Romanian An Essential Grammar

Introduction

Romanian is a Romance language spoken by about 24million people, mainly in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Though it shares many features with its Romance cousins (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese), it also preserves a number of archaic Latin structures and has absorbed influences from Slavic, Hungarian, Turkish and Greek languages.

This overview presents the most important grammatical concepts for learners who want a compact yet comprehensive reference. It follows the structure of the wellknown reference work Romanian: An Essential Grammar, summarising its key points in plain English.

Phonology

Romanian has 7 vowel phonemes (/a, e, i, o, u, , /) and a rich consonant inventory that includes palatalised sounds and the distinctive fricative // (as in arpe snake). Stress is generally predictable, falling on the penultimate syllable, but there are many exceptions, especially in loanwords.

Vowel reduction does not occur as in French; each vowel is clearly pronounced even in unstressed positions.

Nouns & Articles

Gender and Number

Every noun belongs to one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Neuter nouns behave like masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural.

Definite Article

Unlike most Romance languages, the definite article is enclitic, i.e., it attaches to the end of the noun (or to the adjective when it follows the noun).

Indefinite articles are un (masc.), o (fem.) and un (neut., same as masculine).

Adjectives

Adjectives agree in gender, number, and case with the nouns they modify. The typical position is after the noun, but they can precede for emphasis or stylistic reasons.

Comparative forms are built with mai + adjective, while the superlative uses cel mai (masc.) or cea mai (fem.). Irregular forms exist (e.g., bun mai bun, cel mai bun).

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns have distinct subject, reflexive, and object forms. The subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already marks the person.

Genitive & Dative

Possession is expressed with a postposed genitive article -lui / -lei attached to the possessor.

Relative Pronouns

The relative pronoun care replaces persons and things; cui is used for indirect objects.

Verbs

Conjugation Classes

Romanian verbs fall into four conjugation groups, identified by the infinitive ending: -a, -ea, -i, and -. Regular patterns are predictable; several hundred common verbs are irregular (e.g., fi, avea, merge).

Mood & Tense

Four moods are used: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, and imperative. The indicative has six simple tenses (present, imperfect, simple perfect, pluperfect, future I, future II) and compound forms built with auxiliary a avea or a fi.

Passive Voice

The passive is typically formed with the verb a fi + past participle, which agrees with the subject in gender and number.

VerbNoun Interaction

Gerunds and verbal nouns end in -are, -ire (e.g., cntare singing, scriere writing) and behave like regular nouns in declension.

Syntax

Romanian generally follows a SubjectVerbObject order, but the language is flexible due to its rich inflection. Topiccomment structure often moves constituents to the front for emphasis. Subordinate clauses are introduced by conjunctions such as c, cnd, dac, and pentru c.

Prepositional phrases often precede the noun phrase they modify, and Romanian uses a set of prepositions that mirror those in other Romance languages (n, pe, la, cu).

Further Resources

• Romanian: An Essential Grammar Cambridge University Press, 2021.
• Online dictionaries: Dexonline, WordReference.
• Grammar exercises: Duolingo Romanian, Memrise.
• Pronunciation practice: Forvo Romanian.