Fruit
Most fruit names are feminine and form their plural with -e or -i. Watch the stem: cireașă loses its a in the plural, and strugure (one grape) is almost always used in the plural, so the course teaches strugurii (the grapes).
| one | several | the (several) |
|---|---|---|
| o cireașă | cireșe | cireșele |
| o piersică | piersici | piersicile |
| un strugure | struguri | strugurii |
| I like cherries. | Îmi plac cireșele. |
| The peaches are fresh. | Piersicile sunt proaspete. |
| The child eats grapes. | Copilul mănâncă struguri. |
Breakfast without an article
Food you eat some of takes no article at all: mănânc iaurt (I eat yogurt), pun gem pe pâine (I put jam on bread). The article comes back when you mean a specific one: iaurtul este în frigider (the yogurt — the one we have).
| I eat yogurt for breakfast. | Mănânc iaurt la micul dejun. |
| I put jam on the bread. | Pun gem pe pâine. |
| The yogurt is in the fridge. | Iaurtul este în frigider. |
Jam made of something
De tells you what a spread is made of: gem de cireșe (cherry jam), cremă de ciocolată (chocolate spread). Gemul is smooth jam; dulceața is the homemade kind with whole fruit in syrup — every Romanian grandmother makes it.
| The cherry jam is tasty. | Gemul de cireșe este gustos. |
| Grandma makes peach preserves. | Bunica face dulceață de piersici. |
Something from the bakery
A covrig is the ring-shaped pretzel sold warm at every station, and a corn is a croissant. In the plural they become covrigi and cornuri.
| I buy a pretzel at the station. | Cumpăr un covrig la gară. |
| The pretzels are cheap and warm. | Covrigii sunt ieftini și calzi. |
| I want a chocolate croissant. | Vreau un corn cu ciocolată. |
| Bread with butter and ham is tasty. | Pâinea cu unt și șuncă este gustoasă. |
