Breakdown of Ești paranoic dacă teama te împiedică să ieși din casă.
fi
to be (sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt)
casa
the house
ieși
to go out
din
from / out of / in (located in, after a noun)
să
to (subjunctive marker)
te
you (sg., direct object) / yourself
dacă
if / whether
împiedica
to prevent (by hindering)
paranoic
paranoid
teama
the fear
Questions & Answers about Ești paranoic dacă teama te împiedică să ieși din casă.
The current lesson is about adding an extra nu after expressions of fear. Why isn't there a nu before ieși in this sentence?
The expletive (meaningless) nu is used directly after expressions of fearing that something will happen, like de teamă să nu (for fear that). In this sentence, teama (the fear) is simply the subject of the verb a împiedica (to prevent). The phrase a împiedica pe cineva să facă ceva (to prevent someone from doing something) takes a standard affirmative subjunctive (să ieși), not a negative one.
How does the construction with împiedică differ from the English translation?
In English, we say 'prevents you from going out' using the preposition 'from' plus an -ing verb. Romanian uses a direct object pronoun (te) followed directly by the subjunctive verb (să ieși). Literally, the Romanian structure translates to 'prevents you that you go out'.
Could I use frica instead of teama in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Frica and teama are completely interchangeable synonyms. Because the word acts as the specific subject of the sentence, it needs the definite article, so you would use frica (the fear) exactly as you use teama (the fear).
Why do we use din casă for 'out of the house' instead of de la casă?
When you are physically exiting the inside of a three-dimensional enclosed space, such as a house, a room, or a car, Romanian uses the preposition din (out of / from inside). You would use de la when leaving a general location, a geographical place, or a person.
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