Word
Mi se spune că vraja este puternică.
Meaning
I am told that the spell is strong.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Mi se spune că vraja este puternică.
fi
to be (sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt)
spune
to say / to recite
că
that (conjunction)
se
oneself / impersonal particle (as in "English is spoken here")
Questions & Answers about Mi se spune că vraja este puternică.
Why does the Romanian sentence use mi se spune instead of a direct translation like sunt spus for 'I am told'?
Romanian rarely uses the literal passive voice (sunt spus) with verbs of communication. Instead, it prefers an impersonal reflexive construction. Se spune means 'it is said', and the dative pronoun mi adds 'to me'. Literally, you are saying 'It is said to me', which is the most natural way to express 'I am told' in Romanian.
If the verb is impersonal, how do I change the sentence to say 'He is told' or 'We are told'?
The verb and reflexive pronoun stay completely frozen as se spune. To change who is receiving the information, you only swap the dative pronoun at the beginning. 'He is told' becomes i se spune, and 'we are told' becomes ni se spune.
Is the order of the pronouns strict? Could I say se mi spune?
The order is completely fixed. When you have two unstressed pronouns before a verb, the dative indirect object (mi, ți, i, ne, vă, le) must always come before the accusative or reflexive pronoun (in this case, se).
Why is că used here instead of să to mean 'that'?