"He is the shortest boy."

Translation: El este cel mai scund băiat.

[alur_blaze]

So in this case the adjective goes before the noun? Is it normal for comparatives?

[Lachlan_Hunt]

Why is it băiat instead of băiatul?

[PirvuOctavian97]

baiatul is more or less "the boy" whereas here is just "boy" so = băiat

[MartinHenson]

Hi, advice please: in this case, doesn't "cel" act as an articulation? - cel mai scund bărbat = the shortest boy. Neither English nor Romanian would have something like "the shortest the boy".

[EmilyDavan1]

Cel mai = the most. So "short" + "est" in English is "cel mai scund," or "the most short"

[GScottOliver]

2019-04-25 While Emily gave some useful information, she did not answer what you said. I don't have a definitive answer, either, but I do have a sense that what you said is correct. The phrase cel mai includes the definite article, so the noun does not need to be the articulated form.

[Sue781295]

Why doesn't it allow "El e cel mai scurt baiat?"

[GScottOliver]

2019-04-25 Because scund is for people, and scurt is for other things. See https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/19414922