Care, ce, or cine?

Romanian uses different question words for a person, a thing or action, and a choice from a known set: Cine vine? (Who is coming?), Ce citești? (What are you reading?), and Care carte citești? (Which book are you reading?)

How do you choose between cine, ce, and care?

Choose the base question word by meaning first. Use cine for a person. Use ce for a thing, action, state, or kind. Use care when you are selecting one or more possibilities from an identified or limited set. Then use the word's role in the sentence to choose forms such as pe cine or cui.

What changes when a noun follows the question word?

A question word that comes directly before a noun is part of the noun phrase. Cine cannot come directly before a noun. Ce is invariable: it stays the same before every noun. Care also keeps one form in subject and direct-object noun phrases, regardless of gender or number.

• Use cine as a pronoun for “who.” Do not put it directly before a noun: use ce student? for “what kind of student?” or care student? for “which student?”
• Use ce for an open question about a thing, action, or state: Ce carte citești? (What book are you reading?) It does not change for gender or number: ce film, ce carte, and ce filme.
• Use care when the listener can identify a set or compare alternatives: Care dintre aceste filme îți place? (Which of these films do you like?) The noun after care has no definite article: care film, not care filmul.
• For “what kind of…?”, ce fel de is often clearer than bare ce: Ce fel de muzică asculți? (What kind of music do you listen to?)

How do object questions work?

Use the question word that matches the object’s meaning and grammatical role. A human direct-object question normally uses pe cine. Use cui for a recipient. Ce normally appears without pe when it asks about a thing.

The same object contrast applies to a standalone care: Pe care îl alegi? (Which one do you choose?) Here pe care is the direct object and îl is the matching short object pronoun. When care comes before a noun, keep the whole phrase together: Pe care student îl recomanzi? (Which student do you recommend?) See the direct-object marker pe for the wider pattern.

How do you ask about a recipient?

Use cui, the genitive–dative form of cine, to ask about a recipient: Cui îi trimiți mesajul? (Whom are you sending the message to?) The short pronoun îi is common in the complete sentence. See Romanian interrogative pronouns and determiners for possession and the fuller case paradigms.

What is the neutral word order?

Put the question word or phrase near the beginning. The verb keeps its ordinary form. When another subject is named, it commonly follows the verb: Ce citește Ana? (What is Ana reading?) and Care carte citește Ana? (Which book is Ana reading?)

• When the question word is the subject, it comes before the verb: Cine vine? (Who is coming?) or Care sunt biletele tale? (Which ones are your tickets?)
• When the question word is the object, the named subject commonly follows the verb: Ce cumpără Radu? (What is Radu buying?) or Care film preferă Maria? (Which film does Maria prefer?)
• When a question emphasizes a contrast or a topic, other word orders can appear. Learn the patterns above as neutral starting points rather than as an absolute ban on every other order.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not use cine before a noun: Cine vine? means “Who is coming?”, but “Which student is coming?” is Care student vine?.
• Do not use care for every translation of English “what.” Use Ce ai văzut? (What did you see?) for an open question and Care dintre aceste poze ai ales? (Which of these pictures did you choose?) for a selection.
• Do not confuse pe cine with cui: Pe cine ai sunat? asks for a direct object, while Cui i-ai telefonat? asks for a recipient.
• Do not drop pe from the neutral human direct-object question: say Pe cine ai văzut? (Whom did you see?), not Cine ai văzut?.
• Do not treat care as if it agreed in nominative–accusative: use the same form in care carte, care cărți, and care studenți.