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strică

breaks / spoils / damages (he, she, it) /ˈstri.kə/

verb#3186 most common

Also: ruins, corrupts (morally), it doesn't hurt (in the idiom "nu strică")

Example sentences

Copilul strică jucăria.
The child breaks the toy.
Ploaia strică petrecerea.
The rain ruins the party.
Nu strică să întrebi înainte.
It doesn't hurt to ask first.
Prea mult zahăr strică gustul cafelei.
Too much sugar ruins the taste of the coffee.
Zvonurile false strică reputația unei companii.
False rumors damage a company's reputation.
Oricât de rezistent ar părea lemnul, umezeala constantă tot îl strică în cele din urmă.
However resistant the wood may seem, constant moisture still damages it in the end.

Conjugation

Present ActiveSimple Past ActiveSimple Future Active
1sgstricstricaivoi strica
2sgstricistricașivei strica
3sgstricăstricăva strica
1plstricămstricarămvom strica
2plstricațistricarățiveți strica
3plstricăstricarăvor strica

Word family

a stricato break, spoil, damage (infinitive)
stricatbroken, spoiled, rotten
stricăciunedamage, harm, mischief
nestricatundamaged, intact

Etymology

Strică is the third-person present form of the verb a strica, which comes from Latin extricare, meaning to disentangle or free something from a snarl. Over centuries in Romanian the sense reversed: instead of freeing something from a mess, the verb came to mean putting something into one, that is, breaking or spoiling it. This kind of meaning flip is unusual and is one of the more discussed cases in Romanian historical linguistics.

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