The Romanian hyphen, called a cratimă, joins words or short grammatical elements without spaces. In M-a sunat Ana. (Ana called me.), the hyphen is part of the written form m-a; it is not a dash between two ideas.
When do you write a Romanian hyphen?
Standard Romanian uses a hyphen to join a short unstressed pronoun to a verb in certain patterns, mark an accepted contraction, and form certain compounds and approximate number expressions. Write the hyphen without spaces.
| Pattern | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Compound perfect + short pronoun | Joins the pronoun to the auxiliary | M-a sunat Ana. (Ana called me.) |
| Verb + feminine o after the participle | Joins the object pronoun to the participle | Am văzut-o. (I saw her/it.) |
| Affirmative command + short pronoun | Attaches the pronoun after the command | Ajută-mă! (Help me!) |
| Accepted contraction | Shows a standard reduced form | N-am timp. (I do not have time.) |
| Hyphenated compound or approximation | Keeps a lexical unit or close range together | după-amiază (afternoon); trei-patru zile (three or four days) |
| Ordinals written with digits | Attaches the ordinal ending to the numeral | al 3-lea (the third); a 2-a (the second) |
| Ordinary present + short pronoun | Usually keeps the two words separate | Mă ascultă. (He/she listens to me.) |
How do hyphens work with short pronouns?
A short, unstressed pronoun is a clitic: it depends on a verb for its position and meaning. Its spelling changes with the verb form, so do not add a hyphen simply because the pronoun is short.
- With an ordinary present-tense verb, the clitic is normally a separate word before the verb: Mă ascultă. (He/she listens to me.) and Îi răspund. (I answer him/her.)
- With the compound perfect, the clitic comes before the auxiliary and is joined to it: M-a sunat. (He/she called me.), Ți-am scris. (I wrote to you.), and Ne-au văzut. (They saw us.)
- The feminine singular object clitic o normally follows the participle in this tense: Am văzut-o. (I saw her/it.) Do not write văzuto as one word.
- In an affirmative command, the clitic follows the verb and takes a hyphen: Ascultă-mă! (Listen to me!) and Ridică-te! (Get up!).
- In a negative command, the clitic comes after nu and before the verb: Nu mă asculta! (Do not listen to me!). Romanian also allows the reduced form Nu-mi spune! (Do not tell me!) beside the fuller Nu îmi spune!
Which other common words use a hyphen?
Some compounds and fixed expressions have a lexical hyphen, so their spelling must be learned with the expression. A close approximation can also join two neighboring numerals: o zi-două (a day or two). This is different from an ordinary list of separate numbers.
- Common compounds include după-amiază (afternoon), bună-credință (good faith), and floarea-soarelui (sunflower). Not every phrase with two nouns or adjectives is hyphenated.
- Approximate ranges can use trei-patru zile (three or four days) or o zi-două (a day or two). A comma-separated version can also occur in this type of approximation.
- With a numeral written as a digit, the ordinal ending is attached with a hyphen: al 3-lea capitol (the third chapter) and a 2-a zi (the second day).
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not hyphenate every clitic and verb: write Mă ascultă, not Mă-ascultă, in the ordinary present-tense pattern.
- Do not copy affirmative-command spelling into a negative command: write Nu mă ajuta, not Nu-mă ajuta.
- Do not replace the hyphen with a space: write M-a sunat and Am văzut-o, not Mă a sunat or Am văzut o.
- Do not put spaces around a hyphen: write după-amiază and trei-patru zile, not după - amiază or trei - patru zile.
- Do not treat the optional contraction N-am timp as a new tense. It has the same basic meaning as the full form Nu am timp.
In M-a sunat Ana., which construction is marked by the hyphen?
- An ordinary present-tense clitic before a verb
- A short object pronoun joined to a compound-perfect auxiliary
- A short pronoun attached after an affirmative command
- Two numerals joined in an approximation
In M-a sunat Ana., the short object pronoun m- is joined to the compound-perfect auxiliary a. The other options describe hyphen patterns or positions used in different constructions.
Combine Ajută! with the short pronoun mă. Which written command means “Help me!”?
- Ajută-mă!
- Nu mă ajuta!
- Mă ajută!
- Ajută mă!
In an affirmative command, the short pronoun follows the verb and is joined by a hyphen: Ajută-mă! Nu mă ajuta! is negative, while the other forms have the wrong word order or spacing.
Which complete sentence means “He or she listens to me” in the ordinary present?
- M-ascultă.
- Mă-ascultă.
- Mă ascultă.
- Măascultă.
With an ordinary present-tense verb, the clitic normally stands separately before the verb: Mă ascultă. The hyphenated pattern belongs to other constructions, such as the compound perfect or an affirmative command.
A learner writes Nu-mă asculta! Which correction follows the negative-command pattern?
- Nu-mă asculta!
- Nu mă-asculta!
- Nu măasculta!
- Nu mă asculta!
In a negative command, nu comes first. The clitic follows it as a separate word, and the verb comes after the clitic: Nu mă asculta!
A note estimates a duration as “three or four days.” Which option uses the taught hyphenated approximation?
- trei patru zile
- trei-patru zile
- trei,patru zile
- trei-patruzile
The hyphenated approximation is trei-patru zile. A comma-separated variant can also occur in this construction, with a space after the comma. The question asks for the hyphenated form.