Romanian

External Resources
https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/wiki/index#wiki_romanian

Basics 1
The following notes will aid you in case you're having trouble with the lesson, but feel free to skip them and continue with the lesson. Once you have a broader context, they will help you put everything together.

ROMANIAN ALPHABET
Romanian uses an extended Latin alphabet. Compared to the English alphabet, it has the following five extra letters.

PRONUNCIATION
Apart from a few exceptions, Romanian consonants sound virtually identical to their English counterparts. Vowels, on the other hand, have slightly different pronunciations using a more relaxed/open mouth.

The following tables will aid you in pronouncing what are most probably the most unfamiliar sounds to English speakers, yet they are by no means complete. See Romanian pronunciation for a more exhaustive explanation.

Consonants
C and G followed by either E or I change their sounds.

Â OR Î
Although Â and Î sound precisely the same, Romanian use of both letters stems from etymology. So, by using a simple rule to swap between the two, Romanian has been able to retain some similarity with Latin, where most etymons use A instead of Â and I instead of Î.

The rule between them is that Î is only used at the start and end of a word. In the middle, you would use Â.


 * începe (to begin) - start
 * hotărî (to decide) - end
 * mânca (to eat) - middle
 * neînfricat (fearless) - here we use î because the word stems from înfricat with the preposition ne

EU, EA, E, ESTE
Although Romanian has exceptionally few pronunciation exceptions, there is one which is noticeable from the very beginning. Eu (I/me), el (he/him), ea (she/her), ei (they/them masc.), ele (they/them fem.), e (is), and este (is) are all pronounced starting with /ie/ instead of simply /e/.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Compared to English, Romanian's personal pronouns lack a precise translation for it. When having a subject that you would normally use it for, you can either use demonstrative pronouns (acesta (this masc.), aceea (that fem.) etc.), or simply refrain from using a pronoun.

TO BE
In Romanian, the subject of any setence has to be in agreement with the verb representing the action it is performing. This agreement is called conjugation and comes with its own set of rules and exceptions. Below you will find the conjugation table for a fi (to be).

INFLECTION
Compared to English, Romanian is an inflected language. This means that the words of the language are comprised of roots, which rarely change, and inflections, or endings. Although not all words change form, most of them (nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs) do.

CASES
Even though Romanian has five cases, (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, and vocative), respectively dative and genitive have the same form.

Below is an example of how a noun forms differ in Romanian but remain the same in English.

TO HAVE
Conjugation table for a avea (to have).

SALUT!
Romanian culture puts a great emphasis on politeness. Thus, knowing how to greet is an essential skill for anyone learning the basics.

Less formal greetings
Apart from salut (hi), most Romanian informal greetings have higher usage only in particular regions but are understood by virtually everyone.

Also, some ways of greeting can be use when meeting and departing.

POLITE PRONOUNS
Much like in the case of the French language, Romanian has a special politeness pronoun. If you want to be explicitly polite, you use the following forms.

This difference also adds more polite forms of some phrases.

UNCOUNTABLES
In Romanian, the equivalent of uncountable nouns are the nouns lacking a plural form. Some exmples would be lapte, miere, zahăr etc. Like in English, these nouns usually denote substances or concepts that cannot be separated into individual elements.

When talking about food, for example, you should use the singular of nouns lacking plural form and the plural for all others, as long as the quantity is not known.

If the quantity is known, you should use the proper form.

COMPOUND FOOD NAMES
In order to use more complex names of foods that usually require multiple nouns, you will have to use a preposition. The two most frequent ones when it comes to food are de (of) and cu (with).

de is used when in English you would normally use nothing, while cu is simply translated from the English with. (usually used in the case of dish names)

There are some exceptions when one language may have a specialized word, whereas the other will use a compound noun, like carne de vită (beef), or even miss the preposition de entirely, like lună plină (full moon).

This will come in handy later, as it applies to most English compound nouns that are also translated to compound nouns in Romanian.

ANIMAL NAMES FOR MALE, FEMALE, AND BABY
Romanian has specialized names for common animal types. The plural is formed from either the male or the female form.

ANIMAL GROUPS
Like in English, some groups of animals have specialized names. Herbivores, for example, will get the name turmă which is similar to the word herd.


 * turmă de oi (flock of sheep)
 * turmă de elefanți (elephant herd)
 * turmă de vaci (cattle herd)

For birds one would usually use the word stol.

Some groups, though, have custom names.
 * stol de ciori (murder of crows)
 * stol de porumbei (flock of pigeons)

PLURAL FORMS BY GENDER
Compared to English, Romanian plural forms have to be acquired when learning each noun. Nevertheless, the forms are not completely irregular as they roughly fall into categories, according to their gender:

Neuter
Note: Although Romanian has three genders, the neuter gender usually acts like a masculine noun when being singular and feminine one when being plural. If you see rules or tables where neuter is missing (which is probably most of them), treat neuter nouns as either masculine or feminine depending on their count.

EXCEPTIONS
Some examples like ou - ouă don't fit in any of the rules above and should simply be remembered. In a similar fashion to English, some uncountable nouns form plural with the use of compound nouns:

I/II/III
As mentioned in a previous lesson, Romanian is an inflected language. Each word has its own stem that is inflected in order to convey meaning, and one such examples is the plural.

Because some nouns' stems end with an i, you can have plurals that end with ii or with iii if articulated.

ADJECTIVE INFLECTION
Adjectives change their form in order to be in agreement with the noun they are modifying. This is called inflection, and, in the case of Romanian, it affects gender and number.

Varible form
Some adjectives like greoi (heavy), vioi (lively), bălai (blond) change form only in the case of gender.

Others like mare (big), dulce (sweet) change form only in the case of number.

Most of them, though, change have a different form in each case, like bun (good).

With some exceptions where the plural is the same like roșu (red), drag (dear).

While learning the language, you will notice that most adjectives roughly follow the above endings with e a few exceptions, e.g. -oaie ending for feminines in the first group, -e ending being used instead of -ă in the last group, u turning into i in the case of roșu whenever a vowel comes after it, etc.

These rules and exceptions will come natural after a while, and, based of the form of the adjective, you will be able to know all the forms only by recognizing the pattern. But, for starters, you can look up any adjective in the dictionary, and expand the section labeled declinări (declinations) to see all forms.

Invariable form
Some adjective have the same form in all possible use cases, but they few and some of them are rarely used, like gata (ready), cumsecade (kind), vivace (vivacious).

DEFINITE ARTICLE - NOMINATIVE-ACCUSATIVE, SINGULAR
One particularity of Romanian is the definite article. Along with a few other languages like Bulgarian, Macedonian, Norwegian, the definite article gets attached to the end of the noun. In other words, instead of having it in the beginning like in the cat, Romanian has a specific ending.

The definite article is used to tell that its noun is particular and identifiable by person listening. (It's not just a game, it's the game.)

During this lesson we only deal with the nominative-accusative form., with the dative-genitive form coming in a later lesson.

Masculine
Masculine nouns fall into the following rules.

Feminine
While feminine ones fall into these other rules.

DEFINITE ARTICLE - NOMINATIVE-ACCUSATIVE, PLURAL
During this lesson we only deal with the nominative-accusative form. With the dative-genitive form coming in a later lesson.

Masculine
Masculine plural nouns' definite article is a simple i to the end of the plural form.


 * bărbați - bărbații (men - the men)
 * vulturi - vulturii (eagles - the eagles)

Feminine
Feminine plural nouns are just as easy. One only needs to add le at the end of the plural form.


 * femei - femeile (women - the women)
 * supe - supele (soups - the soups)

VERB MOODS
In Romanian, verbs have moods that help a speaker express attitude towards something. (command, wish, etc.) Two important moods that you will use and should probably remember are indicative and infinitive.

Indicative is the default mood use for factual statements and is the most common one. Compared to English, infinitive is less used in Romanian (it has more specialized moods instead), but it's very useful in recognizing conjugation groups.

CONJUGATION GROUPS
All Romanian verbs fall into four conjugation groups which help when conjugating. Unfortunately, these groups are divided into further groups, but they still help form four rough conjugation sets of rules that work for all regular verbs with very minor exceptions.

The four groups are identified by the way verbs end when in the infinitive mood.

Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs have different conjugations that don't fall in the aforementioned rules, but they are usually learned on the fly as they are not many.

A few examples are a fi (to be), a avea (to have), a vrea (to want), a da (to give), a lua (to take), a ști (to know), a mânca (to eat), a face (to do), and a few more.

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Like in English, Romanian distinguishes between two types of possessive pronouns named relative and absolute.

Relative possessive pronouns are used when only wanting to replace the owner.


 * El e prietenul meu. (He is my friend.)

Absolute possessive pronouns, on the other hand, are used instead of the owner and the owned object or person.


 * Nu e al tău. (It's not yours.)

The absolute form is formed by adding the possessive article to the relative form according to the gender and number of the replaced noun (neuter nouns are masculine when singular, and feminine when plural):

RELATIVE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Relative possessive pronouns change form according to the owner's person and number, and to the owned object or person's gender and number.

ABSOLUTE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Like in the case of relative possessive pronouns, they change form according to the owner's person and number, and to the owned object or person's gender and number, while also adding the possessive article in front.

GENITIVE-DATIVE FORM
Possession can also be expressed by not replacing the owner with a possessive pronoun and using the noun's genitive-dative form which is similar to 's you would add in English to signal possession.


 * Nu găsesc portofelul lui. (I can't find his wallet.)
 * Nu găsesc portofelul bunicului. (I can't find grandfather's wallet.)

In the example above, we are keeping the owner, bunicului, instead of using a pronoun-originating adjective, lui.

The genitive-dative form is better explained in a further lesson. The introduction here is only meant to give you a bigger picture when it comes to possession in Romanian.

NUMERALS UP TO TEN
The parts of speech that refer to numbers directly are called numerals.

Up to the number ten, they have specific names:

NUMERALS UP TO NINETEEN
Numerals between eleven and nineteen are formed from the numbers euqivalent to their last digit and the ending sprezece (spre zece means towards ten) with a few small exceptions.

TENS
Numerals of tens are formed by adding zeci (tens) to the numbers equivalent to their first digit.

IN-BETWEEN TENS
To form numerals that are between tens, you need to start with the lower boundary (23's lower boundary is 20) and add și (and) followed by the last digit.


 * douăzecișitrei (twenty-three) - douăzeci + și + trei
 * patruzecișișase (forty-six) - patruzeci + și + șase

LARGER NUMERALS
Apart from the above, all other numerals will be composed from separate words which are not hyphenated. To form them, you need to remember a few multiples and their plural forms.

Here are a few examples. It's also common in Romanian to use the prepositon de between multiples (apar from sută) in order to form larger numerals but it is not necessary.


 * șaizecișitrei (de) milioane două sute optzecișiuna (de) mii trei sute paisprezece (63,281,314)
 * un milion șapte (1,000,007)

1, 2 AND 12
You may have noticed until now that the numerals for 1, 2 and 12 change form. The reason why this happens is because they have different forms when agreeing with masculine and feminine nouns in case it is used where you would normally use an adjective.

For example:

This also applies when using multiples (sute, mii, milioane) which are all feminine.
 * un bărbat / o femeie (one man / one woman)
 * doi bărbați / două femei (two men / two women)

In case you're wondering why unu is missing from the table above, it's because this particular form is used only when talking about the mathematic number one or quantities whose name is not provided. In other words, unu is used only in the case of pure numerals, not adjectives form from numerals.


 * Am doar unul. (I have just one.) - numeral
 * Un om și jumătate. (One and a half men.) - adjective formed from numeral

Verbs for clothing
When it comes to clothes, in Romanian we use verbs like:

a (se) îmbrăca/to dress
In Romanian, we use its reflexive form (reflexive pronoun + verb) :

Other verbs that require the same form:
 * a (se) trezi - to wake up
 * a (se) spăla - to wash
 * a (se) bucura - to enjoy etc.

Different verbs need different forms when translated into English


 * Eu mă spăl - I am washing myself
 * Tu te trezești - You are waking up
 * El/Ea se bucură - He/She/It enjoys

DEGREES OF COMPARISON
Unlike English, Romanian has only one way of comparing adjectives, and it involes no irrgulars. It does, however, invole some degree of inflection just like in the case of adjectives.

Superlative
Relative superlative requires the use of the demostrative pronoun cel which has 4 forms that differ by gender and number. The pronoun has to agree with noun that the adjective describes.

Absolute superlative is straightforward; it is constructed by prepending foarte (very).


 * foarte pronunțat (very pronounced)

Present tense
Present tense verbs are used for indicating the fact that an action takes place in the moment of speaking.

a cumpăra/to buy
The letters written in italics are called desinences (desinențe) and they indicate the person (I,II,III) and the number (sg./pl).

Present tense can mark future or past actions in order to bring them in present time.
 * Mâine mergem acasă. - Tomorrow we are going home.
 * Becul se inventează în 1897. - The light bulb is invented in 1879.

Adverb or adjective?

 * roșu - red


 * Mărul roșu este al meu. - The red apple is mine.

In this case the word roșu is an adjective, because it modifies a noun (mărul/the apple).


 * El vede roșu în fața ochilor - He sees red in front of his eyes.

In this case the word roșu is an adverb, because it modifies a verb (vede/sees).

Different forms
Colors can have different forms when acting like an adjective, according to number/person:


 * câine negru black dog
 * câini negri black dogs
 * pisică neagră black cat
 * pisici negre black cats

EXCEPTIONS:

 * mov (mauve)
 * roz (pink)
 * maro (brown)
 * gri (gray)

These colors keep the same form, exactly like in English.


 * câine gri (gray dog) / câini gri (gray dogs)
 * pisică gri (gray cat) / pisici gri (gray cats)

Ordinal Numbers
How are they formed?


 * masculine: al [cardinal number] + -le + -a
 * feminine: a [cardinal number] -a

First does not comply with the rules and has distinct formes:


 * primul/întâiul (masc. sg.) / primii/întâii (masc. pl.)
 * prima/întâia (fem. sg.) /primele/întâile (fem. pl.)

Masculine ordinal numbers that are formed from eight, milion, bilion etc.:
 * al [cardinal number] -lea + -u : al optulea, al un milionulea.

Feminine ordinal numbers that are formed from two, four, thousand, milion etc. :
 * -a substitutes the final vowel of the cardinal number: patru/a patra.

Ordinal numbers that are formed from compound cardinal numbers:
 * we add -lea and -a only to the last numeral: al douăzeci și cincilea, al o sută douăzecilea.

Tips and tricks: a vrea=a voi=to want
Even if a vrea and a voi mean the same thing, they have different forms for present, past and future.

The problems with a vrea and a voi begin, even for native speakers, when we use past time (in Romanian- timpul imperfect)

a (a)dormi/to sleep
The main difference between a dormi and a adormi:


 * a dormi = to sleep
 * a adormi = to fall asleep

Weekdays/Zilele săpămânii
Adverbial forms:


 * lunea = on Mondays

Example: Lunea mergem la școală = We go to school on Mondays.


 * marțea = on Tuesdays
 * miercurea = on Wednesdays
 * joia = on Thursdays
 * vinerea = on Fridays
 * sâmbăta = on Saturdays
 * duminica = on Sundays

Did you know?

Weekdays in Romanian originate from Latin, where every day was named after a planet.

Months of the year/Lunile anului
The folk names come from legends, agriculture, symbols of one season or another, or weather particularities.

How to write the date with numbers?

In Romanian we use this system: dd.mm.yyyy.

Basic rules
Three i rule: Articulated and unarticulated forms of the masculine plural nouns and adjectives ending in -iu, the noun child (copil) and the adjective roșu (red) receive a three i termination:

Tips and tricks: synonymy

The Romanian word vitreg also means hostile, rough, ruthless.

Tips and tricks: differences
There are differences between a (se) mărita and a (se) însura.
 * a (se) mărita is used when we talk about women.
 * a (se) însura is used when we talk about men.

Traditions
In Romania, in the wedding day, the couple receives some special names:

The man becomes mire (groom), the woman becomes mireasă (bride). Togheter they are called miri (the wedded couple).

Another tradition is the wedding vows renewal:
 * nunta de argint (silver wedding): 25 years anniversary.
 * nunta de aur (golden wedding): 50 years anniversary.
 * nunta de diamant (diamond wedding): 75 years anniversary.

Basic rules
Accusative pronouns can have two forms:
 * accented form
 * unaccented form: it may appear linked by a hyphen

Examples:
 * Pe tine te întreb. - I ask you.
 * Vouă nu vă place nimic. - You do not like anything.
 * El ne-a sfătuit ieri. - He advised us yesterday.
 * Ele i-au iubit. - They have loved them.

Tips and tricks: pe
As you see, we use the preposition pe for accented forms of acusative pronouns.

In English, pe can be also translated as:
 * on: The book is on the table - Cartea este pe masă.
 * by: He walks by foot - El merge pe jos.
 * upon: It was based upon two principles - A fost bazat pe două principii.
 * per: On this road should run two cars per band. - Pe acest drum ar trebui să circule două mașini. pe/per bandă.
 * to: The cat is to their liking. - Pisica este pe placul lor.
 * over: The milk was all over me - Laptele era peste tot pe mine.
 * along: We are driving along a narrow road. - Conducem pe un drum îngust.
 * onto: They went up onto the ridge. - Ei s-au urcat pe creastă.

Noun gender
Most nouns have a well-established gender. However, some nouns are formed by adding a gender suffix:

feminin from masculine: masculine from feminine:
 * doctor (doctor)- doctoriță (female doctor)
 * lup (wolf)- lupoaică (she-wolf)
 * vuple (fox)- vulpoi (male fox)
 * vrabie (sparrow)- vrăbioi (male sparrow)

Tips and tricks: neuter nouns

Neuter nouns are usually naming objects. You can recognize them by counting like this:


 * un [masc.]/o [fem.]

Or if it admits an demonstrative pronominal adjective:

acest [masc.]/acest[fem.]
 * un creion/one crayon două creioane/two crayons
 * acest creion/this crayon aceste creioane/these crayons

Prefixoids/Suffixoids

 * Prefixoid = groups of letters that are placed at the begining of the word, but that don't have the characteristcs of a prefix.
 * Suffixoid = groups of letters that are placed at the end of the word, but that don't have the characteristcs of a suffix.

Lexical family
The lexical family consists of a main word and all the other words that can be formed from that word

Tips and tricks: președinție vs. președenție
Lots of native speakers are using the word președenție when talking about presidency. This version is wrong.

The correct one is președinție, word derived from președinte.

Basic rules
The main role of the presposition is to realize a connecation relation between words.

Even if the concept is the same in Romanian as it is in English, our prepositions can have several corresponding words in English, depending on context.

Tips and tricks: hyphen
When writing in Romanian, you should be concerned about using the hyphen. At first glance, the same word, written with and without a hyphen, may seem a little bit confusing. Be careful, because the hyphen really makes a difference.

The rule is simple: we use the hyphen when the words have meaning by themselves

Example: la vs l-a
 * Eu merg la București- I go to Bucharest.
 * Ea l-a văzut ieri pe MIhai.- She saw Mihai yesterday.

Now the explanation: l-a merges two words:
 * l-- unaccented form of the personal pronoun el(he)
 * a- auxiliary form of a avea (to have), which formes with the main verb timpul perfect compus

Did you know?

When it comes to poetry, Romania is on the Olympic podium. The hyphen has a very important role in rhyme and meter.

> O, rămâi, rămâi la mine, > Te iubesc atât de mult! > Ale tale doruri toate > Numai eu ştiu să le-ascult; > (O rămâi- Mihai Eminescu)

>> O remain, dear one, I love you, >> Stay with me in my fair land, >> For your dreamings and your longings >> Only I can understand.

In this case, the hypen is used to merge the unaccented form of the personal pronoun ele (they) and the verb a asculta (to listen), but only in order to maintain the meter. In everyday talking and writing we use the form le ascult (I listen to them).

Basic rules
In order to become a pronominal adjective, a demonstrative pronoun and a noun should agree in number, gender and grammatical case.

Demonstrative pronoun is:
 * proximity pronoun: acesta (this)
 * distance pronoun: acela (that)
 * identity pronoun: același (same)

The position of a pronominal adjective:

the proximity adjectival pronouns and the distance pronouns can be placed before and after the noun

the identity adjectival pronouns can only be placed before the noun

The form of the proximity and distance pronominal adjective that is placed before the noun is with the final -a: acest munte (this mountain), acel munte (that mountain), această casă (this house), acea casă (that house)

Tips and tricks: short forms
Do not mistake the short forms of the demonstrative pronoun with mood adverbs or demonstrative articles:

demonstrative pronoun


 * Cei din clasă au răspuns. - Those in class responded.

demonstrative article


 * Ei sunt cei mai buni prieteni. - They are the best friends.

Tips and tricks: traditional forms
There are some traditional forms of these pronouns, used just in some areas of our country. We also taught some of these forms as they are used by speakers of Romanian often.


 * ăsta this (masc. sg.)
 * ista this (masc. sg.)
 * ălălalt other (masc. sg.)
 * aia that (fem. sg.)
 * aialaltă other (fem. pl.)

Basic rules
Units of Measurement in International System of Units (SI):


 * metre for length
 * kilogram for mass
 * second for time
 * ampere for electric current
 * kelvin for temperature
 * candela for luminous intensity
 * mole for amount of substance

In Romania we usually use these units of measurement. However, there are some exceptions:

Time/Timp
In spoken language, we express time in hours (ore) and minutes (minute).
 * oră minut secundă
 * hour minute second

Temperature/Temperatură
We express temperature in degrees Celsius:

1 degree Celsius = 33.8 degrees Fahrenheit = 274.15 degrees Kelvin

Tips and tricks: Metric System vs Imperial System

 * 1 mile (milă) = 1.609,344 m = 1.760 yards (yarzi) = 63.360 inches (țoli)
 * 1 inch (țol) = 25,4 milimeters
 * 1 foot (picior) = 12 inches (țoli) = 30,48 centimeters = 0,3048 meters

Multiples of gram
Be careful! The Kilogram is the unit of measurement of mass. When measuring weight we should use another unit of measurement, the Newton.

Tips and tricks: Franctional Numbers
Fractional numbers indicate one part of a whole.

How are they formed?


 * with the suffix -ime: pătrime (1/4), doime (1/2);
 * the ones written with percentages: doi la sută=2%;
 * jumătate (half), sfert (quarter), trei sferturi (three quarters)

Basic rules: Paronyms
Paronyms- words with similar forms and pronunciations, but with different meaning.


 * original (original) & originar (native)
 * emigrant (a person who leaves their own country in order to settle permanently in another.) & imigrant (a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.)
 * literal (word by word) & literar (which refers to literature)
 * temporal (which indicates time) & temporar (temporary)
 * solidar (united) & solitar (lonely)
 * eminent(very intelligent) & iminent (something that is about to happen)

Did you know?
In Romania we have three officially recognized untranslatable words:


 * 1) dor: Strong desire to see or meet again someone or something dear or even pain that is caused by love for someone that is far way.
 * 2) doină: Category of poetry and popular Romanian folk music, which expresses a feeling of longing, grief, rebellion, love.
 * 3) colindă: Traditional Christmas song, which is sung by children that are walking from house to house.

Tips and tricks: prepositions
In English we say She is on the television when referring to someone being on TV, however in Romanian we say from the TV"...

Examples:


 * Femeia de la radio este tânără. - The woman from the radio is young.

Basic rules
Like for the accusative, the personal pronoun has two sets of forms in the dative: stressed (full) forms and unstressed forms.

Please pay attention to the following facts:

In the 3rd person singular there are two stressed dative forms, one for masculine (lui) and one for feminine (ei); the unstressed forms are identical (îi, -i, i-, -i-)

In the 3rd person plural there is no gender opposition.

The unstressed forms of the personal pronouns in the dative, like those in the accusative, always accompany a verb:
 * Îmi aduce Dan cartea. (Dan is bringing me the book.)

The unstressed forms beginning with î- (îmi, îţi, îi) occur as separate words:
 * Îmi explici asta? (Can you explain this to me?)

The unstressed short forms without î- (with the î- elided) are always attached to another word that begins or ends in a vowel:
 * Mi-a explicat asta. (He explained this to me.)

The stressed forms of the personal pronouns in the dative are used independently, in isolated constructions, or as a repetitive element, for emphasis:
 * Îmi aduce Dan cartea. (Dan is bringing me the book.)
 * Ţie? (To you?)
 * Da, îmi aduce cartea mie, nu ţie! (He's bringing the book to me, not to you!)

Basic rules
The four states of aggregation:

Tips and tricks: Numerical prefixes
In Science, but not only Science, it is good to know the numerical prefixes in order to indicate how many sides a geometrical figure has, for example:
 * bi - for two: Parlament bicameral (Bicameral Parliament)
 * tri - for three: triunghi (Geometrical figure with three sides and angles)
 * tetra - for four: tetrapod (animal with four legs)
 * penta - for five: pentagon (polygon with five angles and five sides)
 * hexa - for six: hexaedru (six-sided polygon)
 * hepta - for seven: heptatlon (a track and field event in which each competitor takes part in the same prescribed seven events)
 * octa/o - for eight: octogenar (a person who is from 80 to 89 years old)
 * nona -/enea- for nine: eneadă (reunion of nine things or people- rar.)
 * deca - for ten: decadă (a period of ten years)

Tips and tricks : Vechime
This word refers to the age of an object (as in length of age). It is not to be confused with the age of a person or a thing.

Basic rules
To begin with, the noun forms in the genitive and in the dative are identical. However, the dative is the case of the indirect object, while the genitive is mainly the case of possession, belonging or origin..

Example:


 * Genitive: Cartea băiatului este aici. (The boy's book is here.)
 * Dative: Îi dau cartea băiatului! (I give the book to the boy!)

CASE FORMS:
If not modified by an adjective or pronominal adjective, the Romanian noun in the genitive or the dative will always be accompanied by its article, definite or indefinite. The element that changes in the genitive-dative forms is the article. It is only the feminine nouns that take a particular ending in the genitive-dative singular. This ending is identical in form to the ending for the nominative plural.

Declension with the indefinite article: masculine and neuter nouns (not considering the article) have:
 * (i) one form for the singular in all cases; and
 * (ii) one form for the plural in all cases.

Example:


 * Nominative-Accusative singular: un pom (a tree); un scaun (a chair)
 * Genitive-Dative singular: unui pom (to a tree/ of a tree); unui scaun (to a chair/ of a chair)
 * Nominative-Accusative plural: niște pomi (some trees); niște scaune (some chairs)
 * Genitive-Dative plural: unor pomi (to some trees/ of some trees); unor scaune (to some chairs/ of some chairs).

feminine nouns (not considering the article) have:
 * (i) one form for the nominative-accusative singular; and
 * (ii) a different form for the genitive-dative singular and all the cases in the plural.

Example:


 * N-A sing.: o floare (a flower)
 * G-D sing.: unei flori (to a flower/ of a flower)
 * N-A pl.: niște flori (some flowers)
 * G-D pl.: unor flori (to some flowers/ of some flowers).

the indefinite article has three genitive-dative forms: unui (masculine and neuter, singular), unei (feminine, singular) and unor (plural for the three genders)

Declension with the definite article: masculine and neuter nouns (not considering the article) have:
 * (i) one form for the singular; and
 * (ii) one form for the plural in all cases.

Example:


 * N-A sing.: pomul (the tree); scaunul (the chair)
 * G-D sing.: pomului (to the tree/ of the tree); scaunului (to the chair/ of the chair)
 * N-A pl.: pomii (the trees); scaunele (the chairs)
 * G-D pl.: pomilor (to the trees/ of the trees); scaunelor (to the chairs/ of the chairs).

feminine nouns (not considering the article) have:
 * (ii) one form for the nominative-accusative singular; and
 * (ii) a different form for the genitive-dative singular and all the cases in the plural.

Example:


 * N-A sing.: floarea (the flower)
 * G-D sing.: florii (to the flower/ of the flower)
 * N-A pl.: florile (the flowers)
 * G-D pl.: florilor (to the flowers/ of the flowers).

However, for the feminine nouns that take the ending -ii in the nominative-accusative plural, the ending changes into -ie in the genitive-dative singular, and the article is attached to this form:


 * N-A sing.: o familie (a family)
 * N-A pl.: niște familii (some families)
 * G-D sing.: familiei (to the family/ of the family)
 * G-D pl.: familiilor (to the families/ of the families) |

the definite article has three genitive-dative forms: -(u)lui (masculine and neuter, singular), -i (feminine, singular) and -lor (plural for the three genders).

The Genitive:
The case question of the genitive is al, a, ai, ale cui? (whose?).

In simple constructions or sentences, the noun in the genitive is placed after the noun that it modifies, in its immediate proximity:


 * cartea profesorului (the professor's book);
 * mama Corinei (Corina's mother);
 * misterele Egiptului (the mysteries of Egypt).

In such simple combinations, the noun modified by the genitive takes the definite article.

If the modified noun takes the indefinite article, or if it is modified by one or more adjectives or by a noun in the accusative, the noun in the genitive will take the possessive or genitive article:


 * o carte a profesorului (a book of the professor);
 * cartea nouă a profesorului (the professor's new book);
 * mama minunată a Corinei (the wonderful mother of Corina);
 * misterele fermecătoare ale Egiptului (the enchanting misteries of Egypt).

The Dative:
The dative indicates the person or thing the action of the verb is directed to. The case question of the dative is cui? (to whom?).

The dative comes after certain verbs related to the general idea of giving:


 * a da (to give)
 * a oferi (to offer)
 * a înmâna (to hand in)
 * a dărui (to give a gift)
 * a spune (to tell, to say)
 * a explica (to explain)
 * a promite (to promise)
 * a arăta (to show).

Useful words regarding places
Our country is organized by counties (județe) and each county has its own county seat (reședință de județ). It is also divided by regions, nine in total.

Restaurants: useful words

 * chelner - waiter with the feminin form cheleneriță
 * bucătar - cook, but we also use chef (more formal)
 * tacâmuri - tableware, including furculiță (fork), cuțit (knife), lingură (spoon).
 * șervețel - table napkin
 * notă de plată - bill

Hotels: useful words

 * recepție - reception
 * cameristă - maid
 * parcare - parking lot
 * seif - safe-deposit box

room service is used in Romanian too

Churces: useful words

 * icoană - icon
 * rugăciune - prayer
 * preot - priest
 * altar is used in Romanian too
 * lumânare - candle

Markets: useful words

 * fructe - fruits
 * legume - vegetables
 * flori - flowers
 * a negocia - to negotiate

Museums: useful words

 * tablou - painting
 * statuie - statue
 * artă - art
 * ghid - guide
 * a contempla - to contemplate

Theatres: useful words

 * piesă de teatru - play
 * actor - actor, with the feminine form actriță
 * comedie - comedy
 * tragedie - tragedy

Cinemas: useful words

 * bilet - ticket
 * loc - seat
 * film - movie
 * floricele de porumb - popcorn, but more often we use popcorn too
 * acțiune - action
 * regizor - director

Libraries: useful words

 * carte - book
 * autor - author
 * literatură universală - universal literature
 * a împrumuta - to borrow
 * beletristică - fiction
 * poezie - poetry

Schools: useful words

 * elev - student
 * profesor - professor
 * director adjunct - deputy director
 * manual - textbook
 * temă - homework
 * orar - schedule

Shops: useful words

 * rest - change
 * raion - departament
 * reducere - discount (also used in Romanian)
 * a plăti - to pay

Prepositions
When talking about visiting a country or another, the right preposition is în:
 * Plec în Suedia - I go to Sweden

When moving from a country, the right preposition is din:
 * Mă mut din Italia - I move from Italy

Grammatical agreement

 * locuitorii Suediei - inhabitants of Sweden
 * locuitorii Argentinei - inhanitans of Argentine
 * locuitorii Statelor Unite ale Americii - inhabitants of the United States of America
 * locuitorii Danemarcei - inhabitants of Denmark

Be careful! the form Danemarcăi is wrong!


 * locuitorii Țării Galilor - inhabitants of Wales


 * literatură daneză - Danish literature
 * literatură argentiniană - Argentinean literature
 * literatură americană - American literature
 * literatură galeză - Welsh literature


 * costum rusesc - Russian outfit
 * costum englezesc - English outfit
 * costum brazilian - Brazilian outfit
 * costum românesc - Romanian outfit

Tips and tricks: phobias (fobii)
In Romanian we call xenofobie the irrational dislike or fear of new (including other countries or people from other countries).

Every phobia in our language is ended in -fobie, wich is a suffixoid that means fear, distase

Manners of adress

 * for king: Sire or Majestatea Voastră (Your Majesty)
 * for queen: Majestatea Voastră
 * for princess/for prince: Alteța Voastră Regală (Your Royal Highness)
 * for president/ for amabssador: Excelența Sa (His Excelence)

Tips and tricks: pleonasms
A pleonasm is the use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning, either as a fault of style or for emphasis.

Did you know? Romanian politics
Our Parliament is divided into two chambers: Camera Deputaților (The Chamber of Deputies) and Senatul (The Senate).

The President has a five-year mandate, but a member of the Parliament has a four-year mandate. We have a democratic vote, so everyone who is 18 years old or older can vote on election day.

Since we became a democracy, we only had four presidents (including our president in function, Mr. Klaus Iohannis).

Tips and tricks: crime vs. murder
In English, the word crime is used for expressing an action that is punishable by law (generally speaking), and the Romanian equivalent is delict.

The word crimă, (very similar with crime, but they don't have the same meaning) in Romanian, it means murder.

Basic rules
Conjunctions can be:

coordinator conjunctions

subordinate conjunctions

Phrases

Tips and tricks
We use comma:

before dar, iar, însă & ci

before sau, ori, fie used twice
 * Ori rămâi, ori pleci- Either you stay or you leave

before așadar, deci

Basic rules
The adverb is a word or phrase that modifies the meaning of an adjective, verb, or other adverb, expressing manner, place, time, or degree

Types:
 * adverbe de loc (place): aici (here), acolo (there), sus (up)
 * adverbe de timp (time): azi (today), devreme (early), curând (soon)
 * adverbe de mod (manner): bine (well), da/nu (yes/no), agale (slowly)

Derived adverbs
Suffixes:
 * -ește: iepurește, românește
 * -iș: cruciș, pieptiș
 * âș: târâș

Compound adverbs

 * adverb + subs. (noun): azi-dimineaţă (this morning), ieri-noapte (yesterday night), mâine-seară (tomorrow evening);
 * adverb + adverb: oriunde (anywhere), oarecum (somewhat), orişicând (anytime), târâş-grăpiş (with difficulty);
 * prep. (preposition) + adverb: de abia (barely), până când (until), până unde (how far), încotro (where).

Tips and tricks:

 * nu îi … (lui/ei): Nu-i (nu îi) dă voie să vină.
 * nu e/este: Nu-i (nu e/este) de acord.

Interrogative Pronouns
Example:
 * Cine a cumpărat cărțile? - Who bought the books?

The main role of the Interrogative Pronoun is to replace the noun that is expected as an answer to the question which includes the pronoun.

Pronoun forms:

 * cine?/cui?  - who?/whose? & whom?
 * ce?  - what?
 * care?  - which?
 * căruia?/cărora?  - whose?
 * cât?  - how much?

Adjectival Pronoun
Example:
 * Pentru cine sunt cărțile? - For whom the books are?

Relative Pronouns
They have the same form as the interogative pronouns.

When the relative pronoun agrees with a noun, they become adjectival relative pronouns.

Be careful at the form of the adjectival pronoun:


 * Casa ale cărei geamuri sunt albe e mare. -The house whose windows are white is big.

In this situation we use ale because we have the noun geamuri in the plural, neutral form. The grammatical agreement is made between this words.

Simple:

 * altul - another
 * unul  - one

Compound (some examples):


 * ceva  - something?
 * oricine  - anyone
 * altceva  - something else

Some indefinite pronouns are invariable (ceva, altceva), but there are others that can vary depending on genre (fiecăruia/fiecăreia), or even case and number.

Pronoun forms:

 * nimeni
 * niciunul/niciuna
 * nimic

Be careful! There is a big difference between niciunul and nici unul!

Examples:
 * Niciunul din ei nu a primit slujba. - None of them got the job.
 * Nu a cumpărat nici un pepene, nici o portocală. - He neither bought a watermelon, nor an orange.

In the last case, un and o are indefinite articles.

= =

Prepositional Phrases
Prepositional phrases consist of one or two prepositions and another part of speech: articulated or non-articulated noun: în urma (behind), în spatele (behind), în loc de (instead of); articulated or non-articulated adverbs: pe dinaintea (before), aproape de (close to), în afară de (apart from); Tips and Tricks: preposition vs. adverb

Usually, prepositions and prepositional phrases are articulated, adverbs and adverbial phrases are non-articulated.

Examples:

 * Ei merg înainte. - They walk ahead (adverb)
 * Ei merg înaintea lui. - They walk before him (preposition)

Many prepositions can also consist of a personal pronoun (Dativ Case, unaccented form):
 * asupra-mi (asupra mea) on me
 * în juru-ți (în jurul tău) around you
 * în fața-ți (în fața ta) in front of you

Tips and tricks: care vs. pe care
Another frequent grammatical mistake is forgetting the preposition pe in this structure and making the phrase more than ambiguous.

Examples:

 * Oamenii CARE au venit sunt fericiți.- The people who came are happy.
 * Oamenii PE CARE i-am văzut sunt fericiți.- The people I have seen are happy.
 * Ea a venit cu o fată PE CARE o urăște.- She came with a gril that she hates.
 * Ea a venit cu o fată CARE o urăște.- She came with a girl that hates her.

As you can see, it is a big difference regarding the meaning, depending on who does the action and who suffers it.

Diminutives and Augmentatives
Diminutives- nouns formed by derivation with diminutival suffixes, naming objects that are smaller than the main object.

In Romanian, there are several diminutival suffixes: -aș, -el, -ic, -ișor etc..

Examples: iepuraș (bunny), șoricel (mouse), lăptic (milk), peștișor (fish);

Diminutives are also used for expressing sympathy.

Examples: mamă (mother) mămică (mum)

Augmentatives: nouns formed by derivation with augmentative suffixes, naming objects that are bigger than the main object.

Suffixes: -an, -andru, -oi, -oaie

Examples: bogătan, cățelandru, cuțitoi, căsoaie

Did you know?
In Romanian literature, diminutives and augmentatives are used as figures of speech, highlighting qualities or flaws of one character or another.

Example: > Atunci Gerilă suflă de trei ori cu buzișoarele sale cele iscusite și casa rămâne nici fierbinte, nici rece [...] > Ion Creangă - Povestea lui Harap Alb >> Then Gerilă blew three times with his cunning little lips and the house remains neither hot, nor cold [...] >> Ion Creangă - The story of Harap Alb

Tips and tricks: phrases & sayings

 * A-și lua inima-n dinți - To screw up one's courage.
 * A-l durea în cot - Couldn't care less
 * A sta cu ochii în patru - To be on the lookout
 * A ține piept - To withstand
 * A da din coate - To scramble

Loanwords
Loanword- a word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification.

In Romanian, we still use some words that come from the extinct Dacian language, such as:


 * amurg - twilight
 * brad - fir tree
 * brânză - cheese
 * melc - snail
 * viscol - blizzard

The Slavic influences are the most pronounced ones because the Slavonic language was once the main language of the administration, diplomacy, also used in the religious cults.


 * Rai - Heaven
 * prieten - friend
 * vrăjmaș - enemy
 * bogat - rich
 * duh - spirit

The direct contacts between the Romanian culture and the Hungarian culture led to a significant influence regarding our lexicon.


 * chin - struggle
 * neam - nation
 * chipeș - handsome
 * a chibzui - to contemplate
 * pildă - parable

Turkish influences began to manifest in the 16th century, because of the vassal relationship between Țara Românească & Moldova and the Ottoman empire


 * dușman - enemy
 * chef - binge
 * murdar - dirty
 * dușumea - floor
 * cherhana - fishery

Loanwords of Greek origin:


 * mănăstire - monastery
 * politicos - polite
 * a (se) plictisi - to get bored
 * ifose - airs
 * Patriarh - Patriarch

Loanwords of French origin:


 * alambicat - sophisticated
 * obsesie - obsession
 * grup - group
 * meditație - meditation
 * cochet - coquettish

Loanwords of English origin:


 * site
 * job
 * airbag
 * clovn - clown
 * a scana - to scan

Tips and tricks: English words & expressions

to make sense

The correct translation in Romanian for this expression is a avea sens, with the verb a avea (to have) not * a face sens, with a face* (to do).

hazard

The correct translation in Romanian is destin (destiny), not dezastru.

determination

The correct translation in Romanian is hotărâre (decision), not determinare.

Basic rules
In Romanian, we use the expressions:
 * a face curățenie (with the verb a face/to do) in order to express cleaning up (something).
 * a duce gunoiul (with the verb a duce/to carry) in order to express taking the rubbish out.
 * a face baie (with the verb a face/to do) in order to express taking a bath.

We also have some different words for living room (we use this form in Romanian too, we also use just living): sufragerie, cameră de zi, cameră de oaspeți.

Basic Rules
Other forms for sensations:

FOAME SETE FRICĂ FRIG CALD
 * înfometat - starved
 * fomiță (diminutival form) - hunger
 * foamete - famine
 * însetat - thirsty
 * înfricoșat - frightened
 * neînfricat - fearless
 * fricos - fearful
 * înfricoșător - scary
 * înfrigurat - cold
 * friguț (diminutival form)
 * încălzit - heated
 * călduț (diminutival form)

RUȘINE
 * călduros - warm(ly)
 * rușinat - ashamed
 * rușinos - shameful

POFTĂ TEAMĂ SOMN LENE INDIFERENT DRAG
 * nerușinat - shameless
 * pofticios - greedy
 * temător - fearful
 * somnoros - sleepy
 * somnic (diminutival form)
 * somnolent - drowsy
 * a lenevi - to laze
 * leneș - lazy
 * indiferență - indifference
 * drăguț - nice
 * drăgăstos - loving(ly)