Breakdown of Care este cel mai înalt vârf al muntelui?
fi
to be (sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt)
muntele
the mountain
al
the possessive article (m.sg; a, ai, ale)
înalt
tall
Questions & Answers about Care este cel mai înalt vârf al muntelui?
Why do we use cel mai here instead of cea mai?
Doesn't the adjective usually come after the noun in Romanian? Why is it cel mai înalt vârf?
You are right, normally it would be noun + adjective. However, superlatives are often placed before the noun, just like in English. If you want to put it after the noun, you must add the definite article ('the') to the noun: vârful cel mai înalt (literally 'the peak the highest'). Both word orders are correct and very common!
Why is the word al used before muntelui?
How did munte (mountain) become muntelui?
To say 'of the mountain', we use the genitive case. The base noun is munte. Adding the word 'the' makes it muntele (the mountain). In the genitive case, the masculine/neuter 'the' ending -le changes to -lui, giving us muntelui.