place / spot
A location, named or not.
un loc frumos
a beautiful place
Care e locul tău preferat?
What's your favourite place?
#84 · Noun
loc
In Romanian, loc means “place / spot”. It’s the #84 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Loc is "place", rank 84, neuter — so un loc but două locuri. It stretches further than the English word: it is also a seat on a train, the room you have left in a bag, and half a dozen fixed phrases. Three of those earn their own place in a learner’s memory: în loc de "instead of", are loc "takes place", and la loc "back where it was".
neutralseat
On a train, in a cinema, at a table.
Am două locuri.
I have two seats.
E liber locul ăsta?
Is this seat free?
room / space
Uncountable in this sense: E loc? means "Is there room?".
Nu e loc.
There's no room.
Fă-mi loc!
Make room for me!
instead of (în loc de)
With a following verb it becomes în loc să plus the subjunctive.
în loc de cafea
instead of coffee
în loc să dormi
instead of sleeping
to take place (a avea loc)
The standard phrase for an event happening.
Evenimentul are loc mâine.
The event takes place tomorrow.
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 2 forms cover about 91% of everyday use — learn these first.
loc59%
locul32%
Show 4 more forms
locuri5%
locurile2%
locului1%
locurilor<1%
Noun Forms
- Gender
- neuter
- Countability
- both
| singular indefinite | loc | |
|---|---|---|
| singular definite | locul | |
| plural indefinite | locuri | |
| plural definite | locurile | |
| genitive dative singular | locului | |
| genitive dative plural | locurilor |
Neuter: masculine in the singular (un loc, locul) and feminine in the plural (două locuri, locurile). Adjectives follow that split — un loc frumos but locuri frumoase.
Examples
Nu mai e loc.
There's no more room.
loc - The uncountable "space" sense, bare and with no article. mai inside a negation gives "no more".
Locul meu e la geam.
My seat is by the window.
locul - The definite form with a possessive. The article goes on the noun, and the possessive follows it.
În loc de cafea, iau ceai.
Instead of coffee, I'll have tea.
loc - în loc de before a noun. Before a verb it becomes în loc să: în loc să plec.
Pune cartea la loc.
Put the book back.
loc - la loc is a fixed phrase meaning "back in its place" — nothing to do with going to a location.
Sunt locuri libere?
Are there free seats?
locuri - The neuter plural in -uri. The adjective takes the feminine plural ending libere, because neuter plurals agree as feminine.
Ședința are loc la ora trei.
The meeting takes place at three.
loc - a avea loc, always with the noun bare. Romanian never says *ia loc for this — that phrase means "take a seat".
Two phrases sit one letter apart. La loc means "back in its place" (Pune-l la loc). Ia loc means "have a seat" (Ia loc, te rog). Mixing them up asks somebody to put themselves away.
In expressions
Common phrases built around loc — worth learning as whole units.
în locul— instead of, in place of
lit. “in the-place of” · governs the genitive: în locul meu (in my place)
pe loc— on the spot, immediately
lit. “on place”
a lua loc— to take a seat, to sit down
lit. “to take place” · luați loc = please have a seat (formal)