Chapter 9 of 16 · Explore the Romanian path
Words · Chapter 9 of 16
Words like big and small, and where they sit
Six everyday describing words, and the two things a book expects you to know about them: they come after the thing they describe, and their ending copies it.
≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- A describing word is a word like big, small, old, good.
- It comes after the thing and copies its family: o casă mică, un lup mic.
- The “the” stays on the thing; the describing word behind it takes none.
- mare has one shape for both families, like other words in -e.
- An o in the masculine often opens to oa in the feminine.
Six describing words
A describing word says what something is like: big, small, old. Read each row across to watch the ending change with the thing it describes.
| English | With a masculine thing | With a feminine thing |
|---|---|---|
| small | mic | mică |
| big | mare | mare |
| good | bun | bună |
| old | bătrân | bătrână |
| sad | trist | tristă |
| beautiful | frumos | frumoasă |
For more than one thing they take the plural endings you already know: mici
A small house.
O casă mică.
oh KAH-suh MEE-kuh
casă first, mică after — and the -ă on mică was copied from casă. Expect the thing first; read in English order and you will be a word behind all the way.
The old wolf is sad.
Lupul bătrân este trist.
LOO-pool buh-TRIHN YES-teh treest
The “the” sits on the thing, not on the description — lupul, then a bare bătrân. The word after este is masculine too: it still describes the wolf.
Which ending, and which side
- o vulpe bătrână
The describing word copies the family of the thing.
Show answer +Hide answer −
o vulpe bătrânăoh VOOL-peh buh-TRIH-nuh “an old fox” - Iepurele este trist.
Peel the ending off the first word.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Iepurele este trist.YEH-poo-reh-leh YES-teh treest “The rabbit is sad” - Why is it o casă mică but un lup mic?
Show answer +Hide answer −
The describing word copies the family of its thing: casă is feminine, lup is masculine.