No. 37 in Romanian
cei
"The ones" or "those" (used as a demonstrative or pronoun).
In a sentence
Cei care au participat la întâlnire au primit un cadou.
Those who attended the meeting received a gift.
'Cei' functions as a relative pronoun, referring to 'those' in English, and it is connected to the clause it introduces.
Într-un colț, stăteau cei doi prieteni ai mei.
In a corner, my two friends were sitting.
'Cei' specifies or points out a particular group, in this case 'the two', and indicates a determiner role in the sentence.
Cei mai buni studenți vor fi premiați.
The best students will be awarded.
'Cei' operates as part of a comparative structure 'cei mai buni', meaning 'the best', thus helping form a superlative phrase.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “cei” in actual Romanian podcasts.
Find “cei” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Romanian podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.
Get the appRomanian books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).