Adjectives in Romanian are much different from adjectives in English. Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case. Unlike in English, the typical place for an adjective in a sentence is after the noun, not in front of it. Whenever an adjective preceeds a noun, the intention is purely emphatic. Adjectives may have one or two main endings, the latter being more frequent.
Endings
Adjectives with two endings:
- bun (masc. sg.), bună (fem. sg.)
buni (masc. pl.), bune (fem. pl.) good - vechi, veche
vechi (masc. and fem. pl) old (for inanimate objects only) - bătrân, bătrână
bătrâni, bătrâne old (for animate objects only) - nou, nouă
noi new - tânăr, tânără
tineri, tinere young
Note: There is a usage peculiarity for tânăr / bătrân (young / old). Whenever one refers to a younger / older sibling, the adjective is mic (small), not tânăr, and mare (big), not bătrân:
Sora mea mai mică este profesoară, cea mai mare, doctor.
My youngest sister is a teacher, my oldest one, a medical doctor.
- frumos, frumoasă
frumoși, frumoase beautiful - inteligent, inteligentă
inteligenți, inteligente intelligent, smart
Some adjectives are derived from verbal past participles:
- a cunoaște → cunoscut (past participle)
cunoscut, cunoscută
cunoscuți, cunoscute well-known - a aprecia → apreciat
apreciat, apreciată
apreciați, apreciate appreciated (person, work)
Adjectives with one ending (better know as ‘adjectives with sg. –e ending’):
- rece (masc. and fem. sg.)
reci (masc. and fem. pl.) cold - fierbinte
fierbinți hot, heated - iute
iuți hot, spicy - dulce
dulci sweet - limpede
limpezi clear - mare
mari big - verde
verzi green
Some adjectives, most of them neologisms or name of colors, have the same form for all genders and numbers:
- cumsecade = kind, helpful, nice (for people only)
- atroce = atrocious
- eficace = efficient
- bleu = light blue
- gri = gray
- lila = lavender
- maro = brown
- olive = olive green
- vernil = light green
Degrees of Comparison
Positive
- inteligent intelligent, smart, bright
Comparative
- mai inteligent decât / ca more intelligent than
- mai puțin inteligent decât / ca less intelligent than
- la fel de inteligent ca as intellient as
Superlative
- cel mai inteligent (relative) the most intelligent
- foarte / extraordinar de inteligent (absolute) very intelligent
In a noun-adjective structure, the adjective agrees with the noun in gender and number. The G.-D. ending always applies to the first word of the structure, be it the noun or the adjective.
Note that the G.-D. singular and plural for the feminine second term of a noun-adjective or adjective-noun structure looks like either a singular G.-D. that lost its final vowel or a plural N.-Ac. (See chart below)
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masc. N-Ac | bărbat inteligent
inteligent bărbat |
bărbați inteligenți
inteligenți bărbați |
| Masc. G-D | bărbatului inteligent
inteligentului bărbat |
bărbaților inteligenți
inteligenților bărbați |
| Fem. N-Ac | femeie inteligentă
inteligentă femeie |
femei inteligente
inteligente femei |
| Fem. G-D | femeii inteligente
inteligentei femei |
femeilor inteligente
inteligentelor femei |
Examples:
- Clădirea ONU este foarte impunătoare.
The U.N. building is very impressive. - Domnul Ralea și-a oferit serviciile unei companii de comerț bine-cunoscute.
Mr. Ralea offered his services to a well-known trade company. - În ultima vreme s-a discutat mult despre arhitectura noii școli.
There was a lot of talk lately about the architecture of the new school.
Expressions
Still in the adjective category are several expressions that function as adjectives and never change their form. Most of the time these expressions refer to human qualities:
- de încredere = trustworthy
- fără scrupule = unscrupulous
- cu capul pe umeri = level-headed
- cu capul plecat = humble
- cu nasul pe sus = full of himself/herself; vain
Learn and practice hundreds of Romanian adjectives in context with Clozemaster!
This article is Chapter 4: Adjectives of the Foreign Service Institute’s Romanian Reference Grammar, Copyright: Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC).
Hoffman CN. Romanian reference grammar. Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State, 1989.
