R. Torceanu

“ When the noun takes the article, the adjective can be preceded by the demonstrative cel (feminine cea) , ‘this,’ ‘that.’ This takes all the modifications of gender, number, and case, but should be omitted in translation into English
omul cel bun,— cassa cea bună. etc. a omuluĭ celuĭ bun,⁠ ⁠a casseĭ celeĭ bune, etc. But the adjective may stand also before the noun. When it does so the rules are inverted; it is then the adjective that takes all the modifications, whereas the noun remains unchanged, save in the feminine genitive and dative singular, and in the plural:
bunul om,⁠ ⁠buniĭ ómenĭ. ”

“ The word answering to the English article ‘the’ varies according as it is used for the singular or the plural, for masculine or feminine nouns, and even for masculine nouns of different terminations; one form being used for a noun ending with a consonant, another for that whose final letter is a vowel, the differences between vowel and vowel even necessitating a different form of the article. ”

“ Roumanian grammarians usually arrange the cases as follows:
Nominative.⁠ ⁠Dative. Vocative. ⁠Accusative. Genitive. ⁠Ablative. We have already seen the nominative case, this being the noun with or without the article.
The vocative case for the masculine ends in e for the singular, and lor for the plural; to the feminine o for the singular, and lor for the plural:
om, ‘man;’⁠ omule, ómenilor. copilă,⁠ ‘girl;’ copilo, copilelor. ”

“ For the passive voice we use the auxiliary verb a fi, ‘to be,’ by adding to each tense of this auxiliary the past participle of the verb we require. In this case the participle, being considered more as an adjective than as a verb, will agree with its subject in gender as well as in number.
A fi iubit, ‘To be loved.’
Indicative present, Sunt iubit, iubită,⁠ suntem, iubitĭ, iubite, Imperfect Eram iubit„ iubită„ eramŭ iubitĭ„ iubite„ Perfect Am fost iubit„ iubită„ eramŭ„ iubitĭ„ iubite„ etc. ”

“ But before showing systematically these variations of the particles, we most apprise the student that for the sake of euphony a vowel will sometimes be placed between the noun and the particle, so that the noun will receive the addition of one or more syllables. The foreigner will often be surprised to find a noun thus changed from a monosyllable to a word of three, four, or five syllables, and will find it difficult to discover the accented syllable of such a word. ”

“ Am dat cartea copiluluĭ, ‘I gave the book to the child.’ We have however already seen that the genitive, when it follows a noun, loses its particle a. When in such a sentence as the above it would not at first sight be obvious whether by the expression cartea copiluluĭ was meant ‘the book of the child’ or ‘the book to the child,’ the confusion which might then arise is avoided by placing the dative next to the verb:
am dat copiluluĭ cartea.
Accusative.
When the direct object of a transitive verb is a person, it takes the accusative case preceded by the preposition pe ”

“ The second person singular of the imperative, in the negative form, is expressed by the negative particle followed by the verb in the infinitive:
nu ara, ‘plough not.’ nu crede,⁠ ‘believe not.’ nu tăce, ‘be not silent.’ nu dormi, ‘sleep not.’ etc. ”

“ Present. Past. a vede or vedere, ‘to see.’ ⁠a fi vĕḍut, ‘to have seen.’ a crede, credere, ‘to believe.’⁠ ⁠a fi creḍut, ‘to have believed.’ It is well to note the accented syllable of the second form of the infinitive present. As we said before, this second form is used as a noun. ”

“ There is hardly a language, or even a dialect, to be found unworthy of the philologist’s attention. The Roumanian tongue can claim that attention on more grounds than one. It is the language of an European country as independent as England itself, and is spoken by a population numbering eight millions of souls, extending beyond the bounds of Roumania itself into Bulgaria, Servia, Transylvania, Hungary, the Austrian province of the Bukovina, and the Russian province of Bessarabia. ”

“ They will generally be found to end in—
e short: rege, ‘king;’ peṣte, ‘fish;’ frate, ‘brother.’ u or ŭ: socru, ‘father-in-law;’ Dumnezeŭ, ‘God.’ ĭ short: usturoĭ, ‘onion;’ ciocoĭ, ‘parvenu.’ ă short: tată, ‘father;’ popă, ‘priest.’
The Plural of Masculine Nouns.
The plurals of all masculine nouns without exception end in ĭ short. This ĭ is added to the singular when the singular ends in a consonant. When it ends in a vowel, that vowel is changed into ĭ. ”

“ Having now considered the auxiliary verbs, and their use in the formation of the compound tenses of other verbs, we can speak of the verbs themselves. These have five different terminations for the infinitive present, which can be reduced to three. ”

“ Voiŭ fi arat, or fi-voiŭ arat. Veĭ fi arat or„ fi-voiŭfi-veĭ arat.„ Va fi arat, or„ fi-voiŭfi-va arat.„ etc. The auxiliary is inseparable from the verb, except when the verb is reflective and the auxiliary follows it. In this case the pronoun, governed by the reflective verb, stands between the verb and the auxiliary:
eŭ m’am luptat,⁠ or⁠ luptat-u-m’am. tu te-aĭ luptat„ or„ te-aĭ. el s’a luptat„ or„ s’a noĭ ne-am luptat„ or„ ne-am. voĭ v’aṭĭ luptat„ or„ v’aṭĭ. etc. Sometimes the pronoun comes between the verb and its termination ”

“ Thus:
a scrie,⁠ ‘to write;’⁠ perfect, eŭ scrisseĭ. a duce, ‘to bring;’ perfect„ eŭ dusseĭ. a purcede, ‘to start;’ perfect„ eŭ purcesseĭ. a alege, ‘to choose;’ perfect„ eŭ alesseĭ. a culege, ‘to gather;’ perfect„ eŭ culesseĭ. etc. It will be shown that the past participle of these verbs is also different from the past participles of other verbs, and therefore all their compound tenses will differ too, as also the simple pluperfect, as it is formed from the simple perfect. ”

“ When the interrogative form is used the subject comes after the verb:
Are el ce mănca?⁠‘Has he anything to eat?’
Only practice can teach the different cases governed by different verbs; some govern two cases:
Mĕ vinueṣtĭ, ‘you accuse me.’ Imĭ vinueṣtĭ. When one verb follows another we can use either the conjunctive or the infinitive form:
Pot să afirm că... ‘I can affirm that...’ Pot afirma că... ”

“ Before proceeding to explain the use of adjectives in relation to nouns substantive, a few words must be said concerning the derivation of the feminine gender from the masculine.
The masculine gender, when it ends with a consonant, turned into the feminine by the addition of ă ”

“ Conditional Present (Conditional Present) .
eŭ aṣĭ ave, ‘I should have.’⁠ ⁠noĭ am ave, tu aĭ ave, ⁠voĭ aṭĭ ave, el ar ave, ⁠eĭ ar ave.
Conditional Past (Conditional Trecut) .
eŭ aṣĭ fi avut, ‘I should have had.’ ⁠noĭ am fi avut, tu aĭ fi avut, ⁠voĭ aṭĭ fi avut, el ar fi avut, ⁠eĭ ar fi avut.
Infinitive (Infinitiv) .
Present (Present) .⁠ ⁠Past (Trecut) . a ave, ‘to have.’⁠ ⁠a fi avut, ‘to have had.’
Participle (Particip) .
Present (Present) .⁠ ⁠Past (Trecut) . avĕnd, ‘having.’⁠ ⁠avut, ‘had.’
A fi, ‘to be.’
Indicative Present. ”

“ Perfect. a voi, ‘to be willing,’ a vre. a fi voit, ‘to have been willing,’ a fi vrut. Both forms are correct, but the first is more acceptable.
(3) A lua, ‘to take,’ has a regular conjugation, but in the singular, and the third person plural of the indicative present, subjunctive present, and imperative, it changes the root lu to i.
Indicative Present.
eŭ iaŭ, ‘I take.’⁠ noĭ luăm, tu iaĭ, voĭ luaṭĭ. el ia, eĭ iaŭ.
Imperative.
ia (tu) , ‘take.’⁠ luaṭĭ (voĭ) , ia (el) , ia (eĭ) .
Subjunctive Present.
eŭ să iaŭ, ‘I may take.’⁠ noĭ să luăm, tu să iaĭ, voĭ să luaṭĭ, el să ia, eĭ să ia. ”

“ Subjunctive Present.
eŭ să dorm, ‘I may sleep.’⁠ eŭ să omor, ‘I may murder.’ tu să dormĭ, tu să omorĭ el să dórmă, el să omóre, noĭ să dormim, noĭ să omorîm, voĭ să dormiṭĭ, voĭ să omorĭṭĭ, eĭ să dórmă, eĭ să omóre.
II. Subjunctive.
eŭ să fi dormit, ‘I may have slept.’ eŭ să fi omorît, ‘I may have murdered.’ eŭtu să„ fi dormit„ eŭtu să„ fi omorît„ eŭel să„ fi dormit„ eŭel să„ fi omorît„ eŭnoĭ să„ fi dormit„ eŭnoĭ să„ fi omorît„ eŭvoĭ să„ fi dormit„ eŭvoĭ să„ fi omorît„ eŭeĭ să„ fi dormit„ eŭeĭ să„ fi omorît„
I. Conditional. ”

“ Subjunctive Perfect.
eŭ să fi arat, ‘I may have ploughed.’⁠ ⁠noĭ să fi arat, eŭtu să fi arat„ ⁠noĭvoĭ să fi arat„ eŭel să fi arat„ ⁠noĭeĭ să fi arat„ And only in the passive form is the verb ‘to be’ used exclusively as auxiliary. ”