Breakdown of Pătrunjelul l-a tocat bucătarul.
avea
to have
îl
him / it (m, n)
bucătarul
the cook
pătrunjelul
the parsley
toca
to chop
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?
Romanian word order is very flexible and is largely driven by focus. By putting Pătrunjelul first, the speaker makes it the topic (e.g., answering "What happened to the parsley?"). Placing the subject bucătarul at the end puts a slight emphasis on who did the action, revealing as new information that it was the cook.
Learn Pătrunjelul l-a tocat bucătarul and more in Romanian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free