Indefinite Articles — Romanian Grammar

The indefinite article corresponds to English "a / an". It comes before the noun (unlike the definite "the", which is suffixed) and has two forms by gender:

- for masculine and neuter nouns
- for feminine nouns

un băiat
a boy
un scaun
a chair (neuter)
o casă
a house
o carte
a book

The Plural: 'some'

For "some" in the plural, Romanian uses for any gender, or simply drops the article altogether:

niște mere
some apples
Am cumpărat mere.
I bought (some) apples.

Also the Number 'One'

The same two words double as the number "one" - (m), (f) - so context decides whether is "a coffee" or "one coffee":

Am o întrebare.
I have a / one question.

Dropped After 'to be'

Romanian leaves out the article when naming someone's job or role after (to be), where English keeps "a":

Sunt student.
I am a student.
Ea e doctor.
She is a doctor.

Don't Confuse the Look-Alikes

Two other small words look like the articles but are different:

also appears in the colloquial future, as in (I'm going to go) - there it is an invariable particle, not the article.
The "of" word /// (the possessive article) is a separate topic.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Romanian course

108 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 10. A few of them, with the words “Indefinite Articles” is about in bold:

Cumpăr o banană și șase ouă.
I am buying one banana and six eggs.
Lesson 43
Am cumpărat o duzină de ouă și o ciocolată și pentru tine.
I bought a dozen eggs and a candy bar for you too.
Lesson 47
Bună ziua, doamnă doctor. Am o problemă.
Hello, Doctor. I have a problem.
Lesson 91

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