Prepositions that take the genitive

Most Romanian prepositions introduce an accusative-shaped phrase, but a smaller set selects the genitive-dative form of the noun or pronoun that follows it. Compare Norii plutesc deasupra orașului. (The clouds float above the city.) with Cartea profesorului este pe masă. (The teacher's book is on the table.): orașului is required by the preposition deasupra, while profesorului is a possessor selected by the noun cartea. This lesson focuses on the genitive-taking set; see core Romanian prepositions for the larger accusative pattern.

How do genitive-taking prepositions work?

Learn the preposition or locution together with its case frame: it stays invariable, and its complement appears in the genitive-dative form, whose meaning here is genitive because the preposition governs it.

Which genitive-taking forms should you learn first?

The following bounded inventory is a neutral Standard Romanian starting point. Several items express space, while asupra, contra, and împotriva commonly express a topic or opposition; the English gloss is a guide, not a promise that every context has only one translation.

The spatial locutions are not interchangeable just because English can use behind or around for more than one of them. În spatele casei describes the position behind the house, while în jurul casei describes a surrounding path or area. Likewise, înaintea ședinței is a time relation, while în fața clădirii is a place relation.

What do the article-like endings inside these locutions mean?

Some locutions contain a noun-shaped or lexicalized element that already looks definite: în fața contains fața (the front), în spatele contains spatele (the back), and în jurul contains jurul (the circle or surrounding area). These internal endings belong to the locution; they are not the case ending of the following noun.

• Do not write în fața casa for “in front of the house.” The governed noun must be casei, not nominative-accusative casa.
• Do not remove the internal word of a locution: în fața, în spatele, and în jurul function as established units before their genitive complement.
• Treat înaintea, înapoia, and deasupra as learned prepositions. Their spelling is standard, but their final letters do not give you a universal formula for building new prepositions.

How do you form the noun phrase after them?

Choose definite or indefinite reference first, then use the genitive-dative form of the noun. Romanian usually shows this case through the article: unui for masculine or neuter singular, unei for feminine singular, and unor for plural; definite forms commonly show -ului, -i, or -lor. Feminine singular nouns can also change their stem.

The endings are article-like, but the noun stem may matter too: casă becomes casei, statuie becomes statuii, and clădire becomes clădirii in the definite feminine singular genitive-dative. A masculine or neuter noun usually keeps its stem while the article carries the visible change: orașul becomes orașului. For the wider noun paradigms, see genitive and dative noun forms.

Which pronoun forms follow these prepositions?

With third-person referents, use the genitive forms lui, ei, and lor. With first- and second-person referents, these constructions commonly use a possessive form that agrees with the noun-shaped part of the preposition or locution: compare feminine în fața mea with masculine în jurul meu. Do not simply reuse the full accusative forms mine, tine, noi, or voi.

Proper names use their own genitive-dative patterns: în fața Mariei (in front of Maria) uses Mariei, while împotriva lui Andrei (against Andrei) uses lui before the masculine name. Do not replace these with accusative forms such as în fața ea or împotriva el.

Is this the same as an ordinary possessive genitive?

The noun form can look identical, but the construction tells you what selects it: a noun selects a possessive genitive, while a genitive-taking preposition selects a genitive complement. Romanian genitive and dative forms are commonly identical, so case function cannot be read from the ending alone.

This distinction also prevents a common false translation. În spatele casei means “behind the house”; it does not mean “the house's back” merely because casei has a genitive form. The locution supplies the spatial relation, and the case marks its complement.

Which variants and dative boundaries should you recognize?

The core forms above are neutral Standard Romanian. Descriptive grammars also record related genitive-taking variants such as dinaintea, de dinaintea, dinapoia, de dinapoia, pe deasupra, împrejurul, din fața, din spatele, and din jurul. They are useful to recognize, but this article does not claim that every variant has identical frequency, meaning, or register in every context.

• Înaintea furtunii, dinaintea furtunii, and de dinaintea furtunii belong to the same “before” family in the descriptive inventory; learn înaintea first and treat the others as attested variants, not automatic replacements in every sentence.
• Deasupra mării and pe deasupra mării are both recorded with the “above/over” relation; pe deasupra also has other uses, so context decides whether it is a spatial variant.
• Datorită, grație, and mulțumită are separate dative-taking prepositions meaning “thanks to,” not genitive alternatives to asupra or împotriva: Datorită ajutorului tău, am reușit. (Thanks to your help, I succeeded.)
• DOOM3 also records dative constructions with an added a before some quantified noun phrases, such as datorită a mulți cercetători, alongside the ordinary dative form datorită multor cercetători. The added a is a separate preposition in that construction, not the genitive article al, a, ai, ale and not a free option after every noun.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not use an accusative-shaped definite noun after the target locutions: say în fața casei, deasupra orașului, and în jurul clădirilor, not în fața casa, deasupra orașul, or în jurul clădirile.
• Do not confuse the internal ending of în fața or în spatele with the ending of the governed noun. The case-bearing item is casei or hotelului.
• Do not use ea, el, or mine after this genitive-taking set when the intended meaning is “her,” “him,” or “my”: use ei, lui, or an agreeing possessive such as mea in în fața mea and meu in în jurul meu.
• Do not treat every word meaning “before,” “behind,” or “above” as if it selected the same case. Compare genitive-taking înaintea ședinței with accusative-taking înainte de ședință.
• Do not call datorită ajutorului a genitive phrase just because ajutorului has the same visible form as a genitive noun. Here datorită selects the dative.