Learn Romanian: Ea are douăsprezece bilete.

Ea are douăsprezece bilete.

She has twelve tickets.

Breakdown of Ea are douăsprezece bilete.

Questions & Answers about Ea are douăsprezece bilete.

How do you build numbers like douăsprezece in Romanian?

Numbers from 11 to 19 follow a strict formula: the single digit + spre (meaning "towards") + zece (ten). So douăsprezece literally translates to "two towards ten".

Why is it douăsprezece instead of doisprezece?

The number 12 is unique among the teen numbers because it changes based on the gender of what you are counting. The word for ticket (bilet) is a neuter noun, and neuter nouns act feminine in the plural. Therefore, we use the feminine form douăsprezece instead of the masculine form doisprezece.

Don't we normally need the word de between a number and a noun?

Not for this number! In Romanian, you only insert de between a number and a noun for quantities of 20 or more (like douăzeci de bilete). For numbers 1 through 19, the number goes directly next to the noun.

Wait, is bilete a feminine noun since it uses the feminine number douăsprezece?

It is actually a neuter noun! In Romanian, neuter nouns act like masculine nouns in the singular (un bilet) and like feminine nouns in the plural (două bilete). Since we are talking about twelve tickets, it behaves like a feminine plural word.