Genitive and Dative Indefinite Articles
In Romanian, the Genitive case (expressing possession: "of a") and the Dative case (expressing the recipient: "to a") share the exact same forms.
When you want to express that a non-specific person owns or receives something, you change the indefinite article (un, o, or niște) to its Genitive/Dative form.
| Number and Gender | Indefinite Article | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine / Neuter Singular | unui | of a / to a |
| Feminine Singular | unei | of a / to a |
| Plural (All Genders) | unor | of some / to some |
Masculine and Neuter Singular
For masculine and neuter nouns, use unui.
Here it is in the Genitive case, expressing possession ("of a"):
| I am reading the novel of a young author. | Citesc romanul unui autor tânăr. |
And here it is in the Dative case, showing the recipient ("to a"). Remember that in the Dative case, Romanian still requires the unstressed pronoun (like îi) before the verb!
| I am offering a coffee to a stranger. | Îi ofer o cafea unui străin. |
Feminine Singular
For feminine nouns, use unei.
Notice that in the Genitive and Dative cases, the feminine singular noun itself changes to look like its plural form (for example, carte becomes cărți and fundație becomes fundații).
| The title of a book is very interesting. | Titlul unei cărți este foarte interesant. |
| I want to donate money to a foundation. | Vreau să donez bani unei fundații. |
Plural Recipients and Owners
To talk about "some" non-specific people or things, use unor. This form is identical for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns.
| The answers of some students are very good. | Răspunsurile unor studenți sunt foarte bune. |
When giving something "to some" people in the Dative case, use unor along with the plural unstressed pronoun le.
| I am donating some clothes to some poor children. | Le donez niște haine unor copii săraci. |