Breakdown of Luptătorul cu care exersez ține garda sus în fața mea.
cu
with
exersa
to practice
meu
my [mea, mei, mele]
care
which / who / that (relative pronoun)
Questions & Answers about Luptătorul cu care exersez ține garda sus în fața mea.
Why do we use the possessive adjective mea after în fața instead of a pronoun like mine?
Prepositions formed from nouns with a definite article (like în fața, meaning "in the front of") normally take the Genitive case. However, for 1st and 2nd person pronouns ("me" and "you"), Romanian doesn't use a Genitive pronoun. Instead, it treats the preposition like a regular noun and uses a possessive adjective. So în fața mea literally functions like "in my front".
Why is it mea (feminine) and not meu (masculine), even if the speaker is a man?
The possessive adjective must agree with the noun it modifies. Here, it attaches to the noun inside the prepositional phrase: fața (the face/front), which is feminine singular. Therefore, it must always be mea, regardless of the speaker's actual gender.
Why do we need cu before care here? Could I just say Luptătorul care exersez?
No, because you practice with someone (a exersa cu). In English you can leave the preposition dangling at the end ("the fighter I practice with"), but in Romanian, the preposition must come directly before the relative pronoun care.
The English translation says "keeps his guard up". Why isn't there a word for "his" in the Romanian sentence?
In Romanian, when referring to body parts, clothing, or personal states (like a fighting stance), the definite article alone is usually enough if the owner is obvious from the context. Here, garda (the guard) naturally belongs to the fighter, so adding a possessive word is unnecessary.