Questions & Answers about Cursul de matematică este mai dificil decât alte cursuri.
Why is it „Cursul de matematică” and not just „Curs de matematică”?
Romanian marks definiteness with an ending, not with a separate word like the.
- curs = a course (indefinite)
- cursul = the course (definite)
So:
- Curs de matematică = a math course / math course (in general)
- Cursul de matematică = the math course (a specific one already known from context)
In your sentence, we are talking about a specific course that both speaker and listener know, so Romanian uses cursul (with the definite article -ul stuck to the noun).
What does „de” mean in „cursul de matematică” and why is it used?
„de” literally means „of” and is used to show what kind of course it is.
- curs de matematică = course of mathematics = math course
- curs de istorie = history course
- curs de engleză = English course
This is a very common pattern in Romanian:
curs de + [subject] to mean course in [subject].
Why is it „matematică” without any article (no „matematica”, „o matematică”, etc.)?