who (asking about a person)
The question word. Invariable — no masculine, feminine or plural version exists.
Cine e?
Who is it?
Cine vine?
Who's coming?
#63 · Pronoun
cine
In Romanian, cine means “who (asking about a person)”. It’s the #63 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Cine is "who", rank 63. It has only two forms in real use — cine for the subject and the object, and cui for "to whom" and "whose". It asks about people only, never about things, and it never changes for gender or number: Cine e? works for one person or a crowd.
neutralwhom (as a direct object, with pe)
When it is the object of the verb, Romanian puts pe in front: Pe cine cauți?
Pe cine ai văzut?
Who did you see?
Cu cine vorbești?
Who are you talking to?
to whom / whose (cui)
The genitive-dative form. Cui îi dai? "Who are you giving it to?", Al cui e? "Whose is it?".
Cui îi spui?
Who are you telling?
A cui e mașina?
Whose car is it?
whoever / anyone who
Without a question mark it introduces a clause: Cine vrea, poate. "Whoever wants to, can."
Cine caută, găsește.
Whoever looks, finds.
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top form cover about 97% of everyday use — learn these first.
cine97%
Show 1 more form
cui3%
Forms & Contrasts
- Subtype
- interrogative
| Subject / after a preposition | cine | Cine e? Cu cine? De cine? |
|---|---|---|
| Direct object | pe cine | Pe cine cauți? The pe is obligatory. |
| Dative ("to whom") | cui | Cui îi dai? Usually doubled by îi or le. |
| Genitive ("whose") | al / a / ai / ale cui | A cui e? — the article agrees with the thing owned. |
vs. ce
cine asks about people, ce about things. There is no overlap, unlike English "who/what" in some questions.
Cine e? / Ce e?
Who is it? / What is it?
vs. care
cine asks an open question; care picks from a known set ("which one") and also serves as the relative "who/which".
Cine a sunat? / Care dintre ei?
Who called? / Which of them?
vs. cine as a relative
To join two clauses about a person, Romanian uses care, not cine. cine only introduces a whole clause meaning "whoever".
omul care a venit / Cine vine, e binevenit.
the man who came / Whoever comes is welcome.
Examples
Cine e la ușă?
Who's at the door?
cine - The plain subject question. Romanian keeps the normal word order — no auxiliary is added the way English adds "does".
Pe cine aștepți?
Who are you waiting for?
pe cine - As a direct object, cine takes pe. Leaving it out is the commonest mistake with this word.
Cu cine ai venit?
Who did you come with?
cine - A preposition always comes first in Romanian — Cu cine…?, never *Cine ai venit cu?
Cui îi dai cheile?
Who are you giving the keys to?
cui - The dative cui, doubled by the clitic îi. Romanian normally repeats the dative with a clitic, which sounds redundant to an English ear but is required.
A cui e cartea asta?
Whose book is this?
cui - Possession combines cui with the possessive article, which agrees with the thing owned: a for the feminine carte.
Cine only asks about people. For things the word is ce: Cine e? "Who is it?" versus Ce e? "What is it?". And as an object it needs pe — Pe cine vezi?, not *Cine vezi?.
In expressions
Common phrases built around cine — worth learning as whole units.
Cine e?— Who is it?
lit. “who is”
Cine ești?— Who are you?
lit. “who you-are”