parcă

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See also: parca, parça, and Parca

Romanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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Univerbation of pare (“seems”) +‎ că (“like”).

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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parcă

  1. (informal or literary) it’s like, one could say, it’s as if…
    Synonym: zici că
    Parcă s-a întors iarna.
    It’s like winter’s come back.
    Când începe, parcă nu se mai termină niciodată.
    When it begins, it’s like it never ends.
    Mâncarea din avion parcă nu are niciun gust.
    It’s like airplane food has no taste whatsoever.
  2. (informal or literary) Denotes uncertainty.
    Da, acum parcă am înțeles.
    Yeah, I guess I understood now.
    ―Auzi ceva? ―Parcă.
    “Can you hear anything?” “Kinda.”
    Vântul parcă s-a liniștit.
    It seems the wind has quieted down.
    El e acum într-un alt oraș, Iași parcă.
    He’s in a different city now—Iași, I think.
  3. (chiefly informal) as though[usage note 1]
    Parcă îi pasă cuiva.
    As though anyone cares.
    Deschizi geamul, parcă nu se simte că ai fumat.
    You open the window, as though one couldn’t tell that you smoked.
    • 1960, Ion D. Vicol, “Săniuța [The little sled]”, in Cîntăm pe note [We sing by notes], Bucharest: Editura Muzicală, page 90:
      Săniuța fuge,
      Nimeni n-o ajunge;
      Are dor de ducă,
      Parc-ar fi nălucă.
      Toată iarna prin zăpadă,
      Vine lumea ca s-o vadă.
      Săniuța e ușoară,
      Fuge parcă zboară.
      The little sled runs,
      No one can catch up to it;
      It feels like going off,
      As though it were a phantom.
      All winter long through the snow,
      People come to see it.
      The little sled is light,
      It runs as though it flies.
  4. (colloquial) Remarks upon a discrepancy between previous arrangements and what is now presented: I thought…
    Să mergem la muncă? Parcă azi aveam zi liberă.
    Go to work? I thought we had today off.
Usage notes
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  1. ^ For the meaning of “as though”, the difference between parcă and de parcă is mainly grammatical: parcă is an adverb connected to the previous sentence without any conjunction (in asyndeton), whereas de parcă is a conjunctional phrase in itself. Additionally, the use of the former in contemporary non-poetic language is more unchiseled and informal than the latter. Both are most fittingly followed by a clause in the conditional mood, but this is often forgone colloquially.
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Learned borrowing from Latin Parca.

Noun

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parcă f (plural parce)

  1. (Roman mythology) one of the Fates
Declension
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Declension of parcă
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (o) parcă parca (niște) parce parcele
genitive/dative (unei) parce parcei (unor) parce parcelor
vocative parcă, parco parcelor

Etymology 3

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /parˈkə/
  • Rhymes: -ə
  • Hyphenation: par‧că

Verb

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parcă

  1. third-person singular simple past indicative of parca (“to park”)

Further reading

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