Learn Romanian: Pisica s-a ascuns printre flori. - The cat hid among the flowers.

Pisica s-a ascuns printre flori.

The cat hid among the flowers.

Breakdown of Pisica s-a ascuns printre flori.

(he/she) has … himself/herself (reflexive past)

Questions & Answers about Pisica s-a ascuns printre flori.

Why is it "s-a ascuns" and not just "a ascuns"?

In Romanian, the verb for hiding oneself is reflexive: a se ascunde. If you just say a ascuns, it means the cat hid something else (like a toy). Because the cat hid itself, you need the reflexive pronoun se, which contracts with the helping verb a to form s-a.

What is the infinitive (dictionary form) of "ascuns"?

It comes from a (se) ascunde. It is an irregular verb, so its past participle (used to form the past tense) is ascuns instead of having a standard ending like -ut or -it.

Could I use "între" instead of "printre" here?

You could, but printre is much more natural for this situation. Printre translates best as "among" a scattered group of things (like a patch of flowers or trees in a forest). Între is usually used for "between" two specific things or clearly defined boundaries.

The English translation says "among THE flowers", so why is it just "flori" and not "florile"?

In Romanian, simple prepositions like printre (as well as pe, sub, în, etc.) are usually followed by a bare, unarticulated noun. Even though we translate it as "the flowers" in English, adding the Romanian definite article here (printre florile) would sound unnatural unless you were specifying exactly which flowers, like "among the flowers that I planted" (printre florile pe care le-am plantat).