Genitive and Dative Cases

01

The Definite Endings

The genitive/dative form is built on the definite ("the") noun:

• masculine / neuter singular: -ului - copil → copilul → copilului (child, the child, of/to the child)
• feminine singular: -ei - fată → fata → fetei (girl, the girl, of/to the girl)
• plural (all genders): -lor - copii → copiii → copiilor (children, the children, of/to the children)

02

Genitive: 'of / 's'

The genitive shows possession; the owner comes after the thing owned and takes the ending:

• cartea copilului

  the child's book

• casa fetei

  the girl's house

03

Dative: 'to'

The dative marks the person who receives, often doubled by an indirect-object pronoun:

• I-am dat cartea copilului.

  I gave the book to the child.

04

Names Use 'lui'

A man's name takes no ending at all. The word lui goes in front of it instead:

• cartea lui Ion

  Ion's book

A woman's name does take the ending, like any other feminine noun:

• cartea Mariei

  Maria's book

In everyday speech you will hear lui put in front of women's names as well:

• I-am spus lui Maria.

  I told Maria.