Page:A simplified grammar of the Roumanian language.djvu/25

We have seen that in the plural all masculine nouns end in ĭ. The plural bearing the article will be shown by adding a second ĭ, whereby the former ĭ becomes long i:

Romănĭ,	‘Roumanians;’	Romăniĭ,	‘the Roumanians.’
pomĭ,	‘fruit-trees;’	pomiĭ,	‘the fruit-trees.’
regĭ,	‘kings;’	regiĭ,	‘the kings.’
socrĭ,	‘father-in-law;’	socriĭ,	‘the fathers-in-law.’
dumnezeĭ,	‘gods;’	dumnezeiĭ,	‘the gods.’
popĭ,	‘priests;’	popiĭ,	‘the priests.’
ciocoĭ,	‘parvenus;’	ciocoiĭ,	‘the parvenus.’
caĭ,	‘horses;’	caiĭ,	‘the horses.’

Note.—Copil, ‘boy,’ has the plural copiĭ, by the omission of l; the articled noun will be of course copiiĭ; thus fiŭ, ‘son,’ fiĭ, ‘sons,’ fiiĭ, ‘the sons.’

The Feminine Article.

The article is expressed in the feminine by an affixed a, but how this is done depends upon the final letter of the noun itself.

A noun ending in ă will change ă into a:

Romănă,	‘Roumanian;’	Romăna,	‘the Roumanian.’
nepótă,	‘niece;’	nepóta,	‘the niece.’
professóră,	‘teacher;’	professóra,	‘the teacher.’
cassă,	‘house;’	cassa,	‘the house.’
miréssă,	‘bride;’	miréssa,	‘the bride.’

Those ending in e do not change this e, but add the letter a to it; thus—

carte,	‘book;’	cartea,	‘the book.’
păne,	‘bread;’	pănea,	‘the bread.’
curte,	‘court;’	curtea,	‘the court.’