Romanian: An Essential Grammar Book

Foreword     xi
Acknowledgements     xii
Abbreviations     xiii
Grammar     1
Sounds and letters     3
The Romanian alphabet     3
Vowels     4
Consonants     5
Diphthongs and triphthongs     8
Stress and intonation     13
Nouns     15
Gender     15
Forming the feminine from a masculine noun     19
Number     22
Case     29
Compound nouns     32
Articles     34
Indefinite article     34
Definite article     36
Demonstrative or adjectival article     41
Possessive article     42
Adjectives     44
Types of adjective     44
Comparison     46
Agreement     48
Case     49
Position     50
Other types of adjective     51
Pronouns     59
Personal pronouns     59
Polite form pronouns     64
Possessive pronouns     66
Demonstrative pronouns     66
Negative pronouns     67
Indefinite pronouns     68
Interrogative-relative pronouns     73
Emphatic pronouns     74
Reflexive pronouns     75
Numerals     78
Cardinal numerals     78
Ordinal numerals     81
Verbs     83
Moods and tenses     83
Indicative     83
Presumptive     107
Subjunctive     110
Conditional     115
Imperative     118
Infinitive     120
Gerund     122
Participles     124
Supine     125
Passive voice     126
Reflexive verbs     127
Impersonal, unipersonal and bipersonal verbs     129
Sequence of tenses     130
Verbal phrases     130
Adverbs     132
Formation     132
Comparison     133
Uses     135
Mai, si, tot, prea, chiar     136
Adverbs and the genitive     136
Prepositions     138
Formation     138
Prepositional phrases     139
Uses     139
Verbs followed by specific prepositions     140
Conjunctions     143
Coordinating conjunctions     143
Subordinating conjunctions     144
Interjections     149
Types     149
Word formation     151
Suffixes     151
Prefixes     153
Compound words     155
Language functions     157
Socializing     159
General greetings     159
Seasonal greetings     162
Good wishes and congratulations     163
Introductions     164
Forms of address     164
Talking about one's health     167
Talking about the weather     169
Directions     169
Making excuses     171
At the table     171
Exchanging factual information     172
Identifying people     172
Identifying things     173
Asking for information     175
Offering information     176
Reporting, narrating     176
Letter writing     178
Expressing opinions and attitudes     181
Agreement and disagreement     181
Remembering something or someone     183
Possibility and probability     184
Incomprehension and clarification     185
Certainty and uncertainty     186
Judgement and evaluation     187
Expressing pleasure or liking     187
Expressing displeasure or dislike     188
Enquiring and expressing interest     188
Expressing surprise     190
Expressing hope     190
Expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction     191
Expressing approval and disapproval     191
Expressing preference     193
Expressing gratitude, sympathy, appreciation     194
Expressing happiness and unhappiness     195
Apologizing     196
Expressing disappointment, worry, fear     196
Expressing regret and indifference     197
Accusing     198
Glossary of grammatical terms     199
List of verbs     201
Useful Romanian websites     212
Bibliography     215
Index     216