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Articolul hotărât

Romanian has no word for the. It has an ending — U05, part 1. All eight forms, complete. Plus 14 words for getting round a city.

ul the article, glued on ă a letter the article pushes out oa a change inside the stem m masculine f feminine n neuter

① Where this sits

Field	This block
Topic	The noun system — 5 aspects
This section	The definite article as a suffix: complete — all 8 forms, the whole space
Coverage of the topic	3 of 5 — gender and the indefinite article are already yours; this is the third
Deferred	the article bent for genitive-dative (orașului, of the city) → U12 · demonstratives (acest oraș) → U17
Serves	R · W · L · S — every section, and it is the single most-tested piece of morphology in Reading

Why complete is safe here: the article agrees with gender and number, and Romanian has three genders and two numbers. But the neuter has no forms of its own, so there are four live slots, and each slot has at most two written shapes depending on the letter the noun ends in. That is eight forms — a number you can count on this page, not a selection from something larger.

What this page does not do. It teaches the form — how to build orașul from oraș. It does not teach when Romanian chooses the definite over the indefinite, which is a separate problem and a bigger one, because Romanian uses the definite in places English and Ukrainian would use nothing at all. That comes with the rest of U05.

② The whole system

A. Four slots, not six — the same shape you already met on the adjective

Three genders, two agreement patterns. A neuter noun takes the masculine article in the singular and the feminine article in the plural. This is the third time that one sentence has paid: it is the definition of neuter, it is how adjectives agree, and it is how the article behaves.

	singular	plural
m masculine	un perete → peretele	pereți → pereții
f feminine	o stradă → strada	străzi → străzile
n neuter	= masculine un oraș → orașul	= feminine orașe → orașele

Un perete, peretele. O stradă, strada. Un oraș, orașul.

a wall, the wall. A street, the street. A city, the city.

B. The singular, masculine and neuter — the article is -l

Masculine and neuter behave identically here, so this is one rule for two genders. The article is -l; what changes is the vowel that lets it attach, and that vowel is decided by the last letter of the noun — nothing else.

The noun ends in	Add	Example	And so
a consonant	-ul	un oraș	orașul the city
-u	-l (the u is already there)	un centru	centrul the centre
-e	-le	un perete	peretele the wall

Read the last letter, pick the vowel, add l. There is no fourth case here that you can meet today.

Orașul. Centrul. Peretele.

the city. the centre. the wall.

C. The singular, feminine — the article is -a

Feminine works the other way round: the article -a does not sit politely on the end, it pushes the final letter out in two of the three cases. That is why a feminine definite noun can look shorter than you expect.

The noun ends in	What happens	Example	And so
-ă	the ă is replaced by a	o stradă	strada the street
-e	the e stays, a is added	o carte	cartea the book
-ie	the e is replaced by a	o cheie · o bucătărie	cheia · bucătăria the key · the kitchen
a stressed -ea	-ua is added (a small closed group)	o canapea	canapeaua the sofa

The one place to slow down. A noun in -e can be masculine or feminine, and the two take opposite articles: perete → peretele but carte → cartea. Same last letter, different answer — because the article asks the gender, not the spelling. This is gate 4 of your gender sheet, the gate that decides nothing, and it now has a second bill attached to it.

Peretele, cartea. Peretele, cartea.

the wall, the book — the masculine -e against the feminine -e

Strada. Cartea. Cheia. Bucătăria. Canapeaua.

the street. the book. the key. the kitchen. the sofa.

A sub-rule that closes part of gate 4. Nouns ending in -oare are feminine — floare (flower), culoare (colour), valoare (value), scrisoare (letter). So floarea, scrisoarea, never floarele. The standing exception is soare (sun), which is masculine: soarele. Checked on dexonline, 2026-08-13.

D. The plural — two endings, and that is the whole of it

The plural half of this system costs almost nothing. There is no letter-by-letter table: the gender decides, and there are only two answers.

Gender	Add	Example	And so
m masculine	-i	pereți	pereții the walls
f feminine	-le	străzi	străzile the streets
n neuter	-le (= feminine)	orașe	orașele the cities

Masculine adds -i. Everything else adds -le. It does not matter whether the plural ends in -e, -i or -uri — -le goes on the end of all three.

The masculine plural is where this gets written wrong. A masculine plural already ends in -i, and the article is another -i, so the definite form carries two: pereții, copacii. One i is the plural you already knew; the second one is the word the. If you write one, you have written the indefinite plural.

Pereți, pereții. Copaci, copacii.

walls, the walls. Trees, the trees.

E. Run it over words you already own

Seventeen nouns already in your ledger, pushed through the rule. Nothing here is new vocabulary — the point is that you can already build every one of these forms, today, without learning a single extra fact.

Noun		Plural	the …	the … (plural)	Which rule
oraș	n	orașe	orașul	orașele	consonant → -ul
telefon	n	telefoane	telefonul	telefoanele	consonant → -ul
scaun	n	scaune	scaunul	scaunele	consonant → -ul
frigider	n	frigidere	frigiderul	frigiderele	consonant → -ul
prosop	n	prosoape	prosopul	prosoapele	consonant → -ul
număr	n	numere	numărul	numerele	consonant → -ul
birou	n	birouri	biroul	birourile	-u → just -l
nume	n	nume	numele	numele	-e → -le; the plural is identical, as it was undefined
perete	m	pereți	peretele	pereții	masculine -e; then the double i
stradă	f	străzi	strada	străzile	-ă pushed out
ușă	f	uși	ușa	ușile	-ă pushed out
carte	f	cărți	cartea	cărțile	feminine -e stays
floare	f	flori	floarea	florile	feminine -e stays; -oare is always feminine
cheie	f	chei	cheia	cheile	-ie → -ia
baie	f	băi	baia	băile	-ie → -ia
bucătărie	f	bucătării	bucătăria	bucătăriile	-ie → -ia
canapea	f	canapele	canapeaua	canapelele	stressed -ea → -ua

Two rows are worth a second look. baie → baia loses the ă of its plural băi — the stem alternation belongs to the plural, and the definite singular is built off the singular, so it never fires. And canapele → canapelele ends in three -le- syllables, which is correct and does look absurd.

③ The load — what you actually have to memorise

Nothing. Zero new facts per word. The definite article is computed, not stored. You already store two things for every noun — its gender and its plural — and those two facts, plus the last letter you can see on the page, produce all four definite forms with no further memory.

This is worth stating against the thing that has been costing you. The plural must be stored per noun: nothing about oraș tells you it goes to orașe rather than orașuri. The definite article does not work like that at all. Once you have the plural, the definite plural is that same word plus -le (or -i if masculine), every time, with no exceptions to learn.

To build	From	Becomes	You need	Stored or computed?
the plural	oraș	orașe	the word itself	stored, one fact per noun
the definite singular	oraș	orașul	gender + last letter	computed
the definite plural	orașe	orașele	the plural + gender	computed

Eight forms, six rules, and not one new fact per word. If a definite form comes out wrong, the failure is almost always upstream — the gender or the plural — not in the article itself.

④ The delta — what your other languages do here

Ukrainian and Russian give you nothing at all, and that is the point. місто is a city and the city and just city. Definiteness exists as a meaning, and the language never marks it. There is no form to transfer, no habit to correct — there is a slot in Romanian that your first language does not know is there, and it must be filled on every single noun.

So the anchor for the concept has to be German, which is the one language you hold that marks definiteness at all: ein Museum → das Museum. Romanian does the same job. Two things it does differently, and both are in your favour:

	German	Romanian	Which is less work
Where the article sits	in front — das Museum	glued to the end — muzeul	neither; it is just new
What you memorise	der / die / das per noun, separately from the noun	nothing extra — the noun already carries its gender	Romanian, by a distance

That second row is the real news. The reason German articles are hard is that der/die/das is a third fact you store alongside the word and its plural. Romanian charges you nothing: you were already storing the gender to get the plural right, and the article falls out of it.

The one habit to break. Romanian allows exactly one determiner per noun, like English. un oraș or orașul — never un orașul. Choosing the definite means deleting un / o, not adding to it.

⑤ Worked examples

1. un magazin → the shop. Neuter, ends in a consonant, so the singular takes -ul → magazinul. The plural is magazine, neuter takes the feminine ending, so magazinele. Nothing was looked up beyond the two facts already on the vocabulary row.

Un magazin, magazinul. Două magazine, magazinele.

a shop, the shop. Two shops, the shops.

2. o piață → the square. Feminine in -ă, so the ă is pushed out and a takes its place → piața. Note the word did not get longer. The plural piețe takes -le → piețele, and the ia → ie shift stays in the plural where it always lived.

O piață, piața. Două piețe, piețele.

a square, the square. Two squares, the squares.

3. un copac → the tree. This is the only m word in today's list, and masculines are where the plural article bites. Singular: consonant → copacul. Plural copaci is masculine, so it adds -i, giving copacii with two of them. copaci is trees; copacii is the trees.

Un copac, copacul. Doi copaci, copacii.

a tree, the tree. Two trees, the trees.

⑥ Named, not taught

Masculine nouns that end in -ă. A very small group, almost all family words, and they take the masculine -l rather than the feminine -a. They arrive next session, with the possessives, where they belong.
The possessive — orașul meu, my city. This page is the missing half of it: the possessive only ever attaches to a noun that already carries its definite ending. Next session, U04.
The article bent for case — orașului, of the city / to the city. The same suffix, inflected again. U12.
When to choose it. Romanian puts the definite article in places English and Ukrainian put nothing, especially with abstract nouns and things liked or disliked. This page builds the form; the choosing is the rest of U05.
Calling out to someone — Băiete! Romanian has a separate vocative ending. Not scheduled at A1; you will hear it and can ignore it.

⑦ Try it — six nouns printed nowhere else on this page

Each one is given with its gender and plural, exactly as your ledger stores them, because those are the two facts the rule consumes. Build both definite forms before you reveal.

1. un balcon (balcony) · n · plural balcoane → the balcony, the balconies

balconul · balcoanele
Consonant → -ul. Neuter plural takes the feminine -le.

2. un tablou (painting) · n · plural tablouri → the painting, the paintings

tabloul · tablourile
Ends in -u, so only -l joins it — one u, not two. And -uri takes -le like any other neuter plural.

3. o pădure (forest) · f · plural păduri → the forest, the forests

pădurea · pădurile
Feminine in -e: the e stays and a is added. A masculine noun in -e would have taken -le instead.

4. un vecin (neighbour) · m · plural vecini → the neighbour, the neighbours

vecinul · vecinii
Masculine plural: the -i of the plural plus the -i of the article. Two, not one.

5. o cutie (box) · f · plural cutii → the box, the boxes

cutia · cutiile
The -ie case: the e goes, a replaces it. Not cutiea.

6. o curte (courtyard) · f · plural curți → the courtyard, the courtyards

curtea · curțile
Feminine -e, so the e stays — the same shape as the book in section C, and the opposite of the wall.

⑧ Carry this away

Romanian has no word for the — it has an ending, and the noun's own last letter picks which one. Masculine and neuter take an l-ending: -ul after a consonant, -l after -u, -le after -e. Feminine take an a-ending: -a · -ea · -ia · -ua. In the plural there are only two: -i for masculine, -le for everything else.

Corrected the same day this page was written. This line first read “-l is masculine and neuter, -a is feminine”. That is short enough to be wrong: run it on munte and it produces muntel, which is exactly what came back on the graded check. The article is never a bare l on a noun ending in -e — it is -le, and the table in section B always said so. A carry-away line that contradicts its own table is worse than no line.

⑨ The 14 new words — around the city

Read this before the list. Nine of these fourteen are words you already own in Ukrainian. That help is real and it stops at the front of the word — the anchor hands you centr-, muze-, hotel-, and then goes quiet exactly where Romanian makes its decision. центр → centru, музей → muzeu, готель → hotel with nothing on the end. The ending is the part you store, and it is also the part the article attaches to, so an ending you guess wrong breaks two things.

	Romanian	English	Gender + plural	the … / the … (pl)	Anchor
un parc a park un parc, două parcuri. Parcul, parcurile. park — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	parc···	park···	n parcuri···	parcul · parcurile···	UA парк — the same word, and the ending matches too. One of the easy ones.···
o piață a square o piață, două piețe. Piața, piețele. square — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	piață···	square; market···	f piețe···	piața · piețele···	Latin platea — the same root as EN place and IT piazza. No Ukrainian form.···
un magazin a shop un magazin, două magazine. Magazinul, magazinele. shop — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	magazin···	shop···	n magazine···	magazinul · magazinele···	UA магазин, same meaning. False friend in English — a magazine you read is revistă.···
un spital a hospital un spital, două spitale. Spitalul, spitalele. hospital — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	spital···	hospital···	n spitale···	spitalul · spitalele···	UA шпиталь — same Latin root. Romanian drops the soft sign and the EN ho-.···
o gară a railway station o gară, două gări. Gara, gările. railway station — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	gară···	railway station···	f gări···	gara · gările···	French gare. No hook in any language you hold — вокзал is unrelated. Store this one cold.···
o farmacie a pharmacy o farmacie, două farmacii. Farmacia, farmaciile. pharmacy — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	farmacie···	pharmacy···	f farmacii···	farmacia · farmaciile···	EN pharmacy, UA фармацевт. The everyday UA word is аптека, so the hook is the specialist, not the shop.···
o bancă a bank o bancă, două bănci. Banca, băncile. bank — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	bancă···	bank; bench···	f bănci···	banca · băncile···	UA банк — but that is masculine and this is feminine, so the article is -a, not -ul. Also means bench.···
un muzeu a museum un muzeu, două muzee. Muzeul, muzeele. museum — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	muzeu···	museum···	n muzee···	muzeul · muzeele···	UA музей. The ending is the whole difference: UA -ей, Romanian -eu. And -u means the article is just -l.···
un hotel a hotel un hotel, două hoteluri. Hotelul, hotelurile. hotel — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	hotel···	hotel···	n hoteluri···	hotelul · hotelurile···	UA готель. Romanian has no soft sign on the end — a bare l, which is then also what the article attaches to.···
un restaurant a restaurant un restaurant, două restaurante. Restaurantul, restaurantele. restaurant — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	restaurant···	restaurant···	n restaurante···	restaurantul · restaurantele···	UA ресторан. Romanian keeps the French -t that Ukrainian dropped, and it is pronounced.···
un centru a centre un centru, două centre. Centrul, centrele. centre — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	centru···	centre, downtown···	n centre···	centrul · centrele···	UA центр. Romanian adds -u, and that u is exactly what makes the article -l alone.···
un pod a bridge un pod, două poduri. Podul, podurile. bridge — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	pod···	bridge···	n poduri···	podul · podurile···	False friend. UA під / RU под mean under. This is a bridge — and it also means attic.···
o biserică a church o biserică, două biserici. Biserica, bisericile. church — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	biserică···	church···	f biserici···	biserica · bisericile···	Latin basilica — the same word as EN basilica, with the -l- worn down to -r-.···
un copac a tree un copac, doi copaci. Copacul, copacii. tree — indefinite, plural, then both definite forms	copac···	tree···	m copaci···	copacul · copacii···	No hook anywhere — not Latin, not Slavic, origin disputed. Store it cold. It is also the only m word here, so it is the only double -ii.···

Sources. Every gender and plural asserted on this page was checked against dexonline on 2026-08-15 with node scripts/dex.mjs — all 14 new words in section ⑨, the 17 ledger nouns in section ②E, and the six attempt nouns in ⑦. The -oare → feminine sub-rule was checked on floare, culoare, valoare and scrisoare, with soare as the named exception. Nothing on this page is unattested, so no ? marker appears.

Generated 2026-08-15 · U05 part 1 · work/visuals/2026-08-15_articolul-hotarat.html