Word
Directorul mi-a dat aprobarea ieri.
Meaning
The director gave me the approval yesterday.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Directorul mi-a dat aprobarea ieri.
What exactly does mi-a stand for in this sentence?
It is a combination of two words merged together with a hyphen because spoken quickly, they blend into one sound. mi- is the short form of îmi (to me), and a is the helping verb for "he/she/it" in the past tense. Together with the main verb dat, it means "he gave (to) me".
Could I just say a dat mie instead of using mi-a?
No, you cannot drop the short form mi-. If you want to add special emphasis (like saying "he gave it to me, not to someone else"), you can add the long form mie into the sentence: Directorul mi-a dat mie aprobarea ieri. However, the short form mi- is mandatory and must always stay attached to the helping verb a.
Where does the word dat come from?
dat is the past participle of the verb a da (to give). In the Romanian past tense (perfect compus), you always build the verb by using a helping verb (like a for he/she) followed by this past participle form.
Why do both directorul and aprobarea have extra letters at the end?