Breakdown of Cel mai scump iaht a ajuns în port.
avea
to have
scump
expensive
în
in
ajunge
to arrive
mai
more / still (adverb)
cel
the (demonstrative article, as in "the most ...") / the one (who/that)
portul
the port
iahtul
the yacht
Questions & Answers about Cel mai scump iaht a ajuns în port.
Why is it cel mai scump iaht instead of iahtul cel mai scump?
Both mean the same thing and are grammatically correct. When the superlative adjective comes before the noun (cel mai scump iaht), the noun remains in its base form. If you place the noun first, it must take the definite article (iahtul cel mai scump). Placing the adjective first puts a bit more emphasis on the quality being described.
The translation says "in the port", so why is it just în port and not în portul?
In Romanian, nouns generally drop their definite article after simple prepositions of place like în, la, or pe, unless the noun is further described by an adjective or another modifier. Because port stands alone here, în port correctly translates to "in the port".
Why do we use the article cel here instead of cea?
The demonstrative article cel must agree with the noun it modifies. Iaht is a neuter noun (un iaht, două iahturi). Since neuter nouns act like masculine nouns in the singular, it takes the masculine/neuter singular form cel. If the noun were feminine, you would use cea (for example, cea mai scumpă barcă).
Does a ajuns always mean "arrived"?
In this context involving a destination, yes. However, you will also frequently see a ajunge used to mean "to become" (for example, a ajuns celebru meaning he became famous) or "to be enough" (îmi ajunge, meaning it is enough for me).
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