The Intensive 'singur' and Emphatic Self | Romanian Grammar

English packs three jobs into the word -self and a fourth into "alone": "she did it herself" (no help), "she lives alone," "she washed herself" (reflexive), and "the president himself" (in person). Romanian splits these across different words, and singur owns two of them. Singur means both "alone" (Locuiesc singur — "I live alone") and "by oneself / without help," which English renders as the intensive "-self" (Am făcut-o singur — "I did it myself"). Crucially, singur is not a pronoun that sits in an object slot — it is an adjective that agrees with the subject in gender and number. This page nails down its two meanings, its agreement, and the boundary with the emphatic însuși and the reflexive se, which English speakers constantly merge.

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The one map to memorize: singur = "alone" / "by oneself, unaided" (agrees with the subject like an adjective); însuși = "the X itself, in person" (an emphatic that spotlights a noun); se / își = reflexive "washes himself" (the action loops back). English uses "-self" for the last three. When you mean "without help" or "alone," reach for singur — not the reflexive, never the emphatic.

singur agrees like an adjective

Singur is morphologically an adjective, so it takes the four standard endings and matches the subject (or the noun it modifies) in gender and number. This is its single most important grammatical property and the thing English speakers forget, because English "alone" and "myself" never change shape.

	Masculine	Feminine
singular	singur	singură
plural	singuri	singure

Locuiesc singură de trei ani și îmi place.

I've lived alone for three years and I like it. (feminine speaker → singură)

Băieții au venit singuri, fără părinți.

The boys came on their own, without their parents. (masc. plural → singuri)

Fetele s-au descurcat singure cu mutarea.

The girls managed the move by themselves. (fem. plural → singure)

Meaning 1: "alone, on one's own"

The first meaning is plain "alone" — unaccompanied, by oneself in the sense of solitude or solitary location. It works as a predicate ("I am alone") or alongside a verb ("I live alone").

Stai singur acasă diseară?

Are you home alone tonight?

Nu-mi place să mănânc singur la restaurant.

I don't like eating alone at a restaurant.

A rămas singură după ce copiii au plecat de acasă.

She was left on her own after the children moved out.

Meaning 2: "by oneself, without help" — the intensive "-self"

The second meaning is "without anyone's help, unaided" — and this is the one English expresses with the intensive -self: "I did it myself," "he fixed it himself." Romanian uses the same singur, agreeing with the subject. The sense is "I, with no one else's hand in it."

Am făcut-o singur, nu m-a ajutat nimeni.

I did it myself; nobody helped me. (singur = unaided)

Copilul se îmbracă singur de acum.

The child gets dressed by himself now. (singur = without help)

Mă descurc singură, mulțumesc.

I manage by myself, thank you.

Notice the last two: se îmbracă and mă descurc already carry a reflexive clitic (the verbs are reflexive), and singur adds the "unaided" layer on top. The clitic does the reflexive work; singur does the "without help" work. They are not competing — they stack.

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Both meanings of singur answer "who, with no one else?" — solitude ("alone") and self-reliance ("unaided") are the same idea seen from two angles. That's why one word covers both. The test for English "-self": if you can paraphrase as "by himself / without help," it's singur; if you can paraphrase as "he, in person, the very one," it's însuși.

singur vs. însuși: "by myself" is not "myself-in-person"

Here is the boundary that matters. The emphatic însuși spotlights a noun — "the president himself came" (Președintele însuși a venit), meaning the top man in person, not a deputy. It says nothing about being alone or unaided. Singur is about solitude or self-reliance. They overlap only partially, and they are not interchangeable.

Compare:

Directorul însuși a semnat documentul.

The director himself signed the document. (însuși = the director in person, not a subordinate)

Directorul a semnat documentul singur.

The director signed the document by himself / unaided. (singur = no one helped / he was the only signatory)

The first emphasizes which person; the second emphasizes that he acted without help. English "the director signed it himself" is genuinely ambiguous between these — Romanian disambiguates with the word choice. When you mean "in person, the very one," use însuși; when you mean "without anyone else's help," use singur.

singur vs. the reflexive se: not the same "-self"

The reflexive se / își marks the action looping back onto the subject — se spală ("he washes himself"). That is a different job from singur ("alone / unaided"). They can co-occur, but neither replaces the other.

Bunicul se spală singur, deși are optzeci de ani.

Grandpa washes himself unassisted, even though he's eighty. (se = reflexive 'himself'; singur = 'unaided')

In that one sentence se says the washing is reflexive and singur says it happens without help — two distinct meanings, two distinct words. Trying to use singur for the reflexive ("he washes singur" for "he washes himself") is wrong; the reflexive is se.

Common Mistakes

The errors below all come from English collapsing "alone," "by myself," "myself," and "himself" into one or two words.

Failing to agree singur with the subject's gender/number — treating it as invariable like English "alone":

❌ Maria locuiește singur.

Incorrect — singur is an adjective and must agree: a feminine subject takes singură.

✅ Maria locuiește singură.

Maria lives alone.

Using the reflexive se to mean "by myself / unaided":

❌ Am făcut-o pe mine. (meaning 'I did it myself / on my own')

Incorrect — 'by myself, unaided' is singur, not a reflexive object: Am făcut-o singur.

✅ Am făcut-o singur.

I did it myself.

Reaching for the emphatic însuși when you mean "without help":

❌ Mă descurc însămi.

Wrong sense — însumi/însămi means 'I myself, in person'; 'I manage on my own' is singur(ă).

✅ Mă descurc singură.

I manage by myself.

Dropping the reflexive clitic on a reflexive verb because singur seems to cover "self":

❌ Copilul îmbracă singur.

Incorrect — a se îmbrăca is reflexive; the clitic se is still needed: se îmbracă singur.

✅ Copilul se îmbracă singur.

The child dresses himself / by himself.

Using singur for "the X itself, in person" (the emphatic's job):

❌ Singur primarul a venit la ședință. (meaning 'the mayor himself came')

Wrong sense — 'the mayor himself, in person' is primarul însuși; singur would mean 'only the mayor / the mayor alone'.

✅ Primarul însuși a venit la ședință.

The mayor himself came to the meeting.

Key Takeaways

singur / singură / singuri / singure is an adjective and agrees with the subject in gender and number — it is never invariable.
It has two meanings: "alone" (solitude: Locuiesc singur) and "by oneself / unaided" — English's intensive "-self" (Am făcut-o singur).
It is distinct from the emphatic însuși ("the X itself, in person") and from the reflexive se / își ("washes himself"); the three can co-occur but never substitute for one another.
Test for English "-self": "by himself / without help" → singur; "in person, the very one" → însuși; "the action loops back" → se.

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