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2. Numbers and family

Counting to ten, then the people in the house.

One changes with the noun. Un bărbat, one man. O casă, one house. Two does the same: doi copii, două pâini. From three, the number stays put and the noun takes the plural. Ten is zece. Twenty is douăzeci. Age uses a avea: am douăzeci de ani, I have twenty years, which is how you say you are twenty.

Family words are stable. Mamă and tată are the dictionary forms. What people say at the table is mama and tata. Frate, soră, bunic, bunică. The spoken grandparents are often bunicu and bunica.

You is not one word. Tu is one person you know. Voi is more than one, still informal. Dumneavoastră is the polite you, singular or plural. The site uses it on purpose in shops and with elders.

• unu / un / o One. Un with a masculine noun, o with a feminine.
• doi / două Two. Două with a feminine noun.
• trei, patru, cinci Three, four, five.
• șase, șapte, opt, nouă, zece Six through ten.
• douăzeci Twenty.
• mamă, tată Mother, father. Mama and tata at home.
• frate, soră Brother, sister.
• bunic, bunică Grandfather, grandmother.
• copil Child. Older Transylvanian speech may say prunc.
• familie Family.

Next: food and the table. Back to the lesson list.