The Romanian Language. NOUNS and ADJECTIVES Part 3

	Indef. Sing.	Def. Sing.	Indef. Plural	Def. Plural
Son	Fiu	Fiul	Fii	Fiii
Metre	Metru	Metrul	Metri	Metrii
Fish	Peşte	Peştele	Peşti	Peştii

Girl/daughter	Fată	Fata	Fete	Fetele
Beer	Bere	Berea	Beri	Berele
Coffee	Cafea	Cafeaua	Cafele	Cafelele

Hotel	Hotel	Hotelul	Hoteluri	Hotelurile
Taxi	Taxi	Taxiul	Taxiuri	Taxiurile
Ticket	Bilet	Biletul	Bilete	Biletele

In this article some of the same nouns will be used to illustrate the genitive/dative case. This case is used to indicate possession and action towards, so it takes the place of ‘of’ and ‘to’ in English.

It is formed in the singular by adding –ui to the Definite Singular of masculine and neuter nouns, and –ei or –ii to the Indefinite Plural of feminine nouns.

It is formed in the plural for all three genders by adding –lor to their Indefinite Plural form.

Examples :

You will meet two common kinds of possessive/genitive in Linguata. The first uses the noun construction set out above:

La capătul străzii - at the end of the street (Directions. 2): La (‘at, in’) capătul (definite form of capăt, ‘end’) străzii (genitive of stradă (‘street’ – indef. Plural străzi).

Centrul oraşului - town centre (Places and buildings. 2): Centrul (definite form of centru, ‘centre’) oraşului (gen. of oraş, ‘city).

Note that the ‘possessed’ object takes the definite form.

The second kind of possessive uses pronoun adjectives, ‘my, your, his/her’ etc.:

Aceasta este soţia mea – This is my wife; and Acesta este soţul meu – This is my husband (Conversation. Introductions) illustrate the use of feminine and masculine forms of meu (‘my’). Notice, as in the previous examples, the ‘possessed’ is again in the definite form. Like other adjectives, these possessives also follow the noun.

Care este jucătorul dumneavoastră preferat? and Care este jucătorul tău preferat? - ‘Who is your best player (jucător)?’ use the formal and informal versions respectively of ‘your’ (Conversation. Small talk. Sport). Dumneavoastră, commonly abbreviated to d-voastră or dvs., is the formal version. It is invariable, although most other possessive adjectives vary according to gender and number:

Singular	My	Your (Sing.)	His/her	Our	Your	Their
Masc.	Meu	Tău	Său	Nostru	Vostru	Lor
Fem.	Mea	Ta	Sa	Noastră	Voastră	Lor
Neuter	Meu	Tău	Său	Nostru	Vostru	Lor

Lui and ei are also used for ‘his and ‘her’ respectively. Like lor (‘their’) and dumneavoastră they are invariable.

Note that not every ‘of’ denotes a possessive. Here are two examples its non-possessive use:

A glass of red wine Un pahar de vin roşu (At the bar or café. 2)

Do you have a map of ....? Aveţi o hartă a ...?) Getting around. General Phrases)