An unstressed indirect object pronoun, also called a dative clitic, marks the person or people who receive, benefit from, or are affected by an action: Îți dau o carte. (I am giving you a book.) It is a short form that normally stays close to the verb.
What are the Romanian dative clitics?
Use the unstressed dative form for the indirect object, which answers cui? (to whom?): Îmi spui adevărul? (Are you telling me the truth?)
| Person and number | Full dative form | Unstressed clitic | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| First person singular | mie (to me) | îmi | Îmi răspunde. (He/she answers me.) |
| Second person singular | ție (to you) | îți | Îți trimit mesajul. (I am sending you the message.) |
| Third person singular, masculine or feminine | lui/ei (to him/her) | îi | Îi cumpăr o carte. (I am buying him/her a book.) |
| First person plural | nouă (to us) | ne | Ne explică problema. (He/she explains the problem to us.) |
| Second person plural | vouă (to you) | vă | Vă răspund imediat. (I will answer you immediately.) |
| Third person plural, masculine or feminine | lor (to them) | le | Le trimit documentele. (I am sending them the documents.) |
The clitic is the neutral choice in a normal clause. The full object-pronoun forms are stressed and add contrast or emphasis; when a full dative pronoun is the object of a verb, keep its matching clitic: Mie îmi răspunde, nu ție. (He/she answers me, not you.)
Where does the clitic go?
Its position depends on the verb form: before a simple finite verb, before the auxiliary in compound forms, between să and the verb in the subjunctive, and after an affirmative imperative.
| Verb form | Position | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present, imperfect, and other simple finite indicative forms | Before the verb | Îți scriu mâine. (I will write to you tomorrow.) |
| Compound perfect | Before the auxiliary | Mi-a spus adevărul. (He/she told me the truth.) |
| Future | Before the future auxiliary | Îți voi trimite documentul. (I will send you the document.) |
| Present subjunctive | Between să and the verb | Vreau să-mi răspunzi astăzi. (I want you to answer me today.) |
| Affirmative imperative | After the verb, with a hyphen | Spune-mi adevărul! (Tell me the truth!) |
| Negative imperative | After nu and before the verb | Nu-mi spune! (Do not tell me!) |
In the compound perfect, the clitic and the auxiliary form a hyphenated unit: mi-a, ți-am, i-a, ne-au, v-a, and le-au. With să, both să îmi răspunzi and the compact să-mi răspunzi are accepted; the article uses the hyphenated form as the compact option.
How do the forms shorten or combine?
The forms îmi, îți, and îi are separate before a consonant, but their initial î disappears in attached forms before a vowel or after a verb. The other basic forms do not gain an initial î: ne, vă, and le remain recognizable.
- Before a vowel-initial auxiliary, use mi-, ți-, and i-: Mi-a răspuns. (He/she answered me.), Ți-am scris. (I wrote to you.), I-a dat cartea. (He/she gave him/her the book.) The same attachment gives v-a and le-a from vă and le.
- After an affirmative verb, use forms such as -mi, -ți, -i, -ne, -vă, and -le: Dă-mi cartea! (Give me the book!), Scrieți-ne! (Write to us!), Răspunde-le! (Answer them!).
- When a dative clitic combines with an unstressed direct object pronoun, the dative comes first: Mi-l trimite. (He/she sends it to me.) In some plural combinations, the dative has the special shapes ni-, vi-, or li-: Ni-l trimit. (They send it to us.), Vi le explic. (I explain them to you.), Li-l dau. (I give it to them.) These are combinations, not new basic persons.
What happens in negative clauses?
Put nu before the clitic: Nu îi dau cartea. (I am not giving him/her the book.) In ordinary usage, the initial vowel of îmi, îți, and îi is often elided after nu, giving nu-mi, nu-ți, and nu-i. The full forms are also possible, so do not treat the short spellings as a different person or case.
Can a dative clitic show possession?
Yes. A dative clitic can identify the possessor of a definite noun, especially with body parts, clothing, and close personal belongings: Îmi spăl mâinile. (I wash my hands.) The clitic identifies the possessor; it does not agree with the possessed noun, which keeps its own gender, number, and definite ending.
- Use își when the possessor is the third-person subject: Maria își caută cheile. (Maria is looking for her own keys.) The possessive reading is reflexive, not an ordinary recipient reading.
- Keep the recipient reading separate from the possessive reading: Îi trimit un mesaj. (I am sending him/her a message.) versus Îmi caut cheile. (I am looking for my keys.) Context and the verb decide the role when a form such as îi, ne, or le could otherwise be read as a direct object or a dative.
- Noun-attached forms such as sufletu-mi are literary or poetic. They are valid examples of attachment, but they are not the neutral everyday model. See dative possessive constructions for the wider possessive pattern.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not confuse îi and le: îi is the basic dative clitic for one third-person person, while le is the basic dative clitic for several people, whether masculine, feminine, or mixed.
- Do not use the full form alone in a normal verbal clause: say Îți dau cartea (I give you the book), not Ție dau cartea. Use ție alone for a short contrastive reply, or pair it with îți in a full clause.
- Do not place the clitic in one fixed position with every verb form. Compare îți scriu, ți-am scris, să-ți scriu, and scrie-mi.
- Do not infer gender from the clitic. The third-person singular dative îi covers both lui and ei, and plural le covers both genders.
Which unstressed dative clitic means to you when speaking to one person?
- îmi
- îți
- îi
- le
The second-person singular dative clitic is îți. Îmi is first-person singular, îi is third-person singular, and le is third-person plural.
Choose the neutral sentence meaning I sent you the document.
- Îți am trimis documentul.
- Am îți trimis documentul.
- Ți-am trimis documentul.
- Ție trimis-am documentul.
In the compound perfect, îți becomes the attached form ți- before the auxiliary am: Ți-am trimis documentul.
Which clitic spelling completes the compact form Vreau să___răspunzi astăzi? (I want you to answer me today.)
- -mi
- îmi
- mă
- mie
The subjunctive places the clitic after să, and the compact accepted spelling is să-mi răspunzi. The other options are the wrong object form or the stressed form.
Which sentence uses the compact hyphenated spelling to tell one person not to tell me?
- Nu spune-mi!
- Nu-mi spune!
- Nu îmi spune!
- Nu mie spune!
The negative imperative puts nu before the clitic and the clitic before the verb: Nu-mi spune! The expanded Nu îmi spune! is also grammatical, but the compact form is the intended standard spelling here, so the options test the requested everyday form without treating the expanded variant as an error.
In Maria își caută cheile, what does își show?
- A recipient who receives the keys
- A plural indirect object
- Maria's own possession of the keys
- The feminine gender of cheile
Își is reflexive here: the third-person subject Maria is the possessor of cheile. The clitic does not agree with the feminine plural noun; it identifies the possessor.