Word Order and Sentence Building

Romanian's basic sentence structure is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), just like in English. This makes forming simple sentences very familiar.

•Subject: Eu (I)

•Verb: mănânc (eat)

•Object: un măr (an apple)

•Sentence: Eu mănânc un măr. (I eat an apple.)

While SVO is the standard, Romanian word order can be more flexible than English. This flexibility is often used to emphasize a specific part of the sentence. For beginners, it is safest to stick to the SVO structure.

Example Sentences:

•Maria citește o carte. (Maria reads a book.)

•Pisica doarme. (The cat sleeps.)

•Băiatul are un câine. (The boy has a dog.)

•Ei merg la piață. (They go to the market.)

•Noi învățăm română. (We learn Romanian.)

•Profesorul scrie pe tablă. (The teacher writes on the board.)

•Copiii se joacă afară. (The children play outside.)

•Soarele strălucește. (The sun shines.)

•Eu beau cafea dimineața. (I drink coffee in the morning.)

•Mașina este roșie. (The car is red.)

Making Positive Statements

Forming a positive (affirmative) statement is straightforward. You simply state the fact using the SVO structure. The verb will change (conjugate) based on who the subject is (I, you, he, she, etc.).

Examples:

•Eu sunt student. (I am a student.)

•Tu ești înalt. (You are tall.)

•El lucrează la spital. (He works at the hospital.)

•Ea vorbește engleză. (She speaks English.)

•Noi locuim în București. (We live in Bucharest.)

•Voi cântați frumos. (You [plural] sing beautifully.)

•Ei au o casă nouă. (They have a new house.)

•Femeia citește ziarul. (The woman reads the newspaper.)

Forming Negatives and Questions

To make a sentence negative in Romanian, you place the word "nu" (no, not) directly before the verb. This is much simpler than in English, which often requires "do not" or "is not."

Negative Examples:

•Eu nu mănânc un măr. (I do not eat an apple.)

•Maria nu citește o carte. (Maria does not read a book.)

•Ei nu merg la piață. (They do not go to the market.)

•Eu nu sunt student. (I am not a student.)

•El nu lucrează la spital. (He does not work at the hospital.)

•Noi nu locuim în București. (We do not live in Bucharest.)

To form a simple yes/no question, you can often just raise your intonation (your tone of voice) at the end of a statement.

•Statement: Maria citește o carte. (Maria reads a book.)

•Question: Maria citește o carte? (Does Maria read a book?)

You can also add the word "nu" at the end of a positive statement to ask for confirmation (like "isn't it?" or "right?").

•Ești obosit, nu? (You are tired, right?)

For more complex yes/no questions, you can invert the subject and verb for emphasis, but intonation is the most common method for beginners. (We will cover "Wh-" questions in Chapter 7).

Question Examples:

•Tu ești student? (Are you a student?)

•Vorbește ea engleză? (Does she speak English?)

•Mergeți la piață? (Are you [plural] going to the market?)

•Pisica doarme? (Is the cat sleeping?)

•Este mașina roșie? (Is the car red?)

•Ai un câine? (Do you have a dog?)

Nouns: Gender and Number

A key concept in Romanian is that all nouns have gender. A noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter. The gender determines the form of articles ("the," "a") and adjectives that describe the noun.

You can often (but not always) guess the gender by the noun's ending:

•Feminine (Feminin): Most nouns ending in -ă or -ea are feminine.

casă (house), fată (girl), floare (flower), cafea (coffee)

•Masculine (Masculin): Most nouns ending in a consonant or -u are masculine.

băiat (boy), câine (dog), copac (tree), codru (forest)

•Neuter (Neutru): These are nouns that act masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural. They often end in a consonant or -u.

tren (train), teatru (theater), oraș (city), scaun (chair)

Number (Plural): Making nouns plural involves changing the ending. The rules are complex, but here are the most common patterns:

•Feminine -ă changes to -e:

casă (house) -> case (houses)

fată (girl) -> fete (girls)

•Feminine -e changes to -i:

floare (flower) -> flori (flowers)

•Masculine consonant adds -i:

băiat (boy) -> băieți (boys)

•Masculine -u changes to -i:

codru (forest) -> codri (forests)

•Neuter nouns (acting feminine) often change to -e or -uri:

tren (train) -> trenuri (trains)

oraș (city) -> orașe (cities)

Articles and Determiners

In Romanian, the definite article ("the") is unique because it is attached to the end of the noun. This is called an enclitic article.

•Feminine "the": For many nouns ending in -ă, replace -ă with -a.

casă (a house) -> casa (the house)

fată (a girl) -> fata (the girl)

•Masculine "the": Common singular definite endings are -ul, -l, and -le, depending on the noun’s ending.

băiat (a boy) -> băiatul (the boy)

câine (a dog) -> câinele (the dog)

•Neuter "the": Add -(u)l (like masculine).

tren (a train) -> trenul (the train)

oraș (a city) -> orașul (the city)

The indefinite articles ("a" / "an") are separate words that come before the noun, just like in English. They must agree with the noun's gender.

•Feminine "a/an": o

o casă (a house)

o floare (a flower)

•Masculine/Neuter "a/an": un

un băiat (a boy)

un tren (a train)

Examples:

•Văd un câine. (I see a dog.)

•Câinele este mare. (The dog is big.)

•Ea are o mașină. (She has a car.)

•Mașina este roșie. (The car is red.)

Practice Section

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in each blank with the correct word, letter, or form based on what you learned.

1- Văd ______ fată. (I see a girl.)

2- Fată (girl) -> ______ (girls)

True/False

Read each statement carefully and decide if it is True or False.

1- The word "nu" (not) usually comes after the verb.

2- In Romanian, the definite article ("the") is attached to the end of the noun.

Translation

Translate each English phrase or sentence into Romanian.

1- a boy

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2- the house

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3- The boy eats an apple.

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