"Un fruct, două fructe"

Translation: A fruit, two fruit

[Lianne_cm]

I thought 'un' (masculine/neuter) goes with 'doi', and 'o' (feminine) with 'două'? Now I'm confused....

EDIT: I found the answer somewhere else in a discussion:

Quoting relox84:
Fruct is actually neither masculine nor feminine: it's a neuter noun.

In Romanian, neuter nouns behave like masculine nouns in the singular and feminine nouns in the plural. They are recognisable by their ending in the plural, which is typically -e or -uri, whereas masculine nouns have a plural in -i.

Masculine noun: un câine - doi câini

Neuter noun: un fruct - două fructe

Feminine noun: o fată - două fete

[AndrewsSuzy]

Thank you - worthy of another lingot!

[Galaviolin]

Thank you! Always a confusing subject

[AndrewsSuzy]

By the way, for learners of English, we tend to say "a piece of fruit" rather than "a fruit". You can say "a fruit" in this type of sentence: "a banana is a fruit, not a vegetable". But in everyday speech you will hear "I'd like a piece of fruit, or maybe some fruit"

[hippietrail]

A minority of native English speakers do say "two fruits". I learned this from one of the other Duolingo courses where this came up. But the vast majority of us, myself included, would indeed say "two pieces of fruit".

[Patrick154626]

Pronunciation sounds curious: It sounds like the person doing the voice sputters into the microphone or swallows crookedly and chokes on "fruct(e)."

[paeonia001]

I've never heard a Romanian say "un fruct", only "o fructa". What gives?

[potestasity]

I don't know, to me "fruct" seems more common. It's the word for which the dictionary provides an actual definition, whereas it simply defines "fructă" to mean "fruct".

[paeonia001]

Here is an explanation I found, which my mom agrees with:

Eu stiu ca e “fruct” atunci cand vorbesti despre produsul unei plante cu referinta la planta – “cireasa este FRUCTul ciresului” -, si e “fructa” cand vorbesti despre produsul unei plante cu referinta la produs – “cireasa este o FRUCTA”.

When talking about the fruit of a plant/tree, use "un fruct". When talking about a fruit for eating use "o fructă".

[Patrick154626]

Ani de școală.ro :

Am auzit ”fructă” în ultima vreme atât de des încât am început să pun la îndoială ce învățasem eu că ar fi corect. Însă știu bine că uzul frecvent nu e neapărat rudă bună cu regula. Altfel, probabil că ar fi trebuit să mă convertesc de ani buni la religia lui ”am decât” și ”nu mai mă”.

Dar nu m-am convertit și nici cu ”fructa” nu mă leg la cap. Am verificat și, chiar dacă și-a făcut loc în DEX ca variantă, corect e tot cum știam eu – ”fruct”.