Pluralul, în ordine

Three steps. The order is the rule — because step 3 reads step 2's answer.

e the ending — chosen in step 2 oa a change inside the stem — caused by that ending, in step 3

Why this page exists. You already have the noun system and the four gender gates, and you already have a page explaining why each U03 plural has the shape it has. None of that told you what to do, in what order, when a singular is in front of you and the plural is not. That is the missing piece, and the misses prove it: the machinery is there and it runs in the wrong sequence.

① Placement

Topic	The noun system — 4 aspects, of which 2 are the plural
This page	Turning the plural into a procedure you run forward. Complete for the endings of all three genders and for the vowel alternations — partial (2 of 3) on the three things that are stored rather than derived, which are named below and not solved here.
Builds on	the noun system (genders, classes) · the gender gate (step 1) · what the plural does (the same mechanisms, explained backwards from the answer)
Deferred	the definite plural (străzile) → U05 · genitive-dative plural → U12 · the same stem machine in adjectives → U04 · in verbs → U05/U06
Serves	R · W

② The routine — three steps, always in this order

Gender

Run the four gates. They are on their own page and nothing here replaces them. Gender does not build the plural — it only tells you which shelf the ending comes from.

Gender never touches the stem. This is the single most expensive mistake in this zone. Calling floare feminine is correct; rewriting it to floară so it "looks feminine" is inventing a rule that does not exist. Only an ending ever changes a stem.

The ending

Pick it from the shelf step 1 opened. Nothing is written yet — you are choosing which ending is coming, not attaching it.

Gender	Endings	How you know which
masc	-i	Nothing to choose. Masculine plural is -i, of the masculines you own, all of them.
fem	-e · -i · -le	Three sub-cases, and two of them are decidable: · singular ends in -e (including -ie) → -i. Reliable. · singular ends in stressed -ea → -le. Reliable. · singular ends in -ă → -e or -i, roughly half and half. Stored.
neut	-e · -uri	Stored, with two bets that hold across the nouns you own: · ends in -u or a vowel → -uri (lucru, birou, e-mail). · ends in -or → -oare (covor, dormitor, calculator). The -or words that end in -ori instead are the ones naming people, and gate 2 has already sent those to masculine.

Let the ending rewrite the stem

Now — and only now — look back at the stem, holding the ending you just picked. Two things can reach backwards.

The vowel. Conditioned, not stored.

oa and ea are not separate vowels. They are what a stressed o or e becomes when the right vowel follows it.

Pair	Stands open — oa / ea — when the next vowel is	Stands plain — o / e — when the next vowel is
o ↔ oa	a · ă · e	i · u · or nothing follows
e ↔ ea	a · ă only	e · i · u · or nothing follows

One cell differs: oa survives before e and ea does not. That single square is why covor → covoare gains a diphthong while fereastră → ferestre loses one, in the same step, under the same rule.

The consonant. Only ever before -i.

Shift	Example
t → ț	perete → pereți	wall → walls
d → z	stradă → străzi	street → streets
s → ș	urs → urși	bear → bears
a → ă	lampă → lămpi	lamp → lamps · a vowel shift, same trigger

The one exemption. If a word shows ea or oa in the singular, in a position the table above forbids, that diphthong is frozen into the word and never alternates. ceas has ea with nothing following it, where the table predicts plain e — so it is frozen, and the plural keeps it: ceas → ceasuri, not *cesuri and not *cași. Same for deal (hill) → dealuri. The test costs nothing: does the singular already obey the table? Then the word alternates. Does it not? Then it is frozen.

Step 3 reads step 2's answer. You cannot rewrite a stem before you know which ending is coming, because the ending is the thing doing the rewriting.

③ The load — what you actually store

A noun looks like three facts to memorise: gender, ending, stem shape. It is one and a half.

	Store it?
Gender	mostly not	The four gates decide it for about four nouns in five. Only the -e nouns need storing, and that list is short.
Ending	yes — this is the one	Feminine -ă and every neuter. This is why the ledger writes the plural on every single row.
Stem shape	never	Computed from the ending, every time, by the table in step 3. There is nothing here to remember.

One fact per noun, not three. Learn the plural ending; the gates give you the gender and step 3 gives you the stem.

④ The delta — Ukrainian already does half of this

The idea is not new to you. Ukrainian endings reach backwards into the stem constantly — рука → руці, нога → нозі, книга → книзі. Romanian's t → ț, d → z, s → ș is the same instinct with a different list.

Ukrainian also alternates the vowel — стіл → стола, кінь → коня, ніс → носа. So "the vowel inside the word changes when the ending changes" needs no argument.

What is new is that you have to run it as a step. In Ukrainian you never compute this — the whole form is stored and comes out whole. In Romanian you are building the word, so the ordering is exposed, and getting it out of order produces exactly the two shapes you produced today.

⑤ Worked examples — the routine on four nouns

creion → creioane

1 gender	consonant, not alive → neuter
2 ending	neuter, stored: -e
3 stem	the ending is e, and o stands open before e → o becomes oa

Stopping after step 2 gives *creione — the right ending on an unrewritten stem.

un creion, două creioane

a pencil, two pencils

țară → țări

1 gender	-ă → feminine
2 ending	feminine in -ă, stored: -i
3 stem	the ending is i → a shifts to ă

Doing step 3 before step 2 gives *țăre — a stem rewritten by an ending that then never arrived.

o țară, două țări

a country, two countries

fereastră → ferestre

1 gender	-ă → feminine
2 ending	feminine in -ă, stored: -e
3 stem	the ending is e, and ea may not stand before e → it flattens to e

Same step 3 as creion, same ending, opposite result — because that one cell in the table differs.

o fereastră, două ferestre. un creion, două creioane.

a window, two windows. a pencil, two pencils. — one loses a diphthong, the other gains one, under the same rule

ceas → ceasuri

1 gender	consonant, not alive → neuter
2 ending	neuter, stored: -uri
3 stem	nothing happens. The singular shows ea where the table predicts plain e, so this diphthong is frozen and sits out the step.

un ceas, două ceasuri

a clock, two clocks

⑥ Named here, not taught here

Which ending a feminine -ă or a neuter takes — genuinely stored, word by word. No page will fix this; the ledger and the deck will.
masă → mese — an a that becomes e where casă → case keeps its a. A buried Latin vowel, explained on the mechanisms page. One word in this unit; store it.
The definite plural — străzile "the streets" → U05.
The same stem machine in adjectives (neagră / negre) → U04, and in verbs (pot / poate) → U05–U06. You are not learning this three times.

⑦ Your turn — step 3 in isolation

Six nouns that appear nowhere else on this page. Gender and ending are given, so steps 1 and 2 are already done — the only thing being asked is whether you can let the ending rewrite the stem. Write the finished plural before you press Show.

1. motor (engine) — neuter, ending -e

motoare. The ending is e; o stands open before e.

2. poartă (gate) — feminine, ending -i

porți. Two reach-backs from one ending: oa flattens before i, and t becomes ț.

3. izvor (spring, source) — neuter, ending -e

izvoare. Same shape as item 1 — and the -or bet in step 2 would have given you the ending too.

4. noapte (night) — feminine, ending -i

nopți. The e of the singular is swapped for the ending, then oa flattens and t hardens to ț.

5. școală (school) — feminine, ending -i

școli. Only the vowel moves — l is not on the consonant list.

6. deal (hill) — neuter, ending -uri

dealuri — nothing happens. The singular shows ea with nothing after it, which the table forbids, so the diphthong is frozen. This is the item that catches over-applying the rule.

⑧ The compressed rule

Gender picks the shelf. The shelf gives the ending. The ending rewrites the stem — never the gender, and never before the ending is chosen.

⑨ The 16 new words — the house

Gender and plural are one package: store them together. The audio speaks the pair un covor, două covoare, because the plural is the half you cannot reason your way to. Pick a mode to drill it — the other side hides, and one click on a row brings it back.

	Singular	Plural	G	English	What step 3 does
un covor carpet, rug un covor, două covoare carpet, rug — singular, then plural	covor···	covoare···	n···	carpet, rug···	o → oa···
un prosop towel un prosop, două prosoape towel — singular, then plural	prosop···	prosoape···	n···	towel···	o → oa···
un dormitor bedroom un dormitor, două dormitoare bedroom — singular, then plural	dormitor···	dormitoare···	n···	bedroom···	o → oa···
un pahar glass un pahar, două pahare glass — singular, then plural	pahar···	pahare···	n···	glass (drinking)···	nothing···
un cuțit knife un cuțit, două cuțite knife — singular, then plural	cuțit···	cuțite···	n···	knife···	nothing···
un frigider fridge un frigider, două frigidere fridge — singular, then plural	frigider···	frigidere···	n···	fridge···	nothing···
un birou desk; office un birou, două birouri desk; office — singular, then plural	birou···	birouri···	n···	desk; office···	nothing — ends in a vowel, so -uri···
o perdea curtain o perdea, două perdele curtain — singular, then plural	perdea···	perdele···	f···	curtain···	ea → e, the stressed -ea class···
o podea floor o podea, două podele floor — singular, then plural	podea···	podele···	f···	floor···	ea → e···
o canapea sofa, couch o canapea, două canapele sofa, couch — singular, then plural	canapea···	canapele···	f···	sofa, couch···	ea → e···
o oglindă mirror o oglindă, două oglinzi mirror — singular, then plural	oglindă···	oglinzi···	f···	mirror···	d → z···
o lampă lamp o lampă, două lămpi lamp — singular, then plural	lampă···	lămpi···	f···	lamp···	a → ă···
o baie bathroom; bath o baie, două băi bathroom; bath — singular, then plural	baie···	băi···	f···	bathroom; bath···	a → ă, and -ie collapses into the ending···
o bucătărie kitchen o bucătărie, două bucătării kitchen — singular, then plural	bucătărie···	bucătării···	f···	kitchen···	nothing — -ie → -ii···
o farfurie plate o farfurie, două farfurii plate — singular, then plural	farfurie···	farfurii···	f···	plate···	nothing···
o pernă pillow o pernă, două perne pillow — singular, then plural	pernă···	perne···	f···	pillow···	nothing···

limba · U03 · built 2026-08-10, SES-013. Plurals checked against dexonline before publication.