Romanian place adverbs tell you where something is or where it moves. They are normally invariable: Sunt aici. (I am here.) and Merg acolo. (I am going there.) use the same kind of word for location and direction.
Which Romanian adverbs tell you where something is?
Start with the neutral place pairs below. The adverb stays the same when the subject changes; the verb supplies the person and number information.
| Meaning | Adverb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| here | aici | Sunt aici. (I am here.) |
| there | acolo | Cartea este acolo. (The book is there.) |
| up / upstairs | sus | Copilul este sus. (The child is upstairs.) |
| down / downstairs | jos | Câinele este jos. (The dog is downstairs.) |
| forward / ahead | înainte | Merge înainte. (He or she goes forward.) |
| back / backward | înapoi | Se uită înapoi. (He or she looks back.) |
| near / nearby | aproape | Magazinul este aproape. (The shop is nearby.) |
| far away | departe | Gara este departe. (The station is far away.) |
| outside | afară | Așteaptă afară. (He or she is waiting outside.) |
| inside | înăuntru | Sunt înăuntru. (I am inside.) |
How does the same adverb work with location and movement?
Romanian usually lets the verb and the situation show the difference. A place adverb can describe a fixed location after a verb such as a fi (to be), or a destination and direction after a movement verb.
| Situation | Romanian | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fixed location | Sunt acasă. | I am at home. |
| movement | Mă duc acasă. | I am going home. |
| fixed location | Copiii sunt acolo. | The children are there. |
| movement | Copiii merg acolo. | The children are going there. |
| fixed location | Ana este înăuntru. | Ana is inside. |
| movement | Ana merge înăuntru. | Ana goes inside. |
Do not add la before aici or acolo just because English uses to: Merg acolo. (I am going there.) is the normal sentence. Romanian does mark extra relations when a suitable preposition is part of the phrase.
Which short phrases add source, endpoint, or route?
A preposition can combine with a place adverb to add a source, a limit or endpoint, or a route. These are useful fixed phrases; they do not make the adverb agree with a noun.
| Phrase | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| de aici | from here | Plec de aici. (I am leaving from here.) |
| de acolo | from there | Vine de acolo. (He or she comes from there.) |
| de sus | from upstairs / from above | Vine de sus. (He or she comes from upstairs.) |
| până aici | as far as here | Mergem până aici. (We go as far as here.) |
| până jos | all the way down / downstairs | Mergem până jos. (We go all the way downstairs.) |
| pe aici | this way / around here | Treci pe aici. (Go this way.) |
How do you ask about a place or refer back to one?
Use unde? (where?) for a direct place question. The same adverb can connect a main clause to a place clause, and related forms express somewhere, anywhere, somewhere else, or nowhere.
| Form | Meaning or use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| unde | where? | Unde este stația? (Where is the station?) |
| unde | where ... in a connected clause | Rămânem unde suntem. (We stay where we are.) |
| acolo unde | there where / where | Stăm acolo unde este umbră. (We sit where there is shade.) |
| undeva | somewhere | Cheia este undeva aici. (The key is somewhere here.) |
| oriunde | anywhere | Poți sta oriunde. (You can sit anywhere.) |
| altundeva | somewhere else | Caută altundeva. (Look somewhere else.) |
| nicăieri | nowhere; usually with a negative verb | Nu găsesc cheia nicăieri. (I cannot find the key anywhere.) |
What should you avoid?
- Do not change the adverb for the subject: Maria este aici. (Maria is here.) and Copiii sunt aici. (The children are here.) both keep aici.
- Do not translate every English to with la: use the movement verb with the place adverb in Merg acolo. (I am going there.) and Mă duc acasă. (I am going home).
- Read sus and jos from the context: they can mean up/down or upstairs/downstairs. The pair is about position or direction, not about two different agreement patterns.
- Use aproape for a nearby place and departe for a far-away place. Neither word changes to match the noun or the person moving.
Neutral and conversational choices
The forms in the tables are neutral contemporary Standard Romanian. DOOM3 also records de-acolo as a rapid-speech contraction of de acolo; keep the separated form de acolo as the neutral learner spelling. This is a spelling and speech variant, not a new direction.
Which Romanian adverb means here?
- aici
- acolo
- departe
- înapoi
Aici means here. Acolo means there, departe means far away, and înapoi means back or backward.
Choose the sentence meaning “I am there.”
- Sunt aici.
- Sunt departe.
- Merg acolo.
- Sunt acolo.
The fixed-location verb sunt plus acolo gives “I am there.” Merg acolo means “I am going there,” so the verb changes the situation.
Which phrase means from here?
- până aici
- de aici
- pe aici
- acolo unde
De aici combines de (from) with aici (here). Până aici means as far as here, and pe aici means this way or around here.
Complete the sentence: Rămânem ___ suntem. (We stay where we are.)
- acolo
- undeva
- unde
- departe
Use unde to connect the main clause with the place clause: Rămânem unde suntem. The other forms name a place but do not make this connection.
Which sentence says “I am going home”?
- Sunt departe.
- Sunt acasă.
- Mă duc de acasă.
- Mă duc acasă.
Mă duc acasă means I am going home. Sunt acasă says I am already at home, while de acasă means from home.