Learn Romanian › cativă
cativă
a few /kɨˈt͡si.va/
adjective#5259 most common
Also: several, some (a small, unspecified number of)
Example sentences
Am câțiva prieteni buni.
I have a few good friends.
Mai avem câțiva pași până acasă.
We have a few more steps until we get home.
A lucrat acolo doar câțiva ani.
He worked there for only a few years.
Câțiva vecini s-au plâns de zgomot noaptea trecută.
A few neighbors complained about the noise last night.
Deși au trecut doar câțiva ani de la reformă, efectele ei se văd deja în toată economia.
Although only a few years have passed since the reform, its effects are already visible across the economy.
Chiar dacă rămăseseră doar câțiva supraviețuitori după naufragiu, aceștia au reușit să reconstruiască o mică societate pe insulă.
Even though only a few survivors remained after the shipwreck, they managed to rebuild a small society on the island.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | câtva (m) / câtăva (f) | câțiva (m) / câteva (f) |
| Genitive | None | câtorva |
| Accusative | câtva (m) / câtăva (f) | câțiva (m) / câteva (f) |
| Vocative | None | None |
Word family
câtvasome, a certain amount of (masc. singular)
câtăvasome, a certain amount of (fem. singular)
câtevaa few (fem. plural)
câtorvato/of a few (oblique plural, both genders)
cinevasomeoneEtymology
Câțiva is the masculine plural form of the indefinite adjective câtva, built from cât, meaning "how much" or "how many," plus the particle -va. Cât comes from Latin quantus. The particle -va comes from the Latin verb vult, "he wants," the same element that appears in cineva, "someone," and ceva, "something." Adding it to a quantity word turned a precise question into a vague answer: an unspecified small amount.
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