Breakdown of Femeia a închiriat o mașină foarte scumpă.
femeia
the woman
mașina
the car
o
a / an (f)
foarte
very
Questions & Answers about Femeia a închiriat o mașină foarte scumpă.
Does a închiria only mean "to rent" as a customer, or can it also mean "to rent out" as an owner?
It means both! Just like the English verb "to rent", a închiria can mean paying to use a car or apartment yourself, or letting your own property out to someone else. You must rely entirely on context to know which action is happening.
Why is the word order o mașină foarte scumpă instead of o foarte scumpă mașină like in English?
In Romanian, descriptive adjectives almost always follow the noun they modify. When an adverb (like foarte) modifies that adjective, the whole phrase stays together after the noun. Placing this descriptive phrase before the noun is reserved for highly poetic contexts and sounds unnatural in everyday speech.
The adjective scumpă means "expensive" here, but doesn't it also mean "dear" or "precious"?
Yes, scump can mean "dear" or "beloved" when applied to people (for example, prietena mea scumpă). However, when applied to inanimate objects or services like a car, it almost exclusively means "expensive". To avoid ambiguity when talking about people, Romanians often prefer the word drag for "dear".