Neuter nouns form their plural one of two ways — with -uri (tren → trenuri, lucru → lucruri) or with -e (scaun → scaune, oraș → orașe) — and the genuinely hard truth is that there is no fully reliable rule for which one a given noun takes. You will memorize a fair number of these. But the picture is not hopeless: there are strong tendencies that get you the right ending most of the time, and one of them — -uri as the productive default for new loanwords — means you can confidently pluralize words Romanian only borrowed last year. And whichever ending wins, remember the overarching fact from the neuter page: the neuter plural patterns like a feminine, so it takes feminine adjective agreement — vinuri bune ("good wines"), with the feminine plural bune, never the masculine *vinuri buni.
The -uri group
The -uri ending is the more active of the two — it is the one Romanian reaches for when it needs a new plural. It dominates among monosyllables and recent borrowings.
| Singular | Plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tren | trenuri | trains |
| lucru | lucruri | things |
| drum | drumuri | roads |
| fel | feluri | kinds, ways |
| timp | timpuri | times, tenses |
| hotel | hoteluri | hotels |
Trenurile spre munte circulă mai rar iarna.
The trains to the mountains run less often in winter. (tren → trenuri)
Am rezervat camere la două hoteluri, ca să fim siguri.
I booked rooms at two hotels, just to be safe. (hotel → hoteluri — a loanword, so -uri)
Mai sunt câteva lucruri importante de pus în bagaj.
There are still a few important things to pack. (lucru → lucruri; note feminine importante)
The -e group
The -e ending favors many older, concrete nouns — everyday objects and places that have been in the language a long time. Some of these also carry a vowel shift, most notably o → oa (a gain of the diphthong, the reverse of what happens in feminine plurals).
| Singular | Plural | Note | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| scaun | scaune | plain -e | chairs |
| oraș | orașe | plain -e | cities |
| creion | creioane | o → oa | pencils |
| picior | picioare | o → oa | legs, feet |
| ou | ouă | special: -uă | eggs |
The o → oa shift in creion → creioane and picior → picioare is worth flagging: the -e ending here pulls a plain o into the diphthong oa. This is the mirror image of the feminine oa → o collapse, and it is regular for neuters of this shape.
Mai avem trei scaune libere la masa din colț.
We still have three free seats at the corner table. (scaun → scaune)
Orașele de pe coastă sunt aglomerate toată vara.
The coastal cities are crowded all summer. (oraș → orașe)
Copilul a desenat cu creioane colorate toată după-amiaza.
The child drew with colored pencils all afternoon. (creion → creioane: o→oa)
Am fiert patru ouă pentru salată.
I boiled four eggs for the salad. (ou → ouă)
So how do you choose? Honest guidance
There is no rule that decides -uri vs. -e with certainty — this is one of the places where Romanian simply requires memorization. But the tendencies are strong enough to be worth banking:
- Recent loanwords default to -uri: hotel → hoteluri, meci → meciuri ("matches"), site → site-uri, job → joburi. When Romanian needs a plural for a word it just borrowed, -uri is the reflex.
- Many monosyllables take -uri: drum → drumuri, fel → feluri, timp → timpuri, gard → garduri, loc → locuri.
- Older, concrete everyday objects and places lean -e: scaun → scaune, oraș → orașe, pahar → pahare, geam → geamuri… and right there is the catch: geam ("window") is a common monosyllable that takes -uri. The tendencies overlap, so always confirm an unfamiliar noun.
A word on computer: the established literary plural is computere (with -e), even though the noun is a recent English loan — it was borrowed early enough that the -e plural settled in before -uri could claim it. You will also hear calculator → calculatoare (the native synonym, with the o → oa shift). This is a good reminder that "loanword" predicts -uri only for new borrowings; once a plural is fixed in the standard, it stays fixed.
The agreement reminder: neuter plural = feminine
This bears repeating because it is the most common downstream error. No matter which ending the neuter plural takes, the adjective, numeral, and demonstrative agreeing with it are feminine plural. The numeral is două (feminine "two"), never doi; the adjective is the feminine plural form (bune, importante, noi, libere), never the masculine (buni, importanți).
| Neuter plural | Correct (feminine) agreement | Wrong (masculine) |
|---|---|---|
| trenuri | două trenuri noi | doi trenuri noi |
| lucruri | câteva lucruri importante | lucruri importanți |
| pahare | două pahare goale | doi pahare goi |
Pe drumurile principale s-au montat radare noi.
New speed cameras have been installed on the main roads. (drum → drumuri; feminine noi)
Avem trei birouri libere la etajul doi.
We have three free offices on the second floor. (birou → birouri; feminine libere, not liberi)
Source-language comparison
For an English speaker, two things are new at once. First, there is the bare -uri / -e split, which has no English equivalent — English has one default plural (-s) and a few irregulars, not two competing productive endings. Second, and more dangerously, the -uri ending looks so unlike anything English (or even like a typical Romance plural) that learners often forget the noun is grammatically feminine in the plural and reach for masculine agreement (*trenuri buni). Keep the two facts separate in your head: the ending (-uri or -e) is one question; the agreement (always feminine in the plural) is another, and it never changes.
Sentimentele lui s-au schimbat complet în câteva luni.
His feelings changed completely in a few months. (sentiment → sentimente; an abstract neuter)
Joburile bine plătite cer experiență.
The well-paid jobs require experience. (job → joburi, a recent loan with -uri; feminine bine plătite)
Common Mistakes
Don't guess -e where the noun takes -uri (especially loans and monosyllables):
❌ două trene / treni
Incorrect — tren is neuter and takes -uri: trenuri.
✅ două trenuri
two trains
Don't slap -uri onto a noun that has a settled -e plural:
❌ scaunuri
Incorrect — scaun takes -e: scaune.
✅ scaune
chairs
Don't skip the o → oa shift in the -e group:
❌ creione
Incorrect — the o gains the diphthong oa: creioane.
✅ creioane
pencils
Don't use masculine agreement on a neuter plural:
❌ trei lucruri importanți
Incorrect — neuter plural takes feminine agreement: importante.
✅ trei lucruri importante
three important things
Don't use the masculine numeral doi with a neuter:
❌ doi pahare
Incorrect — neuter plural uses the feminine numeral: două pahare.
✅ două pahare
two glasses
Key Takeaways
- Neuter plurals split between -uri and -e with no fully reliable rule — learn many of them with the word.
- -uri is the productive default: new loans and many monosyllables take it (hoteluri, drumuri, timpuri, joburi).
- -e favors older, concrete nouns (scaune, orașe, pahare), sometimes with an o→oa shift (creioane, picioare).
- An established plural is fixed: computere keeps -e despite being a loan; don't "correct" it to -uri.
- Whatever the ending, the neuter plural takes feminine agreement — două trenuri noi, never doi trenuri buni.
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Forming Plurals: OverviewA1 — Romanian forms plurals with a tiny set of endings — masculine -i, feminine -e or -i, neuter -uri or -e — but the hard part is the stem alternations those endings trigger (a→e, oa→o, d→z, t→ț). Adding the ending is only half the job; the stem change is the other half.
- The Neuter Gender in DepthB1 — Romanian's neuter is not a third set of endings but a switch: a neuter noun agrees like a masculine in the singular (un tren nou) and like a feminine in the plural (două trenuri noi), so it effectively changes gender with number — and you must check its plural agreement separately every time.
- Masculine Plurals (-i)A2 — Romanian masculine nouns form their plural with a single ending — -i — but that -i triggers palatalization of the final consonant (brad→brazi, perete→pereți, urs→urși), and the audible change is in the consonant, not the often-whispered final -i.
- Feminine Plurals (-e, -i)A2 — Feminine plurals are Romanian's trickiest: the ending splits between -e and -i, and a root-vowel shift (a→e in masă→mese, oa→o in poartă→porți, a→ă in carte→cărți) usually fires at the same time. This same plural stem is what the feminine genitive-dative singular is built on.
- Mistake: Mishandling Neuter GenderA2 — Neuter nouns behave like masculines in the singular but like feminines in the plural. Learners pick one gender and stick with it, producing *două trenuri buni. The fix: always check plural agreement separately — neuter means masculine-then-feminine.
- Four-Form Adjectives (bun, bună, buni, bune)A1 — The largest Romanian adjective class, with four distinct forms for masculine/feminine singular and plural, and the vowel and consonant alternations it shares with nouns.