Making Sentences Negative
Making a sentence negative in Romanian is incredibly simple. You just place the word nu directly before the verb. Unlike English, which often requires helper words like "does not" alongside the verb, Romanian only needs this one small word.
| The man is not here. | Bărbatul nu este aici. |
He, She, and Being at Home
Let's introduce a couple of basic personal pronouns: el (he) and ea (she). We can use these with our new negation rule to talk about where people are—or aren't.
We'll also add the useful words acasă (at home) and acum (now).
| He is not at home. | El nu este acasă. |
| She is not at home now. | Ea nu este acasă acum. |
Connecting Ideas
To link thoughts together or describe things in more detail, you can use a few common connecting words and adjectives, such as dar (but), foarte (very), mare (big), and bine (well).
Because nu is placed directly in front of the verb, adverbs like foarte and adjectives simply follow after the verb.
| The woman is here, but he is not here. | Femeia este aici, dar el nu este aici. |
| The house is not very big. | Casa nu este foarte mare. |
| The boy is not very well. | Băiatul nu este foarte bine. |