# My sister's friend's house (possessive)



## bieq

Hello,

I have a question about the singular and plural form of "*soră*" used with the possessive. Here's the sentence:

*Singular form:*

My sister's friend's house is big.
Casa prietenului *sora mea* e/este mare.

*Plural form:*

My sisters' friend's house is big.
Casa prietenului *surorii mele* e/este mare.

Is that right, or, in the second setence I sould say *sorei mele* and why? According to DEX (http://dexonline.ro/) the plural form of *soră* is *surori*.

Thank you again to all those who'll help me out.

Ben


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## marian1954

Dear Ben I will answer to your question, but before I want to make an observation. "My sister's friend's house is big" is this sentence correct in English? I can see you repeat the partitive "'s" two times. It wasn't rather corrrect to say: "The house of my sister's friend is big?"
In Romanian, the plural of "sora" is "surori". When the substantive is articulated, then it addeds "le". SURORI>>SURORILE
the flexion is as follows:

*SINGULAR*
N >> SORA
G >> SURORII
D >> AL SURORII
A >> SOR  *Ă* (PE)
V >> SORO!

*PLURAL*
N >> SURORI
G >> SURORILOR
D >> AL SURORILOR
A >> SURORILE
V >> not used.

My sister's friend's house is big.
Casa prietenului *sora mea* e/este mare. 
<the correct form is>: CASA PRIETENULUI SURORII MELE E(STE) MARE (to be noticed that is the sg form. For the pl the form the form is as follow:
CASELE PRIETENILOR SURORII MELE SUNT MARI
CASELE PRIETENILOR SURORILOR MELE SUNT MARI


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## bieq

Hello, 

Yes, you can say either "the house of my sister's friend is big" or "my sister's friend's house is big". Both sentences are correct. 

Now, I am confused. 

1. Casa prietenului *sora mea* e/este mare (does this mean "the house of my *sister's* (*singular form of the noun "sister"*) friend is big"? and, *is it even correct*?)

2. Casa prietenului surorii mele e/este mare (does this mean "the house of my *sister's* (*singular form of the noun "sister"*) friend is big" *OR* "the house of my *sisters'* (*plural form of the noun "sister"*) friend is big"?)

3. Casele prietenilor surorii mele sunt mari (here, EVERY WORD is in the plural form, right? and it means "the houses of my sisters' friends are big", doesn't it?)

4. Casele prietenilor surorilor mele sunt mari (again, every word is in the plural form, now, what's the *difference* between the use of "*surorii*" and "*surorilor*"?)

When I first said "singular" and "plural", I was only referring to the noun "sister" used in the genitive case, as you can tell in my first examples: *sister*'s friend and *sisters*' friend.

I hope you can help me out, because basically, I just want to know how to translate this:

The house of my sister's friend is big (noun "sister" used in the singular)

The house of my sisters' friend is big (noun "sister" used in the plural)

but *NOT*

The houses of my sister's friends are big

The houses of my sisters' friends are big

I am only referring to the singular and plural of the noun "sister" used, in this situation, in the genitive case.

Thank you and sorry 

Ben 

PS: Correct me if I am wrong, please

*SINGULAR*
N >> SORA (The sister)
G >> SURORII (Of the sister)
D >> AL SURORII (To the sister)
A >> SOR *Ă* (PE) (Sister)
V >> SORO! (Hey, sister!)

*PLURAL*
N >> SURORI (Sisters)
G >> SURORILOR (Of the sisters)
D >> AL SURORILOR (To the sisters)
A >> SURORILE (The sisters)
V >> not used.

The problem I have is that when you say "Casa prietenului surorii *mele* e/este mare", why if "surorii" is in the singular, as according to what you wrote, do I have to use the plural form of "*mea*", that is, "*mele*" after a singular form, in this case "surorii"? 

See? I am going crazy hahaha


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## marian1954

I can see you didn't understand.
So, I will repeat again.
Here are the forms you gave: "The house of my sister's friend is big (noun "sister" used in the singular) 
and
The house of my sisters' friend is big (noun "sister" used in the plural).
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
--So, for "The house of my sister's friend is big" we have the correspondent in Romanian "casa prietenului surorii mele (here is the form of dative) este mare".
--For "The house of my sisters' friend is big" we have in Romanian "casa prietenului surorilor mele (it is supossed in this example, all your sisters <2,3,4, or more> have the same friend, let's say John) este mare. But the example you gave, is in some way unparticular (at least on us Romanian), because 2, 3, 4, or more sisters can't have the same friend.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
3. Casele prietenilor surorii mele sunt mari (here, EVERY WORD is in the plural form, right? and it means "the houses of my sisters' friends are big", doesn't it?). NOT EXACTLY, "SURORII" IS AT DATIVE SINGULAR. Here there are several owners and several owned objects ("prietenilor" and "casele"). The houses belong to the friends of your sister. CASELE PRIETENILOR are at dative plural. "ale cui case?/whose houses?" and answer is "ale prietenilor surorii mele/those of my sisters' friend"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
4. Casele prietenilor surorilor mele sunt mari (again, every word is in the plural form, now, what's the *difference* between the use of "*surorii*" and "*surorilor*"?) -- Here indeed all the words are in plural.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I hope this time you'll understand. Best regards.


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## bieq

Hello,

Yes, this time I did understand. You were really clear and had plenty of patience, so thank you very much! Now, one thing. According to your examples, the words wouldn't be in the *dative case*, but in the *genitive case*. Look at little chart you gave to me. You said "*G - Surori*", which *G* I guess stands for "*Genitive*", right?

Thank you, really! 

Ben


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