"El nu este ceea ce pare."

Translation: He is not what he seems.

[odt5]

I got this sentence in an exercise, asking me to translate "He is not what he seems" into Romanian. I put "El nu este cel ce pare", which was not accepted. Is there a reason that the feminine form "ceea" is used here? Does "cel" work?

[JOKOJOKO83]

Three years later, I still have this same doubt... Why the femenine form?

[GeoMan2]

Good question! It has to be this way (fem.) but I can't explain why. We need a grammarian for this. I think "ceea ce" replaces a feminin "noun", but it's beyond my understanding. Sorry.

[Lng52-._]

Would this translation also apply to: "He is not what he appears (to be)?

[JonEnMiljon]

What about ”He isn't who he seems”? It would have the same meaning in English but would the translation be different, like ”cine” instead of ”ceea”?

[ovidiu_nl]

It would be “cine” instead of “ceea ce” (“El nu este cine pare”).

I'm not sure they have the exact same meaning in Romanian. “El nu este ceea ce pare” sounds like he's trying to conceal a character flaw, while “El nu este cine pare” sounds more like he's physically impersonating someone else. It's not a very clear-cut distinction though…

[dmb0058]

Yep, the distinction in English of "what (kind of) person he seems" vs "who he seems to be" is correct

[JonEnMiljon]

Mulțumesc!

[DavidPering]

"seems" and "appears" are synonyms in English so both should be accepted

[Abidaga]

"he is not what he appears" was rejected, which to me has the same meaning as "he is not what he seems"