Page:A simplified grammar of the Roumanian language.djvu/80

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
68
ROUMANIAN GRAMMAR.

ADVERBS.

The place of an adverb in a sentence is immediately following the verb which it qualifies:

Alexandru se află bine, ‘Alexander is well.’
Passerea căntă frumos, ‘The bird sings beautifully.’

But when we speak with enthusiasm the adverb precedes the verb:

Frumos maĭ căntă passerea!‘How beautifully the bird sings!’

When the sentence contains negatives, as nimenĭ, ‘nobody,’ nicăi, ‘nowhere,’ etc., the verb must always be preceded by the negative nu:

Nimenĭ nu e a cassă,‘Nobody is at home.’

PREPOSITIONS.

The preposition a precedes the infinitive when the latter stands alone, or as subject of a sentence:

a ara, a crede, etc.
a minṭi e ruṣinos, ‘It is shameful to lie.’

It is also used before the genitive singular, and in many expressions which can only be learned by practice:

Sunt a cassă, ‘I am at home.’
Se pregăteṣte a plóe, ‘It is going to rain.’
Presimt a nenorocire, ‘I have a presentiment of coming sorrow.’
Miróssă a trandafir, ‘It smells like a rose.’
etc.