Word
Pătrunjelul l-a tocat bucătarul.
Meaning
The parsley, the cook chopped it.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Pătrunjelul l-a tocat bucătarul.
avea
to have
îl
him / it (m, n)
bucătarul
the cook
pătrunjelul
the parsley
Questions & Answers about Pătrunjelul l-a tocat bucătarul.
Why do we need the pronoun l- in this sentence? Wouldn't Pătrunjelul a tocat bucătarul mean the same thing?
In Romanian, when a definite direct object like Pătrunjelul is moved to the front of the sentence for emphasis (left-dislocation), you must include an accusative clitic pronoun right before the verb to refer back to it. Without l-, the sentence is grammatically incorrect.
Since both pătrunjelul and bucătarul have the definite article -ul, how do we grammatically tell which one is the subject and which is the object?
Besides common sense (parsley doesn't chop cooks), the clitic pronoun l- gives it away. It signals that a masculine singular direct object has been moved out of its normal position after the verb. If the first noun were the subject, the sentence would just be Pătrunjelul a tocat... with no clitic pronoun needed.
What exactly is the l- short for here?
It is the short form of îl, the third-person masculine singular accusative pronoun (meaning "him" or "it"). Because the auxiliary verb a starts with a vowel, îl drops its starting vowel and attaches to the auxiliary verb with a hyphen, creating l-a.
Why is the subject bucătarul placed at the very end of the sentence?