Istro-Romanian grammar expresses the structure of the Istro-Romanian language. It is similar to those of other Eastern Romance languages.
Istro-Romanian is thought to have evolved from Daco-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 be nominal or adjectival, 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 mþelu (the lamb).
The -le ending is used for all masculine singular nouns ending in -e, e.g. frÃÂ¥tele (the brother), sorele (the sun), cÃÂrele (the dog). Some examples of masculine nouns showing case endings, nominative=accusative, genitive=dative. The vocative case is not shown as this normally corresponds with the nominative.
The -a replaces -ÃÂ and -e, e.g. cÃÂ¥sÃÂ > cÃÂ¥sa (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).
Neuter nouns behave as masculine nouns in the singular and feminine in the plural.
The forms of the adjectival article are ÃÂela for the masculine and ÃÂÃÂ¥ for the feminine singular, and in the plural masculine ÃÂeþ and feminine ÃÂÃÂ¥le, e.g. ÃÂela bur (the good one). The masculine indefinite article is un and feminine is o. The declension of the indefinite article has disappeared. Examples: un om (a man), un cÃÂ¥ (a horse), o misà(a table), o bÃÂ¥bà(an old woman).
Adjectives also have three genders, the masculine and feminine forms from the Latin, while the neuter form is of Slavic origin. E.g. bur, burÃÂ, buro (good). The comparative adjective is mÃÂ¥i bur (better) and the superlative is ÃÂel mÃÂ¥i 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 -àto -a; or follows the noun: feta muà ÂÃÂ¥tà(the beautiful girl).
Definite pronouns can be personal, possessive, demonstrative, relative and interrogative.