Romanian Numbers - Adverbial Numbers

Adverbial Numbers

The adverbial number is the number used to show the repetition of a certain event, in constructions such as de cinci ori "five times". The table below shows a few examples of adverbial numbers.

Number Adverbial number English
1 o dată once
2 de două ori twice
3 de trei ori three times (thrice)
12 de douăsprezece ori twelve times
21 de douăzeci și una de ori twenty-one times
22 de douăzeci și două de ori twenty-two times

For number 1 the usual form is o dată ("once", "one time"). The construction o oară is possible, but rarely used. In the plural, the adverbial numbers are formed using the preposition de, the cardinal number in the feminine, and the noun ori "times", which is the plural of the feminine noun oară.

Sample sentences:

  • Am citit cartea de trei ori. "I've read the book three times."
  • „Poştaşul sună întotdeauna de două ori” "The postman always rings twice"

Approximate numbers can be used, like in the examples below.

  • Ţi-am spus de zeci de ori că nu mă interesează. "I've told you dozens (textually: tens] of times I'm not interested."
  • Am ascultat cîntecul acesta de sute de ori. "I've listened to this song hundreds of times."

Read more about this topic:  Romanian Numbers

Famous quotes containing the word numbers:

    All experience teaches that, whenever there is a great national establishment, employing large numbers of officials, the public must be reconciled to support many incompetent men; for such is the favoritism and nepotism always prevailing in the purlieus of these establishments, that some incompetent persons are always admitted, to the exclusion of many of the worthy.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)