Bread and Dairy
When going grocery shopping, you will need the basics. In Romanian, remember that the definite article ("the") attaches to the end of the noun. Feminine nouns like pâinea (the bread) and brânza (the cheese) typically take the suffix -a.
| This woman buys the bread from the store. | Această femeie cumpără pâinea din magazin. |
| This cheese is very good. | Această brânză este foarte bună. |
Masculine and neuter nouns often take the suffix -ul. For example, untul (the butter).
| He puts the butter on the warm bread. | El pune untul pe pâinea caldă. |
Eggs and Milk
More staples for the fridge are oul (the egg) and laptele (the milk). Notice that laptele is a masculine noun that ends in -e, so its definite article is -le instead of -ul.
| The boy eats the egg in the morning. | Băiatul mănâncă oul dimineața. |
| The cat drinks the milk. | Pisica bea laptele. |
Meat and Poultry
Next, let's visit the butcher. We use the feminine noun carnea (the meat) and the masculine noun puiul (the chicken). Notice that when a feminine noun ends in -e, its definite article suffix becomes -ea.
| The dog waits for the meat, but the cat eats it. | Câinele așteaptă carnea, dar pisica o mănâncă. |
| That chicken is small. | Acel pui este mic. |
Essential Seasonings
Finally, to add flavor to your food, you will need sarea (the salt), piperul (the pepper), and zahărul (the sugar). Just like carnea, the feminine noun sare becomes sarea.
| The man puts the salt in the food. | Bărbatul pune sarea în mâncare. |
| The salt and the expensive pepper are on the table. | Sarea și piperul scump sunt pe masă. |
| The coffee is good without sugar. | Cafeaua este bună fără zahăr. |
