Articles with Names and the Genitive lui | Romanian Grammar

To say "Ion's book" or "Maria's house", Romanian does not use an apostrophe-s and does not use a word like "of". It uses the genitive, and how a personal name forms its genitive depends entirely on the name's gender. Feminine names take a suffixed ending, just like common nouns (Maria → Mariei). Masculine names do something Romanian does nowhere else: they keep the name unchanged and place a little invariable word, lui, in front of it (lui Ion). This lui is Romanian's only preposed article — every other article in the language sits at the back of its word — which makes it well worth singling out.

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The split is by gender. Feminine names: add the genitive-dative suffix → Maria → Mariei, Ana → Anei. Masculine names: don't change the name; put lui in front → Ion → lui Ion, Andrei → lui Andrei. Lui is invariable and is the one article in Romanian that comes before its word.

Feminine names: the suffixed genitive

Feminine personal names behave like ordinary feminine nouns: they take the genitive-dative ending -ei (or -i depending on the name's shape). The result expresses both "of Maria" (genitive) and "to Maria" (dative).

Name	Genitive-dative	"of … / to …"
Maria	Mariei	of/to Maria
Ana	Anei	of/to Ana
Ioana	Ioanei	of/to Ioana
Elena	Elenei	of/to Elena
Carmen	lui Carmen	of/to Carmen (see note)

Casa Mariei e chiar lângă parc.

Maria's house is right next to the park.

I-am dat cheile Anei înainte să plec.

I gave Ana the keys before I left. (dative — 'to Ana')

Telefonul Ioanei a sunat în mijlocul ședinței.

Ioana's phone rang in the middle of the meeting.

Note the last row: feminine names that don't end in -a (like Carmen, Ingrid, or foreign names) can't take the -ei suffix cleanly, so they borrow the masculine strategy and use lui Carmen, lui Ingrid. The suffix needs a native -a ending to attach to.

Mașina lui Carmen e parcată în fața blocului.

Carmen's car is parked in front of the building.

Masculine names: the proclitic lui

Masculine names do not inflect for the genitive at all. Instead, the invariable word lui is placed directly in front of the unchanged name. Lui Ion covers both "of Ion" (genitive) and "to Ion" (dative).

Cartea lui Ion e pe noptieră.

Ion's book is on the nightstand. (genitive — 'of Ion')

I-am spus lui Andrei să nu întârzie.

I told Andrei not to be late. (dative — 'to Andrei')

Mașina lui Mihai s-a stricat din nou.

Mihai's car broke down again.

Părinții lui Alexandru s-au mutat la țară.

Alexandru's parents moved to the countryside.

Lui never changes for the thing possessed — unlike the enclitic article, it does not agree with anything. Cartea lui Ion, cărțile lui Ion, casa lui Ion: the possessed noun changes, lui Ion stays put. That invariability is exactly what makes it a clean, easy-to-spot marker.

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Lui is the only preposed article in Romanian. The whole rest of the article system fastens to the back of a word; lui alone stands in front. Historically it is the genitive of the article cel, recycled as a name marker — which is why it looks like the dative pronoun lui ("to him") but works as a possessive article here.

City and country names

Place names split into two camps. City names are normally used without any article in the bare form — București, Cluj, Iași, Paris — and form their genitive with the proclitic lui only informally, or more often with an al/a construction or a preposition. Country names, by contrast, are usually inherently articled or used bare depending on the name: România, Franța, Italia already end in the definite -a and function as definite.

Centrul Bucureștiului s-a aglomerat foarte tare.

The centre of Bucharest has become very crowded. (Bucureștiului — articled genitive)

Capitala României este București.

The capital of Romania is Bucharest.

Echipa Franței a câștigat meciul.

France's team won the match.

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City names take the genitive by adding the enclitic article to themselves (București → Bucureștiului, "of Bucharest"), not by using lui — lui is reserved for personal names. Don't say ~~lui București~~.

Possession in practice: putting it together

In a real sentence the possessed noun usually carries its own definite article, and the name follows in its genitive form (suffixed for feminine, lui + name for masculine).

Câinele lui Mihai e mai cuminte decât pisica Mariei.

Mihai's dog is better behaved than Maria's cat.

Numărul Anei nu mai e valabil.

Ana's number is no longer in service.

Am împrumutat bicicleta lui Andrei pentru weekend.

I borrowed Andrei's bike for the weekend.

Notice that the possessed noun is definite (câinele, pisica, numărul) — "Mihai's dog" is a specific dog — while the name itself simply takes its genitive marking. This pairing (articled possessed noun + genitive name) is the standard frame for naming who owns what.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ionul (meaning 'Ion's' or 'the Ion')

Incorrect — masculine names never take the enclitic article; use lui in front: cartea lui Ion.

✅ cartea lui Ion

Ion's book

❌ cartea de Ion / cartea lui Ion's

Incorrect — no 'of' word and no apostrophe-s; the genitive is just lui + name: cartea lui Ion.

✅ cartea lui Ion

Ion's book

❌ casa lui Maria

Incorrect — feminine names ending in -a take the suffix, not lui: casa Mariei.

✅ casa Mariei

Maria's house

❌ centrul lui București

Incorrect — lui is for personal names; cities take the enclitic genitive: centrul Bucureștiului.

✅ centrul Bucureștiului

the centre of Bucharest

❌ Mariaei / Mariai

Incorrect spelling — the genitive of Maria is Mariei (the final -a is replaced by -ei).

✅ Mariei

of/to Maria

Key takeaways

The genitive of a personal name splits by gender.
Feminine names ending in -a take the suffix -ei: Maria → Mariei, Ana → Anei. Feminine names that don't end in -a borrow lui (lui Carmen).
Masculine names take the invariable proclitic lui in front, name unchanged: lui Ion, lui Andrei.
Lui is invariable (no agreement) and is Romanian's only preposed article.
City names form the genitive with the enclitic article (Bucureștiului), not with lui, which is reserved for personal names.

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