Breakdown of El își protejează orgoliul.
el
he
își
(for) himself / herself / themselves (reflexive dative)
proteja
to protect
orgoliul
the ego / the pride
Questions & Answers about El își protejează orgoliul.
Why do we use își here instead of a word like lui or său for 'his'?
își is the 3rd-person dative reflexive pronoun. In Romanian, to say you are doing something to your own body part or personal attribute (like an ego), you usually use the dative reflexive (meaning 'to himself') rather than a possessive adjective. It literally translates to 'He protects the ego to himself.'
Why does orgoliul have the definite article -l (the ego) when the English translation says 'his ego'?
This works hand-in-hand with își. When you use the dative reflexive pronoun to indicate possession, the object being possessed must take the definite article. The combination of își (to himself) and orgoliul (the ego) creates the meaning of 'his ego'.
Could I just say El protejează orgoliul său instead?
Yes, grammatically you could use the possessive adjective său (his own). However, using the dative reflexive își with the definite article is the most natural and common way Romanians express this type of personal possession.
What is the infinitive of the verb protejează and why does it end in -ează?
The infinitive is a proteja (to protect). It belongs to the group of '-a' verbs that take the -ez suffix in the present tense. For the 3rd-person singular ('he/she'), that suffix becomes -ează.
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