Interrogative pronouns and determiners

Romanian interrogative pronouns ask about a person, thing, choice, or quantity. Some stand alone, while others can come before a noun: Cine vine? (Who is coming?) but Ce film vezi? (What film are you watching?).

What do the main interrogative forms ask?

Choose the form by meaning first, then check whether it stands alone or modifies a noun and whether it must agree with that noun.

How do you choose a pronoun or a determiner?

A pronoun replaces a noun and stands by itself; a determiner comes directly before a noun and helps identify or quantify it. Romanian grammar often calls these noun-modifying forms pronominal adjectives, but the learner decision is simply: is a noun present immediately after the question word?

• Cine is only a pronoun: it asks about people and cannot be placed directly before a noun. Say Cine este studentul? (Who is the student?), not cine student.
• Ce is invariable, so it does not change for gender or number: ce film, ce carte, and ce filme. As a determiner, it can ask about the type or quality of a person or thing: Ce student este Radu? (What kind of student is Radu?). Ce fel de student (what kind of student) is often clearer.
• Care selects one or more items from a known or limited set: Care dintre aceste variante este corectă? (Which of these options is correct?). In nominative-accusative use, care has one form for all genders and numbers.
• Cât asks about an uncountable quantity, while câți/câte ask about countable plural nouns. The form agrees with the noun or with the understood noun when it stands alone.

How do cât forms agree?

Match cât to the gender and number of the noun. Use singular cât with masculine or neuter nouns and câtă with feminine nouns; use plural câți with masculine nouns and câte with feminine or neuter nouns.

The noun after a quantitative interrogative normally has no article: câte cărți, not câte niște cărți and not câte cărțile. For a neuter noun, remember the usual pattern: masculine-looking in the singular but feminine-looking in the plural, as in cât vin (how much wine) versus câte scaune (how many chairs). See Romanian noun gender for the agreement pattern.

What changes in the basic cases?

For A2 questions, learn the common nominative-accusative forms together and recognize the genitive-dative forms used for recipients, possession, or a selected person or thing. The Romanian case system explains the larger pattern.

• Use cui for the dative question “to whom?”: Cui îi trimiți mesajul? (Who are you sending the message to?). The repeated îi is a short dative pronoun; it is common in a complete sentence.
• Use cui with the genitive article for “whose?”: A cui este geanta? (Whose bag is it?). The article agrees with the thing possessed: al cui for masculine or neuter singular, a cui for feminine singular, ai cui for masculine plural, and ale cui for feminine or neuter plural. See the genitive articles for that agreement.
• The standalone forms căruia, căreia, and cărora are useful when the question means “to which one/person?” or “to which ones?”: Căreia i-ai trimis fotografia? (Which one did you send the photograph to?) / Cărora le-ai mulțumit? (Which ones did you thank?).
• Before a noun, use the shorter agreeing forms cărui, cărei, and căror: Cărei colege i-ai trimis fotografia? (Which female colleague did you send the photograph to?).

When do you use pe cine?

Use pe cine when cine is the direct object of the verb. Romanian marks this human direct-object question with pe: Pe cine ai invitat? (Whom did you invite?). Do not use pe when cine is the subject or when cui is the dative recipient.

The same contrast helps with care: a standalone direct-object question commonly uses Pe care îl alegi? (Which one do you choose?), with pe and a matching clitic. A noun-modifying question has the noun in the phrase, as in Pe care student îl recomanzi? (Which student do you recommend?). The full doubling pattern belongs to Romanian object pronoun doubling; at this level, keep the dependable contrast cine → pe cine and cui → no pe.

What is the neutral question word order?

Put the interrogative word or phrase near the beginning, then use the ordinary finite verb. Romanian does not add an English-style auxiliary do for these questions.

• When the question word is the subject, it normally comes before the verb: Cine vine? (Who is coming?) / Care sunt biletele tale? (Which ones are your tickets?).
• When another subject is named, the verb commonly comes before that subject: Ce citește Ana? (What is Ana reading?) / Cât costă biletul? (How much does the ticket cost?).
• When the question word modifies the object, keep the whole phrase together: Ce carte citește Ana? (What book is Ana reading?) / Câte mesaje ai trimis? (How many messages did you send?).
• Other word orders are possible for contrast or focus, but the patterns above are the neutral starting point.

How are interrogatives different from relative pronouns?

Interrogatives ask a direct question: Care carte este a ta? (Which book is yours?). Relative pronouns introduce a non-question clause: Cartea care este pe masă este a mea. (The book that is on the table is mine.). The forms can overlap, but relative-clause syntax is outside this lesson; see relative pronouns.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not use cine before a noun. Use ce or care according to the meaning: Ce student este Radu? (What kind of student is Radu?) or Care student este Radu? (Which student is Radu?).
• Do not use câți with a feminine or neuter plural noun: câte cărți and câte scaune are correct, not câți cărți or câți scaune.
• Do not confuse cui with cine: Cine a venit? asks for a subject, while Cui i-ai scris? asks for a recipient.
• Do not drop pe from a neutral human direct-object question: say Pe cine ai văzut? (Whom did you see?), not Cine ai văzut?.
• Do not use căruia/căreia/cărora before a noun. Use cărui/cărei/căror in that position: Cărei colege i-ai răspuns?

What variation should you recognize?

The forms taught here are neutral contemporary Standard Romanian. The same interrogatives can occur in conversational, literary, or regional patterns, and word order can change for emphasis. Short spoken forms and detailed relative-pronoun constructions are separate topics, so do not treat every form found in a conversation or text as the neutral A2 model.