Feminine nouns do not have one universal plural ending. A common pattern changes o casă into două case (one house, two houses), but other nouns use -i, -uri, -le, or a less predictable change. Learn each noun together with its plural instead of applying one ending to every noun.
How do you form a basic feminine plural?
Use două with a feminine noun and choose that noun's plural form. Depending on the noun, replace or add the final ending and check whether the stem — the part before the ending — also changes. This extends the general Romanian noun plural patterns.
| Singular shape | Common plural pattern | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Final -ă | Replace -ă with -e. | o casă, două case (one house, two houses); o fată, două fete (one girl, two girls) |
| Final -ă | Replace -ă with -i. | o ușă, două uși (one door, two doors); o stradă, două străzi (one street, two streets) |
| Final -ă (a smaller group) | Replace -ă with -uri. | o marfă, două mărfuri (one type or quantity of merchandise, two types or quantities of merchandise) |
| Final -e | Replace -e with -i, often with a stem change. | o carte, două cărți (one book, two books); o noapte, două nopți (one night, two nights) |
| Final -ie | Replace -ie with -i. | o cheie, două chei (one key, two keys) |
| Final -ie | Replace -ie with -ii. | o bucătărie, două bucătării (one kitchen, two kitchens) |
| Final -a | Add -le. | o pijama, două pijamale (one pair of pajamas, two pairs of pajamas) |
| Final -ea | Replace -ea with -ele. | o cafea, două cafele (one coffee, two coffees) |
| Some nouns | The written form stays unchanged. | o învățătoare, două învățătoare (one elementary-school teacher, two elementary-school teachers) |
The table lists neutral contemporary Standard Romanian patterns, not a complete prediction system. The same singular ending can lead to different plurals, so record a new noun as a pair such as o casă, două case or o ușă, două uși.
What can change inside the word, and can the plural ending identify gender?
- A vowel can change with the ending: o mână, două mâini (one hand, two hands).
- Learn some plurals as complete forms: o zi, două zile (one day, two days).
- A plural ending in -i does not prove that the noun is masculine. Două cărți uses the feminine numeral două, even though cărți ends in -i.
How do you make the definite feminine plural?
First form the basic plural, then add the feminine plural definite article -le: case becomes casele (the houses), and cărți becomes cărțile (the books). This is the feminine pattern described in the Romanian definite article.
| Noun meaning | Basic plural | Definite plural | Sentence contrast |
|---|---|---|---|
| house | case | casele | Două case sunt aici. (Two houses are here.) Casele sunt aici. (The houses are here.) |
| book | cărți | cărțile | Am două cărți. (I have two books.) Cărțile sunt pe masă. (The books are on the table.) |
| kitchen | bucătării | bucătăriile | Două bucătării sunt curate. (Two kitchens are clean.) Bucătăriile sunt curate. (The kitchens are clean.) |
Mistakes to avoid
Do not turn every final -ă into -e: ușă has uși, while casă has case. Do not treat the basic plural as definite: două case means two houses, but casele means the houses. Finally, keep the diacritics in forms such as cărți, uși, and mâini; they are part of the standard spelling.
What does două case mean?
- two houses
- the houses
- two doors
- one house
Case is the basic plural of casă, and două marks two with a feminine noun. The definite plural would be casele.
Choose the basic plural phrase for o ușă.
- două ușe
- doi uși
- două uși
- două ușa
Ușă follows the -ă to -i pattern: o ușă, două uși. It takes the feminine numeral două.
Complete: Am două ___. (I have two books.)
- case
- uși
- cafele
- cărți
The English meaning identifies cărți as the plural of carte. The other forms mean houses, doors, and coffees.
Which sentence means “The kitchens are clean”?
- Două bucătării sunt curate.
- Bucătăriile sunt curate.
- Bucătărie este curată.
- Bucătăriile este curată.
Bucătăriile is the definite plural, so it means the kitchens. Două bucătării means two kitchens and is not definite.
Which pair contrasts a basic feminine plural with a definite feminine plural?
- două cărțile = two books; cărți = the books
- două carte = two books; cartea = the books
- două cărți = two books; cărțile = the books
- două uși = the doors; ușile = two doors
The basic plural follows a numeral: două cărți. The definite article -le is added afterward: cărțile.