Romanian

Introduction

Romanian is the easternmost member of the Romance branch of the Indo-European language family. It developed from Vulgar Latin during the 5th-6th centuries when the territory which is now Romania was part of the Roman Empire.

Romanian is the official language of Romania where it is spoken as a first language by 20 million people and is used in all spheres of life. Romanian is also the official language of Moldova, a former Soviet republic, where it is called Moldovan for political reasons. It is spoken in Moldova by 3 million people.

The verb

• Romanian verbs agree with their subjects in person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (singular, plural).
• There are four conjugations.
• There are three simple tenses: present, past, future. Compound tenses are formed with the auxiliary verb avea "to have."
• There are five moods: indicative, conditional, subjunctive, and imperative. Most moods have one or two tenses, the indicative mood has eight tenses.
• There are three voices: active, passive, and reflexive.

Sample verb: a cânta

Additional information

• List of Romanian verbs with irregular past participle

References

• Bulgăr, Gh.. Limba română. Editura Vox. Bucureşti. 1995.
• Candréa-Hecht, J.-A.. Cours Complet de Grammaire roumaine. Friedrich Fleischer's Buchhandlung. Leipzig. 1900.
• Grigorie, Toma. Verbe româneşti. Editura Universitaria. Craiova. 1994.
• Lombard, Alf et Gâdei Constantin. Dictionnaire Morphologique de la langue Roumaine. Editura Academiei. Bucureşti. 1981.
• Lombard, Alf. Le verbe roumain. Deuxième volume. 2 edition. Lund. 1953.
• Lombard, Alf. Rumänsk grammatik. CWK Gleerup Bokförlag. Lund. 1973.
• Rosetti, AL.. Istoria Limbii Române. Editura Pentru Literatură. Bucureşti. 1968.
• Tănase, Eugène. Traits spécifiques qui distinguent le roumain des autres langues romanes en morpho-syntaxe. A Coruña. 1993.
• Hoffman, Christina. Romanian Grammar. Hippocrene Books. 2 edition. New York. 1998.