Breakdown of În fiecare duminică, mâncarea era gătită de bunica.
fi
to be (sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt)
în
in
bunica
the grandmother
mâncarea
the food
duminică
Sunday
fiecare
every / each
găti
to cook
de
by (agent in passive)
Questions & Answers about În fiecare duminică, mâncarea era gătită de bunica.
Why use the imperfect era instead of the perfect compus a fost?
The phrase În fiecare duminică (Every Sunday) tells us this was a repeated, ongoing habit in the past. For habitual past actions, Romanian uses the imperfect tense (era) rather than the perfect compus (a fost).
Why does the verb gătită end in -ă here?
This sentence uses the passive voice. In Romanian, when you form the passive voice with the verb a fi (here, era), the past participle that follows must act like an adjective and agree in gender and number with the subject. Since mâncarea is feminine singular, the past participle gătit becomes gătită.
Is de the usual way to say "by" when someone does an action?
Yes, in passive sentences, de is the standard preposition used to introduce the person doing the action (the agent). You might also see de către, which means the exact same thing but sounds a bit more formal.
Why isn't the definite article used on duminică (like duminica) since we are talking about specific Sundays?
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