting a man or a woman?

Accepted Answer

Cineva means "someone" or "somebody." It is made by adding the suffix -va (which gives a sense of "some-" or "any-") to the question word cine (who). It is an invariable pronoun, meaning its form stays exactly the same regardless of the gender of the person you are referring to.

Question 2

The English translation says "is someone", but shouldn't there be a word for "there" to make it "is there someone"?

Accepted Answer

In Romanian, the verb este (is) frequently doubles as "there is." You don't need a separate word for "there" in this context. You will also often hear the verb a exista used this way (există cineva? = is there someone?), but este cineva is perfectly natural and common.

Question 3

The translation says "in the house", but casă doesn't have the definite article attached to the end. Why?

Accepted Answer

After simple prepositions of location like în (in), Romanian usually drops the definite article if the noun is used in a general sense. În casă simply means "indoors" or "inside." If you wanted to specify a particular house, you would use the definite article -a and add more information, like în casa vecinului (in the neighbor's house).

Question 4

What gender is the noun zgomot, and how does that affect the adjective ciudat?

Accepted Answer

Zgomot is a neuter noun (un zgomot, două zgomote). Remember that neuter nouns act like masculine nouns in the singular and feminine nouns in the plural. Because we are talking about one noise, the adjective takes the masculine/neuter singular form ciudat. If you heard multiple strange noises, it would change to the feminine plural form: zgomote ciudate.

Aud un zgomot ciudat, este cineva în casă?

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