  A subcategory $\textbf{C}$ of a groupoid $\mathbb{G}$ is a left order in
$\mathbb{G}$, if every element of $\mathbb{G}$ can be written as $a^{-1}b$
where $a, b \in \textbf{C}$. A subsemigroupoid $\mathfrak{C}$ of a groupoid
$\mathbb{G}$ is a left q-order in $\mathbb{G}$, if every element of
$\mathbb{G}$ can be written as $a^{-1}b$ where $a, b \in \mathfrak{C}$. We give
a characterization of left orders (q-orders) in groupoids. In addition, we
describe the relationship between left I-orders in primitive inverse semigroups
and left orders (q-orders) in groupoids.
