The Romanian hyphen, called a cratimă, joins words or short grammatical elements without spaces. In M-a sunat Ana. (Ana called me.), the hyphen is part of the written form m-a; it is not a dash between two ideas.
When do you write a Romanian hyphen?
Use a hyphen when the standard pattern joins a short unstressed pronoun to a verb, records an accepted contraction, or makes certain compounds and approximate number expressions one written unit. Do not put spaces around this hyphen.
| Pattern | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Compound perfect + short pronoun | Joins the pronoun to the auxiliary | M-a sunat Ana. (Ana called me.) |
| Verb + feminine o after the participle | Joins the object pronoun to the completed verb | Am văzut-o. (I saw her/it.) |
| Affirmative command + short pronoun | Attaches the pronoun after the command | Ajută-mă! (Help me!) |
| Accepted contraction | Shows a standard reduced form | N-am timp. (I do not have time.) |
| Hyphenated compound or approximation | Keeps a lexical unit or close range together | după-amiază (afternoon); trei-patru zile (three or four days) |
| Ordinals written with digits | Attaches the ordinal ending to the numeral | al 3-lea (the third); a 2-a (the second) |
| Ordinary present + short pronoun | Usually keeps the two words separate | Mă ascultă. (He/she listens to me.) |
How do hyphens work with short pronouns?
A short, unstressed pronoun is a clitic: it depends on a verb for its position and meaning. Its spelling changes with the verb form, so do not add a hyphen simply because the pronoun is short.
- With an ordinary present-tense verb, the clitic is normally a separate word before the verb: Mă ascultă. (He/she listens to me.) and Îi răspund. (I answer him/her.)
- With the compound perfect, the clitic comes before the auxiliary and is joined to it: M-a sunat. (He/she called me.), Ți-am scris. (I wrote to you.), and Ne-au văzut. (They saw us.)
- The feminine singular object clitic o normally follows the participle in this tense: Am văzut-o. (I saw her/it.) Do not write văzuto as one word.
- In an affirmative command, the clitic follows the verb and takes a hyphen: Ascultă-mă! (Listen to me!), Ridică-te! (Get up!).
- In a negative command, the clitic comes after nu and before the verb: Nu mă asculta! (Do not listen to me!). A reduced form such as Nu-mi spune! (Do not tell me!) is also found beside the fuller Nu îmi spune!
Which other common words use a hyphen?
Some compounds and fixed expressions have a lexical hyphen, so their spelling must be learned with the expression. A close approximation can also join two neighboring numerals: o zi-două (a day or two). This is different from an ordinary list of separate numbers.
- Common compounds include după-amiază (afternoon), bună-credință (good faith), and floarea-soarelui (sunflower). Not every phrase with two nouns or adjectives is hyphenated.
- Approximate ranges can use trei-patru zile (three or four days) or o zi-două (a day or two). A comma-separated version can also occur in this type of approximation.
- With a numeral written as a digit, the ordinal ending is attached with a hyphen: al 3-lea capitol (the third chapter) and a 2-a zi (the second day).
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not hyphenate every clitic and verb: write Mă ascultă, not Mă-ascultă, in the ordinary present-tense pattern.
- Do not copy affirmative-command spelling into a negative command: write Nu mă ajuta, not Nu-mă ajuta.
- Do not replace the hyphen with a space: write M-a sunat and Am văzut-o, not Mă a sunat or Am văzut o.
- Do not put spaces around a hyphen: write după-amiază and trei-patru zile, not după - amiază or trei - patru zile.
- Remember that optional contraction is not the same as a new tense: N-am timp and Nu am timp have the same basic meaning; the first is the reduced spelling.
Which sentence uses the compound-perfect hyphen correctly?
- Mă-a sunat Ana.
- M-a sunat Ana.
- Mă a sunat Ana.
- Măa sunat Ana.
The short pronoun mă combines with the auxiliary a as m-a, so the correct sentence is M-a sunat Ana. The other choices either keep the wrong shape, omit the hyphen, or insert a space.
Which sentence is a correctly written affirmative command meaning “Help me!”?
- Ajută-mă!
- Nu mă ajuta!
- Mă ajută!
- Ajută mă!
In an affirmative command, the short pronoun follows the verb and is joined by a hyphen: Ajută-mă! Nu mă ajuta! is negative, while the other forms have the wrong word order or spacing.
Which sentence shows the ordinary present-tense pattern with the short pronoun as a separate word?
- M-ascultă.
- Mă-ascultă.
- Mă ascultă.
- Măascultă.
With an ordinary present-tense verb, the clitic normally stands separately before the verb: Mă ascultă. The hyphenated pattern belongs to other constructions, such as the compound perfect or an affirmative command.
Which sentence means “Do not listen to me!” in the negative-command pattern?
- Nu-mă asculta!
- Nu mă-asculta!
- Nu măasculta!
- Nu mă asculta!
In a negative command, nu comes first, the clitic follows it as a separate word, and the verb comes after the clitic: Nu mă asculta!
Which spelling gives a hyphenated approximation meaning “three or four days”?
- trei patru zile
- trei-patru zile
- trei,patru zile
- trei-patruzile
The hyphenated approximation is trei-patru zile. A comma-separated variant can also occur in this construction, but it would need a space after the comma and is not the hyphenated form asked for here.