#34 · Pronoun
In Romanian, care means “who / which / that (relative pronoun, subject)”. It’s the #34 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
care is how Romanian glues two clauses together — "the man who…", "the book that…" — and at rank 34 it is the most frequent relative pronoun in the language. The good news: one form, care, covers who, whom, which and that, for every gender and number. The two things to learn are pe care for objects (omul pe care îl văd) and the genitive-dative forms căruia / căreia / cărora for "to whom" and "whose".
neutralJoins a clause to the noun it describes. Invariable in this use — the same care for a man, a woman, or a table.
the man who is speaking
the book that is on the table
As an object it must be pe care, and the verb must also carry a doubling clitic (îl, o, îi, le).
the film that I saw
the girl whom I know
Asking someone to choose from a known set — English "which one", not the open-ended "what" (that is ce).
Which one is yours?
Which of them?
Here care finally inflects, agreeing with the noun it refers back to, and it always carries the definite ending -a.
the man I told
the woman who likes it
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top form cover about 99% of everyday use — learn these first.
| Subject / general | care | Invariable — same form for masculine, feminine, singular, plural. |
|---|---|---|
| Direct object | pe care | Always with a doubling clitic: îl, o, îi, le. |
| Genitive-dative, masculine/neuter singular | căruia | to whom / of whom — for a male or neuter referent. |
| Genitive-dative, feminine singular | căreia | to whom / of whom — for a female referent. |
| Genitive-dative, plural | cărora | Both genders in the plural. |
| Possessive ("whose") forms | al cărui / a cărei / ai căror / ale căror | Without the final -a, preceded by a possessive article agreeing with the thing possessed. |
| cari | cari | An old plural of care, still visible in older texts. Never use it today. |
vs. ce
ce asks an open question ("what?") and can also mean "what" as a relative; care asks you to pick from a known set ("which one?").
Ce vrei? / Care îți place?
What do you want? / Which one do you like?
vs. cine
cine is the interrogative "who" and never introduces a relative clause after a noun; care does.
Cine a venit? / Omul care a venit.
Who came? / The man who came.
vs. ceea ce
ceea ce refers back to a whole clause ("which fact"), while care refers to a single noun.
A întârziat, ceea ce m-a supărat.
He was late, which annoyed me.
vs. unde / când
For places and times Romanian usually prefers unde and când to a heavy preposition + care.
orașul unde locuiesc
the city where I live
Cunosc o femeie care vorbește cinci limbi.
I know a woman who speaks five languages.
care - Subject relative — care is the subject of vorbește, so no pe and no clitic.
Cartea pe care o citesc e foarte bună.
The book I'm reading is very good.
pe care - Object relative: pe care plus the clitic o, which agrees with the feminine cartea. Both parts are obligatory.
Care dintre voi vine cu mine?
Which of you is coming with me?
care - Interrogative care with dintre — the standard way to say "which of".
Băiatul căruia i-am dat cartea e vecinul meu.
The boy I gave the book to is my neighbour.
căruia - Dative: căruia (masculine singular) plus the doubling clitic i-. Romanian doubles dative relatives just as it doubles objects.
Scriitorul ale cărui cărți le citesc e român.
The writer whose books I read is Romanian.
cărui - Possessive "whose": the possessive article (al / a / ai / ale) agrees with the thing possessed, and cărui / cărei / căror with the owner.