Asking Questions — Romanian Grammar

A yes/no question in Romanian needs no special word and no change of word order - you simply raise your voice at the end. Written down, only the question mark differs:

Ești student.
You are a student.
Ești student?
Are you a student?

The Question Words

For information questions, start with the matching question word:

- what
- who
- where
- when
- how
- how much / how many
- which
- why

Ce faci?
What are you doing?
Cine ești?
Who are you?
Unde mergi?
Where are you going?
De ce plângi?
Why are you crying?

Words That Agree

stands in front of a noun like an adjective, so it agrees with it in gender and number - :

Câți ani ai?
How old are you? (masculine plural, with ani)
Cât costă?
How much does it cost? (no noun, so the plain form)

also stands in front of a noun but never changes shape, whatever it is asking about:

Care carte?
Which book?

The Useful 'Cum te cheamă?'

A few everyday questions are worth memorising whole, because they are built on patterns you meet later:

Cum te cheamă?
What is your name? (literally: how do they call you?)
Cât e ceasul?
What time is it?

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Romanian course

67 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 1. A few of them, with the words “Asking Questions” is about in bold:

Cum te simți? Bine sau rău?
How are you feeling? Good or bad?
Lesson 61
Unde este fiica noastră? - Este la școală.
Where is our daughter? - She's at school.
Lesson 242
Ai doi copii foarte frumoși. Câți ani au?
You have two very beautiful children. How old are they?
Lesson 264

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