At home: the family story · focused lesson · about 15 minutes

Lesson 5: Helping set the table

Help Ana at home; ask about bread, cheese and where to put the plate.

1. Listen to the conversation

Listen to each line and repeat it aloud. Describe your actual situation accurately.

Later that day, Ana has prepared bread and cheese for a simple meal. As her guest, you help set the table and ask Ana where the bread, cheese and plate belong.

Practice

Listen once without the transcript, then show it and listen again.

Playback settings · Normal

Speed Loop playback

Line 1 / 8 · Ana

Ana

Avem pâine și brânză.

We have bread and cheese.

You

Pun pâinea pe masă?

Shall I put the bread on the table?

Ana

Da, mulțumesc.

Yes, thank you.

You

Și brânza?

And the cheese?

Ana

Da, pe masă.

Yes, on the table.

You

Unde pun farfuria?

Where shall I put the plate?

Ana

Aici, lângă pâine.

Here, next to the bread.

You

Bine, pun farfuria aici.

Okay, I’ll put the plate here.

This story is fictional; every lesson can be studied independently.

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YOUR LESSON REFERENCE

Grammar guide: meaning, form and use

Open one relevant point and use it in your own sentence. The tables are references, not one-session memorisation targets; the five-new-word goal stays the same.

Verb conjugation: person, number and tense

The infinitive names the verb; a sentence needs a form that agrees with its subject. Eu = I, tu = you, el / ea = he / she, noi = we, voi = plural you, ei / ele = they. Polite dumneavoastră takes the voi form, even for one person. E is a short form of este.

a fi · to be

sunt

ești

el / ea

este

noi

suntem

voi

sunteți

ei / ele

sunt

dexonline · a fi

a avea · to have

el / ea

are

noi

avem

voi

aveți

ei / ele

dexonline · a avea

A present form with a time word can express a future plan: Mâine cumpăr pâine. Completed past uses auxiliary am / ai / a / am / ați / au + a participle: am cumpărat. Distinguish auxiliary ați / a from independent aveți / are. Literary future uses voi / vei / va / vom / veți / vor + the infinitive without a: voi cumpăra. These are optional references; practise the form in the conversation first.

Nouns: masculine, feminine, neuter; singular and plural

Grammatical gender belongs to the noun; it does not necessarily describe a person’s sex. Masculine nouns use un / doi, feminine nouns o / două, and neuter nouns un / două. Neuter agreement follows masculine singular and feminine plural patterns. Learn a noun with its gender and plural, not just its meaning.

Nouns: masculine, feminine, neuter; singular and plural
Gender	One	Two	Definite plural
masculin	un frate	doi frați	frații
feminin	o cameră	două camere	camerele
neutru	un bilet	două bilete	biletele

Am un bilet.

I have a ticket.

Am două bilete.

I have two tickets.

Important point and common mistake

Final -ă often suggests feminine gender, but it is not a reliable rule: tată (father) is masculine. Plurals do not all take one suffix. Check the singular, plural and dictionary.

dexonline · frate dexonline · cameră dexonline · bilet

Limba română pentru străini, A1–A2 (2020) · pages 48–51

Articles: indefinite and definite

Use un or o to introduce an unspecified item; niște can introduce an unspecified plural or amount. For an identified item, the definite article usually attaches to the noun: bilet → biletul. Write the attached article as part of the inflected noun.

Articles: indefinite and definite
Noun	Indefinite	Definite singular	Definite plural
frate	un frate	fratele	frații
cameră	o cameră	camera	camerele
bilet	un bilet	biletul	biletele

Unde este biletul?

Where is the ticket?

Important point and common mistake

Un also goes with neuter singular nouns. Niște does not always mean several countable items: niște apă means some water. These endings illustrate patterns, not a universal rule.

dexonline · cameră dexonline · bilet dexonline · frate

Limba română pentru străini, A1–A2 (2020) · pages 49–51, 62–63

Adjectives: agreement and position

Descriptive adjectives usually follow the noun and agree with its gender and number. Cameră is feminine singular, so use frumoasă. Neuter plural bilete takes feminine plural agreement: frumoase. Adjectives can precede nouns too; emphasis, style or meaning may change.

Adjectives: agreement and position
Adjective	M./N. singular	F. singular	M. plural	F./N. plural
beautiful	frumos	frumoasă	frumoși	frumoase
tired	obosit	obosită	obosiți	obosite
big	mare	mare	mari	mari
fresh	proaspăt	proaspătă	proaspeți	proaspete

Sunt obosit.

I am tired (male speaker).

Sunt obosită.

I am tired (female speaker).

Ce cameră frumoasă!

What a beautiful room!

Important point and common mistake

Not all adjectives have four forms: mare / mari has two, with mare for every singular gender. Obosit / obosită changes with the speaker’s gender; Mi-e foame does not.

dexonline · frumos dexonline · mare dexonline · obosit dexonline · proaspăt

Limba română pentru străini, A1–A2 (2020) · pages 66–67

Prepositions: location, origin, accompaniment and purpose

A preposition expresses a relationship. În means in, pe on, sub under, lângă beside, la at/to, and din from inside or origin; context determines the translation. Cu expresses accompaniment or means and fără absence. De can describe type or purpose; de la marks an origin and pentru a purpose or recipient.

Prepositions: location, origin, accompaniment and purpose
Relationship	Romanian pattern	English meaning
în	în cameră	in the room
pe	pe masă	on the table
la	la cafenea	at/to the café
lângă	lângă casă	next to the house
din	din Iran	from Iran
de la	de la brutărie	from the bakery
cu / fără	cu lapte / fără zahăr	with milk / without sugar
de / pentru	o masă de cafea / pentru tine	a coffee table / for you

Sunt din Iran.

I am from Iran.

Biletul este pe masă.

The ticket is on the table.

Important point and common mistake

Not every “from” is din: compare din casă (from inside the house) and de la brutărie (from the bakery). Acasă is an adverb, not a preposition. Article use after prepositions depends on the construction: pe masă, but pe masa din cameră.

dexonline · pe dexonline · de

Limba română pentru străini, A1–A2 (2020) · pages 52–53, 63

Possession, possessive forms and the genitive

Romanian uses camera mea for my room. Mea agrees with the feminine room, not with the owner’s gender. A named owner uses the genitive: camera Anei and camera lui Mihai. A common noun owner also changes form: camera mamei. The possessed item and its owner have different grammatical roles.

Possession, possessive forms and the genitive
Possessed item	My	Your	Named owner
M./N. singular	fratele meu / biletul meu	fratele tău / biletul tău	biletul lui Mihai
F. singular	camera mea	camera ta	camera Anei
M. plural	frații mei	frații tăi	frații Anei
F./N. plural	camerele mele / biletele mele	camerele tale / biletele tale	camerele Anei

Camera este a mea.

The room is mine.

Camera Anei este mare.

Ana’s room is big.

Important point and common mistake

Meu / mea / mei / mele agree with the possessed item. Lui (his) and ei (her) identify the owner and do not change with the item. Feminine names have exceptions: Ana → Anei, but lui Carmen. De is not a general replacement for the genitive.

dexonline · meu dexonline · al dexonline · cameră

Limba română pentru străini, A1–A2 (2020) · pages 152–155, 158–159

Al / a / ai / ale and genitive forms

Al / a / ai / ale appears in standalone possession and constructions that require the possessive article: biletul este al meu, camera este a mea. It agrees with the possessed item. Do not add a mechanically to camera Anei; compare the different construction o cameră a Anei.

Al / a / ai / ale and genitive forms
Item gender/number	Form	Example	Indefinite owner
M./N. singular	al	biletul este al meu	biletul unui student
F. singular	a	camera este a mea	camera unei studente
M. plural	ai	frații sunt ai mei	frații unor studenți
F./N. plural	ale	biletele sunt ale mele	biletele unor studente

Biletul este al meu.

The ticket is mine.

Important point and common mistake

Mamei marks the owner; a in camera este a mea agrees with the feminine room. The genitive expresses possession or a relationship; the dative commonly marks a recipient. Their forms can coincide, but their functions differ.

dexonline · al dexonline · meu

Limba română pentru străini, A1–A2 (2020) · pages 158–159

Subject, object, negation and questions

In Eu am un bilet, eu is the subject, am the verb and un bilet the direct object. In Camera este mare, mare is a predicative adjective, not an object. Simple statements often use subject + verb + the rest, but Romanian word order is flexible. Omit a subject pronoun when the verb and context identify the person.

Subject, object, negation and questions
Role	Sentence part	English meaning
subject	eu	I
verb	am	have
direct object	un bilet	a ticket
negation	nu am	do not have

Nu am un bilet.

I do not have a ticket.

Ai un bilet?

Do you have a ticket?

Important point and common mistake

For simple negation, nu precedes the conjugated verb. A yes/no question can retain statement order with question intonation: Ai un bilet? Information questions with cine / unde / cum need not use the same final rise. Keep questions and replies tied to the situation.

dexonline · fi dexonline · avea

Limba română pentru străini, A1–A2 (2020) · pages 26–31, 78–79

On dexonline, definitions explain meanings and paradigmă / flexiune shows word forms. Check the DEX / DOOM source and part of speech: one word may have several entries. This guide explains the patterns for learners; use the dictionary to check exceptions.