your (one thing, masculine or neuter): tău
Follows a noun carrying the definite article: fratele tău, telefonul tău.
fratele tău
your brother
numele tău
your name
#39 · Determiner / article
tău
In Romanian, tău means “your (one thing, masculine or neuter): tău”. It’s the #39 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
tău is "your" for one person you are on familiar terms with — rank 39, and one of the first words you will need. Unlike lui, it AGREES with the thing owned, giving four forms: tău / ta / tăi / tale. The plural-and-polite counterpart is vostru / voastră / voștri / voastre. Get the pairing right and possessives stop being a guessing game: prietenul tău, prietena ta, prietenii tăi, prietenele tale.
neutralyour (one feminine thing): ta
The most frequent of the four forms in the corpus — Romanian keeps many everyday nouns feminine (casa, mama, viața).
casa ta
your house
mama ta
your mother
your (plural things): tăi / tale
tăi for masculine plurals, tale for feminine and neuter plurals.
părinții tăi
your parents
ideile tale
your ideas
your (plural or polite "you"): vostru / voastră / voștri / voastre
Use these when addressing more than one person, or one person formally as voi. For full formality with dumneavoastră, say casa dumneavoastră instead.
casa voastră
your house (you all)
copiii voștri
your children (you all)
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 2 forms cover about 82% of everyday use — learn these first.
ta46%
tău36%
Show 5 more forms
tale9%
tăi4%
voastră3%
vostru3%
voștri<1%
Forms & Contrasts
- Subtype
- possessive
| Masculine / neuter singular | tău | fratele tău, telefonul tău |
|---|---|---|
| Feminine singular | ta | casa ta, mașina ta — the most frequent form. |
| Masculine plural | tăi | prietenii tăi, ochii tăi |
| Feminine / neuter plural | tale | ideile tale, lucrurile tale |
| Plural/polite: masc./neut. sg. | vostru | orașul vostru |
| Plural/polite: fem. sg. | voastră | casa voastră |
| Plural/polite: masc. pl. | voștri | copiii voștri |
| Plural/polite: fem./neut. pl. | voastre | lucrurile voastre |
| Possessive articles | al / a / ai / ale | Needed with an indefinite or separated noun: un coleg al tău, o idee a ta. |
vs. său / sa / săi / sale
său is the third-person "his/her own" and agrees the same way tău does. Same pattern, different person — learning tău gives you său for free.
cartea ta / cartea sa
your book / his (own) book
vs. lui / ei / lor
Those are invariable and agree with the owner; tău agrees with the thing owned.
cărțile tale / cărțile lui
your books / his books
vs. dumneavoastră
For formal address, the possessive is simply dumneavoastră, invariable and placed after the noun — never *tău.
numele dumneavoastră
your name (formal)
vs. îți / ți- (dative clitic)
Romanian often replaces a possessive with a dative clitic for body parts and close relations.
Mă doare capul. / Îți place casa ta?
My head hurts. / Do you like your house?
Examples
Care e numele tău?
What is your name?
tău - nume is neuter and singular, so the masculine/neuter singular tău is used, and numele keeps its definite ending.
Casa ta e frumoasă.
Your house is beautiful.
ta - casă is feminine → ta. The noun is definite (casa), which is the normal shape before a possessive.
Am vorbit cu părinții tăi.
I spoke with your parents.
tăi - Masculine plural părinți → tăi. Compare with the feminine plural: surorile tale.
Un prieten al tău m-a sunat.
A friend of yours called me.
al tău - When the noun is indefinite, the possessive article appears: al (m. sg.), a (f. sg.), ai (m. pl.), ale (f./n. pl.).
Aceasta e camera voastră.
This is your room (you all).
voastră - Addressing several people: cameră is feminine singular → voastră.
Family nouns break the definite-article rule in the singular: it is tatăl tău but mama ta, sora ta, frate-tău — and with a few close relatives Romanians say mama ta / tata tău without the extra article you would expect. The safest habit: definite noun + possessive (fratele tău), and learn mama ta / tata tău as they come.