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.
To make his task easier, let him remember that the intonation of the word remains unchanged, that the accented syllable of the word keeps its accent by whatever number of syllables the word has been lengthened.
Note.—The only exception is when we affix diminutives or augmentatives to the nouns, in which case the accent falls upon those particles:
| Romăn, | ‘Roumanian.’ |
| Romănuluĭ, | ‘to the Roumanian.’ |
| Romănilor, | ‘to the Roumanians.’ |
| raționament, | ‘reasonings.’ |
| raționamentelor, | ‘of the reasonings.’ |
| capăt, | ‘extremity.’ |
| capetelor, | ‘of the extremity.’ |
| capătuluĭ, | ‘to the extremities.’ |
The Article.
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.
