Page:A simplified grammar of the Roumanian language.djvu/73

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SYNTAX.


We propose to show here very briefly how to combine the different parts and particles of speech, in order to make a correct Roumanian sentence.

THE NOUNS.

Nominative.

The subject of the verb is put in the nominative case, and its place is at the beginning of the sentence:

Trandafirul este o flóre frumóssă, ‘The rose is a pretty flower;’
Dumnezeŭ a zidit lumea, ‘God has created the world.’

Genitive.

The dependence of one noun upon another is indicated by the genitive case:

Flórea cîmpuluĭ, ‘The flower of the field;’
Cartea copiluluĭ, ‘The book of the child.’

We see here that when the genitive follows the subject, the particle a is omitted. But when the genitive precedes the subject, as it often does in verse, the particle a cannot be omitted. In such case the subject is without the article:

a cîmpuluĭ flóre, ‘the field’s flower;’
a copiluluĭ carte, ‘the child’s book.’