Romanian/Lesson 2

GENUL / The Gender Romanian nouns are divided into three genders (genuri). They are masculine (m.), feminine (f.), neuter (n.). Romanian pronouns and articles are only masculine and feminine. When needed for neuter nouns, they use the masculine singular form and feminine plural form. PRONUMELE / The Pronoun Pronumele Personale / Personal Pronouns singular plural 1st person I we eu /jew/ noi /noj/ 2nd person you you tu /tu/ voi /voj/ 3rd person he / she they el / ea /jel/ /je̯a/ ei / ele /jej/ /jele/ In Romanian there isn't a neuter pronoun for inanimate things. Either el or ea is used, depending on the gender of the noun. Ei is used when at least one of the beings referred is masculine. Use ele only when all beings referred to are feminine and/or neutre. Pronumele de politeţe / Polite pronouns singular and plural 2nd person full abbreviated Dumneavoastră Dvs. Remember when writing to capitalise Dumneavoastră. This pronoun always demands its verb to be at the 2nd person plural form. The singular form of the verb may be perceived as disrespectful, even rude. singular plural 3rd person he she they dumnealui dumneaei dumnealor Colloquial dumneata / mata / matale - you (sg.) These pronouns don't require the verb to be at the plural form, though this is considered more respectul. The pronouns themselves are more polite than tu, but less polite than Dumneavoastră. ARTICOLUL / The Article Articolul nehotărât / The Indefinite Article The indefinite article in Romanian precedes the noun. singular plural nom/acc masculine feminine all un o nişte gen/datunui unei unor Because neuter nouns function as masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural, they take the indefinite article "un/unui." Male un copil (m., a child) nişte copii (m., some children) un bărbat (m., a man) nişte bărbaţi (m., some men) Neuter un tablou (n., a painting) nişte tablouri (n., some paintings) un tatuaj (n., a tattoo) nişte tatuaje (n., some tattoos) Feminine o casă (f., a house) nişte case (f., some houses) o femeie (f., a woman) nişte femei (f,. some women) Feminine nouns take their plural forms in the singular genitive/dative case. casa unui bărbat (a man's house) casa unei femei (a woman's house) casa unor bărbaţi (some men's houses) casa unor femei (some women's houses) Articolul hotărât / The Definite Article The definite article in Romanian is enclitic (it is attached to the end of the noun). For masculine and neuter nouns, the article is simply added to the end of the word. Note that in everyday speech, the 'l' is often left unpronounced. For instance, bărbatul (the man) would be pronounced bărbatu. masculine and neuter ending consonant u e nom/acc -ul -l -le gen/dat -ului -lui -lui For feminine nouns, the last letter changes to a. In the genitive, "i" is added to the plural form of the noun. Singular, m. & n.: +l (the). The article has a u (called prosthetic) between it and the noun. bărbat (m., man) - bărbatul savant (m. scholar) - savantul tablou (n., painting) - tabloul Singular, m. & n., ended in e: +le (the). câine (m., dog) - câinele Singular, .f: -a (the). femeie (woman) - femeia portocală (orange, the fruit) - portocala Plural, m.: +i to the indefinite plural form bărbaţi (men) - bărbaţii Plural, f. & n.: +le to the indefinite plural form femei (f., women) - femeile portocale (f., oranges) - portocalele tablouri (n., paintings) - tablourile SUBSTANTIVUL / The Noun Genul / The Gender Romanian nouns are divided into three genders (genuri). They are masculine (m.), feminine (f.), neuter (n.). Numărul / The Number The nouns of neutre gender may bear a masculine article in their singular form and a feminine article in their plural one. Singularul / The Singular Masculine singular nouns and neuter singular nouns generally end in: a consonant: om (m., man), copac (m., tree) -u: ou (n., egg) -e: rege (m., king) -ă: tată (m., father) Feminine singular nouns generally end in: -ă: copilă ([little] girl) -e: femeie (woman) -are: floare (flower) -ere: distrugere (destruction) -ire: convertire (conversion) -siune: sesiune (session) -ţie: producţie (production) -ţiune: naţiune (nation) -ziune: televiziune (television) Pluralul / The Plural Masculine plural: ending in vowel change ending to i: câine (dog) -> câini ending in consonant: +i: nor (cloud) -> nori poliţist (policeman) -> poliţişti Feminine plural: ending in -ă change ending to -e copilă ([little] girl) -> copile fată (girl) -> fete fereastră (window) -> ferestre profesoară (female teacher) -> profesoare ending in -ă change ending to -i uşă (door) -> uşi maşină (car) -> maşini stradă (street) -> străzi bancă (bank) -> bănci ending in -e: change ending to -i carte (book) -> cărţi clădire (building) -> clădiri femeie (woman) -> femei noapte (night) -> nopţi pasăre (bird) -> păsări Neuter plural: +e: calculator (computer) -> calculatoare creion (crayon) -> creioane oraş (town, city) -> oraşe scaun (chair) -> scaune telefon (phone) -> telefoane televizor (TV set) -> televizoare ziar (newspaper) -> ziare verb (verb) -> verbe +uri: radio (radio station, radio receiver) -> radiouri sens (meaning) -> sensuri tren (train) -> trenuri zid (wall) -> ziduri Orthographic changes -ea- add +i >>>> -e- -oa- add +i >>>> -o- -d add +i >>>> -z -t add +i >>>> -ţ -s- add +i >>>> -ş- -st- add +i >>>> -şt- -a- add +e >>>> -e- -e- add +e >>>> -ea- -o- add +e >>>> -oa- -î- add +e >>>> -i- < Previous Lesson | Next Lesson >