o trage

Romanian

Etymology

Literally, “give it”. This is an elliptical construction, with the sense of trage (literally “to pull”) being the same as in a îi trage o lovitură (“to give a blow, a hit”) (sense 13).

Verb

a o trage (third-person singular present o trage, past participle tras-o, third-person subjunctive o tragă) 3rd conjugation

(optionally reflexive with își, vulgar) to fuck [with dative or cu (see usage notes)]
Cum intru cu ea în cameră, o să ne-o tragem.
As soon as I go in the room with her, we’re gonna fuck.
- 2000 October 18–24, “Împrumută-mi personajul [Lend me the character]”, in Voichița Năchescu, transl., România literară, year 33, number 41, translation of original by Dubravka Ugrešić, →ISSN, page 20:
  - Ascultă, am zis pe un ton mai pașnic, de ce personajul tău nu i-o trage Anei Karenina, de exemplu?
  “Listen”, I said in a more peaceful tone, “why doesn’t your character fuck Anna Karenina, for example?”
- 2022, Mihaela Dumitrescu, transl., Așteptări‎^[1], Bucharest: Humanitas, translation of Expectation by Anna Hope, →ISBN, page 74:
  La petrecerea de nuntă se îmbată amândoi criță cu cava și și-o trag în toaletele de la Pub on the Park.
  At the wedding party they both get shitfaced with Cava and fuck in the Pub on the Park toilets.
(vulgar) to fuck over [with dative]
- 2008 March 17, Oana Popescu, “Bill Clinton ne-a tras-o, cum i-a tras-o și Monicăi [Bill Clinton fucked us over, the way he fucked Monica]”, in Cotidianul, number 53 (5004), page 21:
  Wright a mai afirmat cu altă ocazie similară că „Hillary e măritată cu Bill, iar Bill a fost bun cu noi. Ba n-a fost! Bill ne-a tras-o, cum i-a tras-o Monicăi Lewinsky“.
  Wright has stated on a different occasion that “Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill was good to us. No he wasn’t! Bill fucked us over, the way he fucked Monica Lewinsky.”
(vulgar) to show who's boss [with dative]
- 1998 April 27, Nicolae Manea, quotee, Fotbal Libertatea (sports supplement of Libertatea), number 2347, frontpage:
  La cât e el de mare, mă face varză cu carne. Însă, la nevoie, mă pot ajuta suporterii să i-o trag.
  Seeing how big he is, he’d make a cabbage and meat dish out of me. But, if need be, the fans can help me show him who’s boss.
- 1999 July 5, Iulia Nițescu, “Țărănistul Păvălașcu i-a tras-o pedeseristului Florin Georgescu [George Păvălașcu of PNȚCD showed Florin Georgescu of PDSR who’s boss]”, in Cronica Română, number 1966, page 2

Usage notes

For sense 1, the three possible constructions are:

i-o trage cuiva, with a simple dative indirect object and unmistakably active in meaning;
și-o trage cu cineva, in a dative reflexive construction and a prepositional object of person;
și-o trage, with a dative reflexive plural pronoun, reciprocal in sense.

For sense 2 and sense 3, only the first construction is used.