problem / trouble
A difficulty, practical or personal.
Am o problemă.
I have a problem.
Care e problema?
What's the problem?
#128 · Noun
problemă
In Romanian, problemă means “problem / trouble”. It’s the #128 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Problemă is "problem", feminine, rank 128 — and one of the easiest words for an English speaker to recognise. The three forms share the frequency almost evenly, which is unusual and tells you the word is used in all its shapes. The one to memorise whole is Nicio problemă! — "No problem!".
neutralno problem (nicio problemă)
The fixed reply to a thank-you or an apology. The determiner agrees in the feminine.
Nicio problemă!
No problem!
matter / issue
A subject under discussion, not necessarily a difficulty.
o problemă de timp
a matter of time
exercise / question (in school)
A maths problem, the same as in English.
o problemă de matematică
a maths problem
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 3 forms cover about 93% of everyday use — learn these first.
problema32%
problemă31%
probleme29%
Show 3 more forms
problemele6%
problemei<1%
problemelor<1%
Noun Forms
- Gender
- feminine
- Countability
- countable
| singular indefinite | problemă | |
|---|---|---|
| singular definite | problema | |
| plural indefinite | probleme | |
| plural definite | problemele | |
| genitive dative singular | problemei | |
| genitive dative plural | problemelor |
A regular feminine noun in -ă: problemă, problema, probleme, problemele. Unusually for this list, all four forms are in heavy use — the word is as common in the plural as in the singular, and as common definite as indefinite.
Examples
Nicio problemă!
No problem!
problemă - nicio is the feminine of niciun and is written as one word. This is the standard answer to Mulțumesc.
Care e problema?
What's the problem?
problema - care, not ce, when asking about a specific known thing. The noun takes the definite article.
Am probleme cu mașina.
I'm having trouble with the car.
probleme - The bare plural for trouble in general, with cu for what is causing it.
E doar o problemă de timp.
It's just a matter of time.
problemă - o problemă de plus a bare noun. de links the matter to its subject with no article.
Problemele se rezolvă.
Problems get solved.
problemele - The definite plural as the subject of a general truth, with the impersonal reflexive se rezolvă.
No problem is Nicio problemă, with nicio written as one word and agreeing in the feminine. Niciun problemă is wrong, and Nu problemă is not Romanian at all.