"Sora lui Andrei este mai mică ca fratele lui Sebastian cu un an."

Translation: The sister of Andrew is younger than the brother of Sebastian by one year.

[liviu_a]

decât*

[Enchom]

Why decât? Aren't decât and ca interchangeable?

[liviu_a]

We use "ca" when in a proposition, there is an equality report between situations. In this situation, Andrew's sister is younger than Sebastian's brother. This means that the situations are not equal, like, let's say "I am as smart as you are/Eu sunt deștept(sau la fel de deștept) ca tine.", where we use "ca" correctly in a translation, because the situations express an equal order.

So, in Romanian, one should use "decât" when there is a difference between two or more situations described in a sentence and "ca" when the sentence describes two situations of equal order.
Sănătate și spor la învățat! :)

[Enchom]

Oh, thanks a lot! In another comment section (can't find it now) people claimed that in reality many Romanians use "ca" in all cases. Is that so? Would it sound weird for natives if I were to use only "ca"?

[liviu_a]

It wouldn't sound weird. It is true, many Romanians use "ca" when sometimes "decât" would be correct. But I think it's important to speak a language correctly, not just to speak a language for the sake of communication.

[crxty_]

"It is not important to drink water in sake of staying hydrated, but to drink it properly!"

[Pat733327]

Andrew's sister is STILL being marked as incorrect. It is the SAME thing as "the sister of Andrew.

[JCN647274]

"The sister of Andrew" may have the same meaning as "Andrew's sister", but a native English speaker would rarely if ever speak this way (regardless of which country's English is spoken).

[Deisi92]

I wondered who the hell Sebastian Cunan is ...

[Pat733327]

I wrote Andrew's sister too. It was marked wrong. I then wrote the sister of Andrew and it was marked right. This is ridiculous as both phrases mean the same thing, except that most English speakers would say Andrew's sister.

[Maghiran]

I wrote Andrei's sister. Thats was wrong. Why?

[Gimini4]

Mai ,,mica ca" este cacofonie in limba romana!(ca ca),folosim ,,decat".Am mai raportat cacpfonii in acest curs.Nu este permis.

[Motanu11]

Which word(s) translate to "younger"?

[liviu_a]

younger = "mai tânăr"(if male) or "mai tânără"(if female)
Example: Mihai is younger than Alex. (Mihai este mai tânăr decât Alex)
Mihaela is younger than Alexandra. (Mihaela este mai tânără decât Alexandra)

[Motanu11]

Thanks AlbuMarian. The Romanian text reads, ... mai mică ...".

[Harry-Clarke-UK]

I think in this case it's a relational thing, the same we might say "big/little brother/sister", or "he's bigger than her by a year"

Admittedly the last sentence doesn't sound right in English, but from context it would be understandable

[PatrickZim]

Sora lui Andrei este mai mică ca fratele lui Sebastian cu un an.
->
The sister of Andrew is younger than the brother of Sebastian by one year

you can use mica for younger, but why is "smaller than the ..." wrong?

[danubissim]

Because it is referring to the age (younger) and not size (smaller)

[Corry467713]

Fratele lui = his brother( is it not?)

[Dezideriu-]

<h1>decât not #ca.</h1>