City Sights and "It"
Most public buildings in Romanian are feminine nouns. In their definite form ("the" building), they end in -a (like farmacia - the pharmacy, or poșta - the post office). A few key locations are neuter, ending in -l or -ul (like supermarketul - the supermarket).
As a quick review, remember that when you replace a noun with "it" as a direct object, you must use the pronoun that matches its gender. Use o for feminine nouns and îl for neuter or masculine nouns. Place this pronoun right before the verb.
At or To (The Preposition "la")
When going to or being at a specific institution or public building, Romanian typically uses the preposition la.
Crucially, nouns drop their definite article after most prepositions. For feminine nouns, this means reverting to their base indefinite endings:
- Words ending in -a change to -ă (banca → la bancă).
- Words ending in -ia change to -ie (primăria → la primărie).
Inside and On (Prepositions "în" and "pe")
For enclosed spaces or broader areas, use the preposition în (in/inside). For streets, use pe (on).
Just like with la, you must drop the definite article after these prepositions. Neuter nouns drop their -l or -ul ending (centrul → în centru), and feminine nouns drop their -a (parcarea → în parcare).
Plurals in the City
Feminine nouns often form their plurals with -i or -e. When adding the definite article to make them plural ("the [places]"), they take the ending -le. For example, biserica (the church) becomes bisericile (the churches).
When you want to replace plural feminine or neuter things with "them" as a direct object, use the pronoun le, placed directly before the verb.
