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Subject pronouns

U01 · one eighth of the pronoun system — and the map of the other seven

① Placement

Topic: The pronoun system — 8 sub-systems
This section: Subject pronouns: complete — 8 forms + formal address
Coverage: 1 of 8
Serves: Speaking and Writing now; Listening throughout; Reading heavily once object pronouns arrive

Subject pronouns — eu, tu, el, ea… I, you, he, she…

U01 · today

Interrogative — cine, ce, cum who, what, how

U02

Possessive — al meu mine

U04

Reflexive — mă numesc my name is

U06

Accusative + pe — îl văd pe Ion I see Ion

U13

Dative — îmi place I like

U14

Demonstrative — acesta this one

U17

Relative — pe care whom

U22

You have met mă numesc already — as a fixed phrase, not as a system. That is fine; the system arrives in U06.

② The whole system

	Singular	Plural
1st	eu I	noi we
2nd	tu you, informal	voi you, plural informal
3rd m	el he	ei they — men, or mixed
3rd f	ea she	ele they — women only

Plus dumneavoastră you, formal — one person or several, and it takes the voi verb form: Dumneavoastră sunteți… You are…

eu, tu, el, ea, noi, voi, ei, ele

I, you, he, she, we, you pl., they m., they f.

Dumneavoastră sunteți profesor?

Are you a teacher? (formal)

Two facts that bound what these words can do:

1. They are subject pronouns only. me, him, her, to me are completely different words — mă, îl, o, îmi — and the system behind them arrives in U13 (accusative) and U14 (dative). You have already met mă inside fixed chunks — mă numesc, mă scuzați excuse me — first contact, not the system.

2. You will usually omit all of them. The verb ending already says who. These forms exist for emphasis and contrast — that is when you reach for them.

③ The delta

1	ei vs ele — Ukrainian has one «вони»; Romanian splits by gender. ele only if every person is female; one man makes the whole group ei.
2	There is no "it". Objects take el or ea by the noun's gender — masa the table is feminine, so it is ea. Ukrainian does this too («він/вона») — the instinct maps directly. English is what interferes.
3	tu vs dumneavoastră is graded. The Speaking section marks register control. Default to dumneavoastră with strangers and examiners. UA «ти/Ви» — maps directly.
4	Pronoun dropping — Ukrainian does it too, and the instinct maps directly.
5	The [je] glide — not a gradient but a closed lexical list: eu "yeu", el "yel", ea "ya", ei "yey", ele "yeh-leh", plus the forms of a fi to be — este, ești, e is, you are, is. It does not spread to other e- words: elev pupil keeps plain [e].

④ Worked examples

Romanian	English	What's happening
Eu sunt ucrainean, ea este româncă.	I am Ukrainian, she is Romanian.	pronouns kept — this is contrast, their real job
Ei sunt prieteni.	They are friends.	ei — men, or a mixed group
Dumneavoastră sunteți profesor?	Are you a teacher? (formal)	formal address + plural verb form

Eu sunt ucrainean, ea este româncă. Ei sunt prieteni.

I am Ukrainian, she is Romanian. They are friends.

⑤ First contact only

Nothing is held back within subject pronouns — this sub-system is complete. What is deferred is the other six, mapped in ① above with their units.

One near neighbour you will meet before its unit: dumnealui / dumneaei he / she, respectful. Recognise them; you do not need to produce them yet.

⑥ Guided attempt

(a) Maria and Ana — ei or ele?

ele — all female.

(b) Maria and Ion?

ei — the group is mixed, so the masculine form wins.

(c) Cartea? ___ este pe masă. The book? It is on the table.

Ea — carte book is feminine, so "it" is ea. There is no neutral "it".

The compressed rule: eight subject pronouns, normally omitted — you use them for emphasis. Romanian splits they by gender and has no it. Everything else English calls a pronoun is a different word entirely, arriving from U02 on.

limba · U01 · generated 2026-07-31 · self-contained, audio embedded, renders offline