Romanian Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Romanian grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Romanian and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Romanian and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Romanian.

Prepositions - Romanian
and şi
above deasupra
under sub
before înainte
after după
in front of în faţa
behind în spatele
far from departe de
near lângă
in în
inside în interiorul
outside în exteriorul
with cu
without fără
about despre
between între
but dar
for pentru
from de la
to pentru

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Romanian
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] mănânc fără cuţit
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] ea trăieşte în apropierea bisericii
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] el este mai înalt decât ea
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] el a venit cu câinele său mic
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] poţi veni cu mine?

Negation in Romanian

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Romanian
I understand you [affirmative form] te-am înţeles
I don't understand you [negation + verb] eu nu te înţeleg
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] acesta nu este cuvântul corect
don't leave me [imperative negation] nu mă lăsa
no problem [negation + noun] nicio problemă

Negative Sentences - Romanian
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] eu nu vorbesc limba franceză
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] ea nu a vizitat Germania
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] el nu ne poate vedea
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] ea nu poate juca şah?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] noi nu vom veni târziu

Questions in Romanian

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Romanian
how? cum?
what? ce?
who? cine?
why? de ce?
where? unde?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Romanian
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] unde locuiţi?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] ea vorbeşte chineza?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] cât costă aceasta?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] pot să te ajut?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] care este numele tău?

Adverbs in Romanian

It's time to learn the adverbs in Romanian. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Romanian
now acum
yesterday ieri
today astăzi
tonight în seara aceasta
tomorrow mâine
soon în curând
quickly repede
slowly încet
together împreună
very foarte
almost aproape
always mereu
usually de obicei
sometimes uneori
rarely rareori
never niciodată

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Romanian
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] m-ai înţeles acum?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] am nevoie de ajutor imediat
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] ea este foarte inteligentă
I will always love you [verb + adverb] eu te voi iubi mereu
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] putem învăţa limba germana împreună?

Pronouns in Romanian

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Romanian. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Romanian
I eu
you tu
he el
she ea
we noi
they ei

Object Pronouns - Romanian
me pe mine /mie/îmi/-mi
you pe tine/ţie/îţi/ţi
him pe el/lui/îi/i-
her pe ea/ei/îi/i-
us pe noi/ne/nouă
them pe ei/ pe ele/le

Possessive Pronouns - Romanian
my meu/mea
your tău/ta
his lui
her ei
our nostru/noastră/noştri/noastre
their lor

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Romanian
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] eu sunt prietenul tău
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] vorbiţi foarte repede
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] el are trei câini
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] ea poate vorbi limba germană
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] noi nu vom veni târziu
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] ei au cumpărat lapte şi pâine

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Romanian
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] pot să-mi spui numele tău?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] eu vă voi da bani
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] ea i-a scris o scrisoare
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] aceştia au vizitat-o ​​ieri
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] ea ne poate ajuta?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] el le-a dat mâncare

Possessive Pronouns - Romanian
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] numele meu este Maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] fratele tău trăieşte aici
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] mama ei găteşte pentru noi
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] hobby-ul său este cititul cărţilor
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] visul nostru este de a vizita Parisul
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] casa lor nu este departe

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Romanian
this is my house aceasta este casa mea
that restaurant is far acest restaurant este departe
these apples are delicious aceste mere sunt delicioase
those stars are shiny acele stele sunt strălucitoare

I hope you learned a lot about the Romanian grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!