Care or pe care?

Choose care or pe care from the role and structure of the phrase. Use bare care for a subject, but pe care for a standalone direct object: Pe care îl alegi? (Which one are you choosing?) When a direct-object noun follows, its meaning controls the form. Use pe care before a person noun. Normally use bare care before an inanimate noun.

How do you choose care or pe care?

Identify the role of care first, then check whether a direct-object care stands alone or modifies a person or inanimate noun.

1. Identify the role of care. For a subject, use bare care: Care student vine? (Which student is coming?) If another preposition governs care, keep it: Despre care vorbești? (Which one are you talking about?)
2. If care is the direct object, check whether it stands alone. Standalone care takes pe and a matching short object pronoun, called a clitic: Pe care îl inviți? (Which one are you inviting?)
3. If direct-object care modifies a noun, check what the noun refers to. A person noun takes pe care: Pe care student îl inviți? (Which student are you inviting?)
4. If direct-object care modifies an inanimate noun, normally use bare care. Keep the matching clitic in the complete sentence: Care film îl alegi? (Which film are you choosing?)

When does standalone care become pe care?

Standalone care has the form pe care when it is the direct object. This remains true whether it refers to a person or a thing: Pe care o citești? (Which one are you reading?) and Pe care îl inviți? (Which one are you inviting?)

• Use bare care for a subject: Care este mai interesant? (Which one is more interesting?)
• Use pe care for a standalone direct object: Pe care îl preferi? (Which one do you prefer?)
• When another preposition introduces the complement, use that preposition with bare care: say Despre care ai citit? (Which one did you read about?), not Despre pe care.
• Do not choose by the English word “which” alone. First ask whether Romanian care is the subject, a noun modifier, a direct object, or the complement of another preposition.

What changes when a noun follows care?

When care directly modifies a noun in a direct-object phrase, the noun's meaning controls pe. A person noun takes pe care, while an inanimate noun normally takes bare care. In both patterns, the complete neutral sentence uses a short object pronoun that matches the noun.

The word care itself does not change for gender or number in the nominative-accusative: care student, care studentă, care filme, and care cărți. The noun and the clitic carry the relevant agreement.

How does the short pronoun match the direct object?

In a complete direct-object clause, a matching accusative clitic normally stays next to the verb when a full care phrase is present. This is object doubling: o and pe care fată refer to one object in Pe care fată o inviți? (Which girl are you inviting?), not to two objects.

The clitic is not an extra object. It identifies the person, gender, and number of the understood direct object, while care selects one item from a set. A short answer such as Pe mine! is a fragment, so it does not show the complete-clause pattern.

How does the choice work in relative clauses?

The same role contrast appears in relative clauses. Use care without pe when it is the relative-clause subject: Cartea care este pe masă este nouă. (The book that is on the table is new.) Use pe care when it is the direct object, including with an inanimate antecedent: Cartea pe care am cumpărat-o este nouă. (The book that I bought is new.) See Romanian relative clauses for the wider system.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not say Care îl alegi? when standalone care is the direct object. Say Pe care îl alegi?.
• Do not put pe before an inanimate noun modified by care: say Care carte o cumperi?, not Pe care carte o cumperi?.
• Do not omit pe before a person noun in a direct-object phrase: say Pe care student îl inviți?, not Care student îl inviți?.
• Do not add pe to a subject: Care student răspunde? means “Which student is answering?”
• Do not confuse direct-object pe with a lexical preposition: Cartea este pe masă. (The book is on the table.) uses pe for location, not for the object of este.

What is the neutral Standard Romanian pattern?

These are dependable patterns for neutral contemporary Standard Romanian. The broader distribution of direct-object pe and clitic doubling can depend on animacy, definiteness, information structure, and the exact construction. Less typical sentences may allow more than one form. For the wider direct-object system, see the direct-object marker pe and Romanian object pronoun doubling.