"Once" It's Done
To express that an action happens immediately after another one is completed, use the word odată followed by a past participle and the noun it refers to. This translates to "once [something] is done" or "as soon as [something] is done".
Because the past participle acts like an adjective in this structure, it must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. Notice how the participle changes to match feminine singular, neuter singular, and feminine plural nouns in the examples below.
| Once the mask is put on, the beekeeper opens the beehive. | Odată pusă masca, apicultorul deschide stupul. |
| Once the nectar is brought, it transforms into honey. | Odată adus nectarul, acesta se transformă în miere. |
| Once the impurities are taken out, the honey is put in jars. | Odată scoase impuritățile, mierea se pune în borcane. |
Proportion: The More, The More
When you want to say that two things increase or decrease together (like "the bigger, the better" or "the more, the more"), use the correlative structure cu cât..., cu atât....
| The bigger the beehive is, the more honey the bees produce. | Cu cât stupul este mai mare, cu atât albinele produc mai multă miere. |
| The slower we filter the honey, the clearer it is. | Cu cât filtrăm mierea mai încet, cu atât ea este mai clară. |
None and Never
To say "none" or "not any", Romanian uses negative pronouns and adjectives like niciunul (none - masculine/neuter), niciuna (none - feminine), and nicio (no - feminine adjective). When talking about time, niciodată means "never".
Remember that Romanian requires double negation. When using these negative words, the verb in the sentence must also be negative, usually preceded by nu.
| Out of these honeycombs, none is empty. | Dintre acești faguri, niciunul nu este gol. |
| None of the masks are clean. | Niciuna dintre măști nu este curată. |
| Once the honey is filtered, it has no more impurities. | Odată filtrată mierea, ea nu mai are nicio impuritate. |
| The queen bee never seals the honeycombs. | Matca nu sigilează niciodată fagurii. |