Relative pronouns: care, cine, ce, and cât

A relative pronoun links a noun or pronoun, called the antecedent, to a non-question subordinate clause and also has a role inside that clause: Cartea pe care o citesc este nouă. (The book that I am reading is new.) The antecedent is cartea; inside the relative clause, pe care is the direct object and o repeats it as a clitic.

How do relative pronouns differ from interrogatives?

An interrogative asks for missing information, while a relative pronoun introduces a clause that describes or identifies an antecedent; the forms can be identical, so the sentence function matters.

The relative clause is not a direct question. In Cine vine?, cine asks for a person; in Îl ascult pe cine vrea să vorbească, cine introduces the person described by the subordinate clause. Free relatives such as cine vrea (whoever wants) and ce spui (what you say) have no separate noun antecedent, but they still fill a role in the larger sentence.

How do you choose the form inside the relative clause?

First find the antecedent; then ask what the relative pronoun does in its own clause: subject, direct object, prepositional complement, recipient, or possessor. Do not choose a form only from the gender or number of the nearest Romanian noun.

What is special about care?

In the nominative, care has one visible form for singular and plural and for all genders. As a subject, it is followed by a verb that agrees with the antecedent: Eu, care lucrez mult, mă odihnesc duminica. (I, who work a lot, rest on Sundays.) and Studenții care lucrează mult reușesc. (The students who work hard succeed.)

As a direct object, relative care uses pe care for both people and things, and a matching accusative clitic is required in a complete clause. The clitic agrees with the antecedent: Profesorul pe care îl cunosc (the professor whom I know), Eleva pe care o ajut (the female student whom I help), and Cărțile pe care le citesc (the books that I am reading).

• Use the clitic that matches the antecedent: îl for masculine or neuter singular, o for feminine singular, îi for masculine or mixed plural, and le for feminine or neuter plural. The relative form remains pe care.
• Do not omit pe in a direct-object relative with care: Cartea pe care o citesc, not the English-shaped cartea care o citesc.
• Do not omit the clitic in the complete clause: Cartea pe care o citesc, not cartea pe care citesc. A short answer or fragment can behave differently, but this is the neutral full-clause pattern.
• With another preposition, keep that preposition: colega cu care lucrez, subiectul despre care vorbim, casa în care locuiește. This is not the direct-object pattern, so do not add pe automatically.

When do you use cine and ce?

Relative cine refers to people and is normally used without visible gender or number agreement. Its direct-object form is pe cine, and a matching direct-object clitic is not required in the basic free-relative pattern: Voi invita pe cine vrei. (I will invite whoever you want.) Its dative form is cui: Voi răspunde cui întreabă. (I will answer whoever asks.)

Relative ce is invariable and commonly means what or that which: Tot ce spui este important. (Everything you say is important.) When ce itself is the direct object, it appears without pe and without a required doubling clitic: Înțeleg ce spui. (I understand what you are saying.) A preposition can still occur when the construction needs one, as in despre ce vorbim (what we are talking about).

In a relative clause, ce can sometimes have an animate antecedent as a synonym of care, but the reliable B1 contrast is cine for a person and ce for what, an idea, or a situation. Do not confuse this with interrogative ce: Ce carte alegi? asks which kind of book or what book, while cartea ce mi-ai recomandat is a relative construction.

How does cât agree?

Relative cât expresses an amount or quantity. It agrees with the noun it modifies or replaces, and its adjective-like form is placed before a noun without an article: Ia câtă apă vrei. (Take as much water as you want.) and Alege câte scaune vrei. (Choose as many chairs as you want.)

What are the B1 genitive and dative forms of care?

For a dative recipient, care changes according to the antecedent: căruia masculine singular, căreia feminine singular, and cărora plural. In a complete clause, keep the matching dative clitic close to the verb: Băiatul căruia i-am dat cartea a mulțumit. (The boy to whom I gave the book thanked me.) and Fetele cărora le-am scris au răspuns. (The girls to whom I wrote replied.)

For a possessor, put al, a, ai, or ale before cărui, cărei, or căror when the possessed noun follows: femeia a cărei fiică lucrează aici (the woman whose daughter works here) and studenții ai căror colegi au venit (the students whose classmates came). The possessive article agrees with the possessed noun (a with fiică, ai with colegi), while cărei or căror reflects the antecedent. After the possessed noun, the form can be fiica căreia or colegii cărora, without al, a, ai, or ale.

At B1 level, remember two separate agreement questions: the relative form agrees with the antecedent in gender and number where the form shows it; al, a, ai, or ale agrees with the possessed noun. The nominative-accusative care itself does not change for gender or number.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not copy English omission: Romanian needs the relative element in cartea pe care o citesc. The noun cartea cannot simply be followed by the finite verb as in an English-style reduced sentence.
• Do not use care for every role. Use pe care for a direct object, a preposition plus care for a prepositional complement, and căruia, căreia, or cărora for the dative.
• Do not make care agree visibly in nominative-accusative: cartea care este aici and cărțile care sunt aici both use care; the verb carries the number agreement.
• Do not use pe automatically with cine or ce. Compare Voi invita pe cine vrei with Înțeleg ce spui. In despre ce vorbim, the required preposition is despre; this is not the direct-object marker pe.
• Do not confuse a relative clause with a question: Cine vine? asks who is coming, while Îl ascult pe cine vrea să vorbească identifies the person being listened to.