Page:A simplified grammar of the Roumanian language.djvu/21

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FEMININE TERMINATIONS.
9

There are feminine nouns also which end with the vowels:

e short: carte, ‘book;’ păne, ‘bread;’ curte, ‘court.’
a long: basma, ‘handkerchief;’ para, ‘farthing.’
e long: ste, ‘star;’ bele, ‘grievance.’

The Plural of Feminine Nouns.

There are several ways in which the feminine plural is formed. Nouns ending in ă make their plural by changing ă into e:

ma, ‘mother;’ mame, ‘mothers.’
dómnă, ‘lady;’ dómne, ‘ladies.’
copi, ‘girl;’ copile, ‘girls.’
regi, ‘queen;’ regine, ‘queens.’

Those ending in e short, take ĭ in the plural:

carte, ‘book;’ cărṭĭ, ‘books.’
păne, ‘bread;’ pă, ‘breads.’
curte, ‘court.’ curṭĭ, ‘courts.’

Those ending in a long, add the particle le to the singular:

basma, ‘handkerchief;’ basmale, ‘handkerchiefs.’
para, ‘farthing;’ parale, ‘money,’ or ‘farthings.’

Those ending in e long (pronounced ea, é in the singular), and zi (the only word ending in i long), add also le for the plural:

ste, ‘star;’ stele, ‘stars.’
căṭe, ‘bitch;’ căṭele, ‘bitches.’
nue, ‘rod;’ nuele, ‘rods.’
zi, ‘day;’ zile, ‘days.’

Note.—If va, ‘cow,’ has for plural va; so, ‘sister,’ so; cale, ‘way,’ căĭ, this is done for the sake of euphony.