Casa este mică.

to be

Breakdown of Casa este mică.

• casa: the house
• mic: small

Questions & Answers about Casa este mică.

What does casa mean in this sentence?

Casa is the definite form of casă. It means the house, not just “house.”

Why doesn’t Romanian use a separate word for “the” here?

Romanian attaches (“enclitic”) the definite article to the end of the noun.
• casă (house) + -a (definite article) = casa (the house)

How do you say “a house” (indefinite) in Romanian?

Use the feminine indefinite article o before the noun: o casă means a house.

What part of speech is este, and what does it mean?

Este is the third-person singular present of a fi (“to be”). Here it simply means is.

Can este be shortened in everyday speech?

Yes. Colloquially, Romanians often say e instead of este, so you’ll hear Casa e mică with the same meaning.

Why does the adjective end in -ă (mică) rather than -e or -u?

Adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
• casă is feminine singular → mic (masc.) becomes mică (fem. sg.)
If it were a masculine noun, you’d say mic; for plurals it would be mici.

Could you say Casa este mic instead?

No. Mic is the masculine form. Since casă is feminine, the adjective must be mică.

Why is the adjective placed after the noun?

The neutral/default Romanian word order for descriptive sentences is noun + verb + adjective. You can put the adjective before the noun for emphasis (e.g. mica casă “the small house”), but that sounds more poetic or emphatic.

How do you pronounce the letter ă and where is the stress in mică?

• Ă is a mid-central vowel (schwa), similar to the “a” in English sofa.
• mică is pronounced /ˈmi.kə/, with stress on the first syllable: MI-kuh.