Question 1

Why use the imperfect aveam here instead of the perfect compus am avut?

Accepted Answer

The imperfect tense aveam is used for continuous, ongoing states in the past. It implies you owned the book over an open-ended period. If you used am avut, it would sound more like a completed event, perhaps implying you had it but just lost it, or you are focusing on the specific bounded fact of owning it.

Question 2

How can we tell if aveam means "I had" or "we had"?

Accepted Answer

You can't without more context! In the imperfect tense, the first-person singular (eu) and first-person plural (noi) forms are completely identical for all verbs. The translation here assumes "I", but it could easily mean "we had". To clarify, you would just add the pronoun: eu aveam or noi aveam.

Question 3

Could I say o carte de nutriție sportivă instead of using despre?

Accepted Answer

Yes, that would be completely natural. Using de (o carte de...) treats the topic like a category, translating closer to "a sports nutrition book". Using despre translates directly to "a book about sports nutrition" and puts slightly more focus on the specific subject matter discussed inside.

Question 4

Why does nutriția have the definite article -a at the end? Don't nouns usually drop the article after the preposition despre?

Accepted Answer

You are remembering a great rule: stand-alone nouns after despre usually drop the article (like despre nutriție). However, when the noun is modified by an adjective (like sportivă here) or refers to a very specific, defined academic field, it is common to add the definite article back on.

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