Cartea este groasă.

to be

Breakdown of Cartea este groasă.

• cartea: the book
• gros: thick

Questions & Answers about Cartea este groasă.

Why does carte become cartea here?

Romanian forms the definite article as a suffix. Feminine singular nouns take -a, so carte (book) + -a → cartea (the book).

How do I know that carte is feminine and not masculine?

Many Romanian nouns ending in an unstressed -e are feminine (cheie, linie), but there are exceptions like soare (sun) or frate (brother), which are masculine. In most cases you’ll learn the noun and its gender together or check a good dictionary.

Why is the adjective groasă in that particular form?

Adjectives in Romanian agree with their noun in gender and number. The base form is gros (masculine singular). For a feminine singular noun like carte, you use the feminine singular ending -ă, giving groasă.

If I want to say “the books are thick,” how does everything change?