Istro-Romanian grammar expresses the structure of theIstro-Romanian language. It is similar to those of otherEastern Romance languages.

Istro-Romanian is thought to have evolved fromDaco-Romanian (which instead may have evolved independently). The evolution shows two distinct features. Noun declension shows a rationalisation of forms: normal noun declension almost totally disappeared in Istro-Romanian, whereas verbal inflexion is more conservative and its evolution is not as pronounced.

Articles have two forms:definite and indefinite. The definite article may benominal oradjectival, the nominal being added to nouns, and the adjectival placed before adjectives.

The nominal forms are: for masculine nouns: -l and -le, for feminine -a in the singular, and for masculine -i and feminine -le in the plural. As in spoken Daco-Romanian, the -l of the masculine singular definite article is dropped, leaving the linking -u- vowel, e.g. DR lupul > IR lupu (the wolf), DR ursul > IR ursu (the bear), DR mielul > IR mľelu (the lamb).

The -le ending is used for all masculine singular nouns ending in -e, e.g. fråtele (the brother), sorele (the sun), cărele (the dog). Some examples of masculine nouns showingcase endings,nominative=accusative,genitive=dative. Thevocative case is not shown as this normally corresponds with the nominative.

• fiľ (son), fiľi (pl.)

• socru (father-in-law), socri (pl.)

• fråte (brother), fråţ (pl.)

The -a replaces -ĕ and -e, e.g. cåsĕ > cåsa (the house), nopte > nopta (the night); however a few feminine nouns ending in a stressed -e behave differently, e.g. ste > stevu (the star), ne > nevu (the snow).

• fetĕ (girl), fete (pl.)

• muľerĕ (woman), muľere (pl.)

• ste (star), stele (pl.)

Neuter nouns behave as masculine nouns in the singular and feminine in the plural.

• bråţ (arm), bråţe (pl.) – bråţu (the arm), bråţele (pl.)
• os (bone), ose (pl.) – osu (the bone), osele (pl.)
• zid (wall), zidur (pl.) – zidu (the wall), zidurle (pl.)
• plug (plough), plugur (pl.) – plugu (the plough), plugurle (pl.)

The forms of the adjectival article arećela for the masculine andćå for the feminine singular, and in the plural masculinećeľ and femininećåle, e.g. ćela bur (the good one). The masculine indefinite article isun and feminine iso. The declension of the indefinite article has disappeared. Examples: un om (a man), un cå (a horse), o misĕ (a table), o båbĕ (an old woman).

Adjectives also have threegenders, the masculine and feminine forms from the Latin, while the neuter form is of Slavic origin. E.g. bur, burĕ, buro (good). Thecomparative adjective is måi bur (better) and thesuperlative is ćel måi bur (the best).

The adjective may precede the noun: bura zi ((the) good day), which in itself can be made definite by the change of -ĕ to -a; or follows the noun: feta muşåtĕ (the beautiful girl).

Definite pronouns can bepersonal,possessive,demonstrative,relative andinterrogative.

• A. Kovačec: Notes sur les formes de cas en istroroumain. Studia Romanica 13–14: 75–84, Zagreb 1962
• A. Kovačec: Certaines modifications grammaticales des 'quantitatifs' et 'qualitatifs' istroroumains dues a l' influence croate. Studia Romanica 23: 195–210, Zagreb 1967
• A. Kovačec: Le calque lexical d' apres le croate comme cause de certains changements grammaticaux istroroumains. Actele de XII Congres International de Lingvistica si Filologie Romanica, vol. 2: 1127–1131, Bucuresti 1971
• A. Kovačec: Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik s gramatikom i tekstovima(Glosar Istroroman-Croat cu gramatica si texte). Verba moritura vol. I. Mediteran, Pula 1998

Istro-Romanian language test ofWikipedia atWikimedia Incubator

• The Istro-romanians in Croatia – Alphabet
• UNESCO Red Book on Endangered Languages – entry for Istro-Romanian
• Istro-Romanian Community Worldwide

• Istro-Romanian language
• Italic grammars

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata