Breakdown of Președintele a vorbit la televizor.
televizorul
the television
vorbi
to speak
la
at / to
președintele
the president
Questions & Answers about Președintele a vorbit la televizor.
Why do we use la (at) instead of pe (on) for "on TV"?
In Romanian, you use the preposition la (at) when talking about broadcasting mediums. So, "on TV" is always la televizor and "on the radio" is la radio, rather than using pe, which would imply being physically on top of the TV set.
How is the definite article added to președinte to mean "the president"?
Președinte is a masculine noun that ends in -e. To say "the", you simply attach the masculine definite article -le to the end of the word, resulting in președintele.
Why does the Romanian sentence use a vorbit (has spoken) when the English translation says "spoke"?
Romanian generally uses the compound past tense (perfectul compus) for all completed past actions in everyday spoken language. Because of this, a vorbit translates to both "spoke" and "has spoken" in English, depending on what sounds best in the translation.
Could I say la televiziune instead of la televizor?
You could, but la televizor is the standard, natural way to say someone appeared "on TV" in everyday speech. The word televiziune usually refers to the television industry, broadcasting as a concept, or a specific TV network.
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