The doing word holds the sentence together

A verb is the doing word: see, go, have. Its ending tells you who acted, so a Romanian sentence often has no separate word for “I”. Learn that, saying no, and six question words.

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What’s in this chapter

The verb is the doing word — is, see, go, eat.
Its ending is the subject: văd I see, vezi you see, vede he or she sees.
nu goes straight in front of the verb; no word matches “do”.
A statement becomes a question with your voice — nothing reordered, nothing added.
Six question words carry almost every question a fable asks.

The verb is the doing word in a sentence — is, see, go, eat. Romanian puts things roughly where English does: who, the doing word, then the thing it was done to.

The ending says who

Romanian rarely writes a word for “I” or “you” beside a doing word, because the end of the doing word already says who. Read that ending first.

vădvuhd

I see

vezivez(y)

you see

vedeVEH-deh

he sees, she sees

I see the wolf.

Văd lupul.

vuhd LOO-pool

Two words where English needs four: one is the seeing and the “I” together, the other the wolf and the “the” together. When a sentence seems to have no subject, read the end of the verb.

I do not see the fox.

Nu văd vulpea.

noo vuhd VOOL-pyah

nu goes in front of văd; everything else stays put. For don’t, doesn’t and isn’t alike it is nu and then the verb. In print it also shortens onto the next word: n-amnahm“I do not have”.

Six question words

These six open almost every question a fable asks. Learn to spot them at the front of a line, because nothing else in the sentence moves.

English	Romanian	Sounds like
who	cine	CHEE-neh
what	ce	cheh
where	unde	OON-deh
when	când	kihnd
why	de ce	deh CHEH
how	cum	koom

Ești Tobi?“Are you Tobi?” reorders nothing and adds nothing: on the page the question mark is the only signal.

Find the verb, then everything around it

Nu văd vulpea.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Nu văd vulpea.noo vuhd VOOL-pyah“I do not see the fox”
Unde este casa?
Peel the ending off the last word.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Unde este casa?OON-deh YES-teh KAH-sah“Where is the house?”
Ce vede lupul?
The verb ending says he or she.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Ce vede lupul?cheh VEH-deh LOO-pool“What does the wolf see?”
Vezi copacul?
No reordering at all.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Vezi copacul?vez(y) koh-PAH-kool“Do you see the tree?”

Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All Romanian chapters ↗