Romanian grammar

Every grammar guide of Lingora’s Romanian A1 course, with examples you can listen to.

01Verbs: Present TenseThe present tense describes what is happening now, what happens regularly, and general truths. Romanian has a single present tense, so lucrez covers both…
02Expressing 'to be' (a fi)The verb a fi means "to be". It is the most important verb in the language: you use it for who or what something is, for describing things, for location,…
03Two Forms of 'is': 'e' and 'este'Romanian says is in two ways, este and e. They are one word, not two: the third person singular of a fi, "to be". Any sentence built on one of them is…
04Possession with 'a avea'The verb a avea means "to have". It expresses ownership and relationships, appears in many fixed expressions, and doubles as the helper verb for the past…
05Personal PronounsThe subject pronouns name who is doing the action: eu - I tu - you (one person, informal) el - he / it; ea - she / it noi - we voi - you (more than one…
06Nouns: Gender and DeclensionEvery Romanian noun has a gender, and the gender controls the articles, adjectives and pronouns that go with it. There are three: masculine, feminine and…
07Definite Article (Suffixed)English puts "the" in front of a noun. Romanian does the opposite: it glues the definite article onto the end of the noun. băiat means "a boy / boy";…
08Indefinite ArticlesThe indefinite article corresponds to English "a / an". It comes before the noun (unlike the definite "the", which is suffixed) and has two forms by…
09Adjectives: DeclensionA Romanian adjective agrees with its noun - that is, it changes its ending to match the noun's gender (masculine / feminine) and number (singular /…
10Possessive AdjectivesPossessive adjectives say whose something is: my, your, his, her, our, their. In Romanian they come after the noun, and the noun normally carries the…
11Demonstratives: This & ThatDemonstratives point things out: "this" (near) and "that" (further away). Like other modifiers they agree with the noun in gender and number, and…
12Asking QuestionsA yes/no question in Romanian needs no special word and no change of word order - you simply raise your voice at the end. Written down, only the question…
13Negation with 'nu'To make a sentence negative, put nu ("not") directly in front of the verb. There is nothing else to change: Știu. I know. Nu știu. I don't know. Nu…
14Verbs: The Infinitive with 'a'The infinitive is the basic, "to do" form of a verb - the form you look up in a dictionary. In Romanian it is marked by the little word a in front of it,…
15The Subjunctive with 'să'The subjunctive is the verb form introduced by să. Think of să as "to" or "that": it links two verbs, and it is the everyday Romanian way of doing what…
16Expressing Necessity with 'trebuie'trebuie means "must / have to / need to". It is the main way to express obligation, and it has one feature that makes it easy: in the present it is…
17Verbs: Future TenseRomanian has two everyday ways to talk about the future. Both are common; the second is more colloquial.
18Verbs: Perfect TenseThe perfect (Romanian perfectul compus) is the everyday past tense - what you reach for to say what happened: "I ate", "I have seen", "she left". It…
19Verbs: Imperfect TenseRomanian has a second past tense, the imperfect. While the perfect reports a single finished event ("I left"), the imperfect describes the past as…
20Verbs: Conditional MoodThe conditional expresses what would happen - under some condition, or as a polite, softened statement. It matches English "I would …".
21Verbs: Imperative MoodThe imperative gives commands, requests and instructions: "Eat!", "Come here!", "Don't go!". Romanian has separate forms for addressing one person and…
22Pronouns: Direct ObjectsA direct object pronoun stands in for the person or thing directly receiving the action - "him", "her", "it", "me", "us". Romanian has short forms that…
23Pronouns: Indirect ObjectsAn indirect object pronoun shows to whom or for whom something is done - "to me", "to you", "to him". Romanian, like English "to me / to her", has a…
24Reflexive Pronoun 'se'A reflexive verb is one where the subject acts on itself - "I wash myself", "she gets herself up". Romanian marks these with a reflexive pronoun before…
25Clitic Contraction with HyphenRomanian's little unstressed words - the object pronouns, the reflexive, nu, să, the past helper a - lean on the word next to them and merge with it in…
26Direct Object Marker 'pe'Romanian does something English never does: it puts a small marker, pe, in front of certain direct objects. It is not translated - it is a grammatical…
27Genitive and Dative CasesBeyond singular and plural, a Romanian noun also changes shape for two grammatical jobs: showing possession (the genitive, "of …") and marking the…
28Genitive Article 'al / a / ai / ale'When you express possession with the genitive ("of …"), Romanian sometimes needs an extra little word in front of the possessor: al, a, ai or ale. It is…
29Comparatives and SuperlativesTo compare things, Romanian does not change the adjective's ending the way English adds "-er / -est". It places small words in front, which keeps it very…
30Negative Pronouns: nimic, nimeni, niciunRomanian has dedicated negative words for "nothing", "nobody" and "no/none": nimic - nothing nimeni - nobody / no one niciun (masculine) / nicio…
31Politeness with 'dumneavoastră'Romanian, like many languages, separates a friendly "you" from a respectful one. To one friend, child or family member you say tu. To a stranger, an…
32The Many Meanings of 'de'de is one of the busiest words in Romanian. It is a small preposition with a wide range of meanings, and it also glues together many longer prepositions.…