Breakdown of Am parcat mașina în spatele benzinăriei.
mașina
the car
avea
to have
parca
to park
în spatele
behind
benzinăria
the gas station
Questions & Answers about Am parcat mașina în spatele benzinăriei.
Why do we say în spatele instead of just în spate?
În spatele acts as a compound preposition meaning "behind [something]" (literally "in the back of"). Because you are specifying exactly what you parked behind, spate needs the definite article -le. If you just wanted to say "I parked in the back" without mentioning the gas station, you would drop the article and say Am parcat în spate.
Why does benzinărie change to benzinăriei in this sentence?
Compound prepositions that end in a definite article, like în spatele (in the back of) or în fața (in front of), force the noun that follows into the genitive (possessive) case. For feminine nouns ending in -ie like benzinărie, the definite genitive form is created by replacing that ending with -iei.
The word benzinăriei comes from benzină (gasoline). Is -rie a common ending for locations?
I've learned that direct objects sometimes need pe in front of them. Why is it just mașina and not pe mașina?
In Romanian, the direct object marker pe is only used for specific people or sometimes beloved pets (for example, O aștept pe Maria meaning "I am waiting for Maria"). Since mașina is an inanimate object, it never takes pe. You just use the noun with its definite article.
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