# Comparisions



## pizzakid

Out of curiosity, how do comparisions and similies work, if at all, in the Romanian language? I know about 'more' and 'less', but what about sentences like the ones below? A translation would be helpful, but I just need the general idea.

He was so thin he looked like a skeleton.
He eats like a pig.
He is as thin as a skeleton.
He hates cats [even] more than he hates to sing.
He sings worse than the dog.
He hates to sing because he sounds like a dog.

Also, does this change depending on the tense or person? Thanks!


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## OldAvatar

As far as I know, comparisons and similarities are defined by various connections (_raporturi_ in Romanian) between the terms. I would advice a non-native Romanian speaker to learn these connections and their respective words, instead of focusing on a particular conjuction, preposition or adverb.
It is like a mathematical function, for example, if you have a comparative connection, then, you use conjunction/preposition _decât/încât _or _ca/precum_.
Temporal, comparative, relational, substitutional, similarity, doubtful connections also use adverb _ca_.
But if the connection would be a final, modal, completional, then _ca _will be a conjunction.
It may, indeed, look a bit difficult. I guess it's much easier to learn it by every day speaking.  Or, perhaps, someone else could explain it better than I did.
Now the translation:

He was so thin he looked like a skeleton.
_Era atât de slab *încât *arăta *precum/ca *un schelet._

He eats like a pig.
_Mănâncă _*precum *(_*ca *_is all right too, but, in this case, it generates a cacophony, so we should avoid it) _un porc_.

He is as thin as a skeleton.
_E slab *ca *un schelet._

He hates cats [even] more than he hates to sing.
_Detestă pisicile [chiar] mai mult _(This is just the comparative grade, a different situation)_ *decât *detestă să cânte. _

He sings worse than the dog.
_Cântă mai prost _(Same as above)_ *decât *un câine._

He hates to sing because he sounds like a dog.
_ Detestă să cânte deoarece sună mai prost *decât *un câine._

Best regards!


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## SerinusCanaria3075

pizzakid said:


> Also, does this change depending on the tense or person?


Yes, it changes depending on the person. Unlike in English, any language derived from Latin inflects depending on the person and number. In other words, endings are added to the stem of the verb depending on the mood and tense.

Let's take one of _OldAvatar_'s example:


> He hates to sing because he sounds like a dog.
> _*Detestă *să *cânte* deoarece *sună* mai prost decâtun câine._


Here it's 3rd person singular. If we were to change it to "we" it would be 1st person plural:
_*Detestăm *să *cântăm* deorece *sunăm* mai prost decât un caîne._

You will notice though that the 3rd person forms in the singular and plural are identical for the verbs _cânta, suna_, and _detesta_:
Indicativ:
el detestă (he hates)
ei detestă (they hate)

Conjunctiv:
(să) el cânte
(să) ei cânte



OldAvatar said:


> He hates to sing because he sounds like a dog.
> _Detestă să cânte deoarece sună mai prost *decât *un câine._


Two things I just noticed though. In the English version it says "like a dog" yet if I understood correctly "*decât *" is used as "than" after a comparative like "_mai prost_" but if it was just "like a dog" shouldn't it be?:
..._sună *precum/ca* __un câine._


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## Trisia

Yeah, yeah, so the guy makes one little mistake and you jump at his throat *like *a wolf 

I suppose OldAvatar had the previous sentence in mind when he wrote that. You're right, a literal translation would be "Sună ca un câine".


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## OldAvatar

Lol... I just watched the above line. He's right!
Anyway, the translation is rather forced, comparison of singing with dog's sounds are not that usual in Romanian and will not make much sense. Romanians use donkeys for that kind of comparisons. 

For example, this text would sound a bit hillarious:
He sings worse than the dog.
_Cântă mai prost __*decât *câineLE.

_


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