Pattern
Nationality adjectives agree with the speaker's gender: român (masc.) / româncă (fem.), american / americancă, francez / franțuzoaică.
Explanation
When you say "I'm Romanian," the form depends on your gender. Masculine adjectives typically end in a consonant (român, american, italian); feminine forms often add -că or -oaică (româncă, americancă, franțuzoaică). For nationalities, the pattern isn't perfectly regular — each one must be learned with its feminine partner.
Romanian also distinguishes the noun (a person of that nationality) from the adjective (describing something as belonging to that country). "Sunt român" uses the adjective ("I am Romanian"); "Sunt un român" uses the noun ("I am a Romanian"). In practice, the adjective version is more common in introductions.
Some nationalities are completely irregular: francez/franțuzoaică (French man / French woman), englez/englezoaică (English man / English woman), grec/grecoaică. Learn these in pairs from day one — guessing usually fails.
Examples
| Romanian | English |
|---|---|
| Eu sunt român. (m.) | I am Romanian. |
| Eu sunt româncă. (f.) | I am Romanian. |
| El e american, ea e americancă. | He is American, she is American. |
| Tu ești franțuzoaică? | Are you French (woman)? |
| Maria e italiancă. | Maria is Italian. |
Common mistakes
- Using the masculine form for a woman: A woman says Sunt româncă, not Sunt român.
- Confusing francez and franțuzoaică: They look unrelated but are paired.
- Capitalizing nationalities: Romanian does NOT capitalize adjectives — român, not Român.