Notes on Romanian Noun (Substantiv) - Key Terms

Vocabulary flashcards covering key noun concepts from the notes.

Noun (Substantiv)

A lexical-grammatical class of words that denotes people, objects, events, states, actions, or qualities; open to new members; marked for gender, number, and case; can form the nucleus of a clause with a verb; usually requires a determiner.

Noun as nucleus with verb

Syntactically, a noun can form, together with the verb, the nucleus of an utterance or clause.

Semantic-pragmatic feature of nouns

Nouns acquire referents in a way that typically requires a determiner; their meaning is tied to how they are determined in context.

Concrete nouns

Nouns referring to tangible things or phenomena (e.g., rain, butter, car).

Abstract nouns

Nouns referring to qualities, states, or concepts (e.g., truth, kindness, love, fear).

Common nouns

Nouns that name general items rather than specific ones (e.g., book, child, house).

Proper nouns

Nouns that name specific entities and are usually capitalized (e.g., Petre, Ion, the Government of Romania).

Individual vs collective nouns

Individual nouns denote single objects; collective nouns denote a group or collection (e.g., man, herd, crowd, team).

Simple vs compound nouns

Simple nouns consist of a single word; compound nouns combine two or more words (e.g., sunflower, olive oil).

Locuțiuni substantivale (noun phrases)

Noun phrases or noun expressions (e.g., aducere-aminte, părere de rău).

Mobile nouns

A class of nouns whose gender can shift between masculine and feminine (e.g., coleg/colegă; profesor/profesoară).

Epicene nouns

Nouns with a single form that can be masculine, feminine, or neuter depending on context (e.g., rudă, vip).

Common gender nouns

Nouns whose gender is not fixed by form and can be determined by diagnostic contexts (e.g., papă-lapte).

Personal gender nouns

Nouns whose gender is marked in determiner/endings and in case forms with discernible patterns for masculine vs feminine.

Defective nouns (pluralia tantum)

Nouns that lack one of the number forms; pluralia tantum are nouns with only plural forms (e.g., dragoste, șah, box).

Singularia tantum

Nouns that have only singular forms and no plural (e.g., some proper names or fixed forms listed in sources).

Determinarea (determination)

Grammatical category of nouns indicating the speaker’s relation to the referent; includes definite, indefinite, or zero determination.

Zero determiner (determinare zero/no article)

Object is not introduced by a determiner; form indicates non-determination (e.g., băiat, băieți).

Indefinite determiner

A determiner that marks non-specific reference (e.g., un, niște in Romanian).

Definite determiner

A determiner that marks specific reference (e.g., băiatul).

Nominative (N)

Case used for the subject or predicative position; may also occur in apposition or as part of predicative constructions.

Accusative (Ac)

Case used for direct objects; can be prepositional or non-prepositional; forms may also function as predicatives or in prepositional phrases.

Genitive (G)

Case often used to express possession or relation; used with prepositions and various circumstantial roles (loc, time, cause, etc.).

Dative (D)

Case used for indirect objects; has multiple syntactic positions and prepositional uses; can show possession or benefactive relationships.

Vocative (V)

Case used for direct address; nondependent in many contexts; used in exclamations or direct calling.

Case syncretism

Phenomenon where different cases share the same form (e.g., nominative = accusative); disambiguation often relies on pronouns or context.