Meet the Birds & Their Homes
Let's look to the skies and learn some common birds, like the sparrow (vrabia) and the pigeon (porumbelul), along with where they live, such as the nest (cuibul).
When you want to say "the sparrow's nest" (literally "the nest of the sparrow"), the feminine word vrabia changes its ending to vrăbiei to show possession.
| The sparrow's nest is in the tree. | Cuibul vrăbiei este în copac. |
Anatomy of a Bird
To describe a bird, you need to know its parts: the beak (ciocul), the feather (pana), and the wing (aripa).
| The pigeon has a very small beak. | Porumbelul are un cioc foarte mic. |
Let's introduce the eagle (vulturul) and the swan (lebăda). Just as we saw with the sparrow, nouns change endings to express possession ("of the"). The masculine noun vulturul becomes vulturului, and the feminine noun lebăda becomes lebedei.
| The eagle's feather is very long. | Pana vulturului este foarte lungă. |
| The swan's wing is white and beautiful. | Aripa lebedei este albă și frumoasă. |
Bird Behavior
Finally, let's look at the owl (bufnița) and the duck (rața), and what they do.
| The owl does not see anything during the day. | Bufnița nu vede nimic ziua. |
Birds are known for their sounds. The verb for "to chirp" is a ciripi. Notice how verbs change depending on who is doing the action, such as ciripesc for "they chirp" and ciripește for "it chirps".
| The sparrows chirp very beautifully in the morning. | Vrăbiile ciripesc foarte frumos dimineața. |
| The duck opens its beak, but never chirps. | Rața își deschide ciocul, dar nu ciripește niciodată. |