numai

== Romanian == === Alternative forms === numa', numa — colloquial, apocopic нумай (numai) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling === Etymology === Univerbation of nu +‎ mai. Compare Latin American Spanish nomás, Catalan només and Venetan noma. First attested in the 16th century. The imperative-accompanying sense is a semantic loan from Hungarian csak. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈnu.maj/ Rhymes: -umaj Hyphenation: nu‧mai === Adverb === numai only (no more than) și nu numai ― and more numai că ― however, it’s just that only (exclusively) (before predicate noun, sometimes with redundant tot, hyperbolic) Indicates the subject to be characterised by an abundance of the respective noun: all numai un zâmbet ― all smiles (informal, followed by negated phrase optionally introduced with că) almost, nearly, just about (of an event that was close to happening) (colloquial, in narration, optionally negated without change in meaning) suddenly, unexpectedly (with ce, optional adversative with că, informal) only just (not long before) (now only in the following collocations) just (quite) numai bun ― just fine numai bine ― quite well, just swimmingly (now nonstandard) synonym of ci (“but rather”) (Banat, Transylvania, colloquial) Follows an imperative, sometimes serving to point out the simplicity of the command or to disregard protest. ==== Usage notes ==== In careless speech numai (“only”) can trigger the double negative like its synonym decât. Such usage is obsolete in standard language. Some of the modifications that the sentence following numai in the sense of “just about” may suffer are: taking the subjunctive mood when preceded by the verb fi (era numai să—was just about to); being negated without any conjunction; or (most unambiguously) being introduced with că while also being negated. Numai in this sense is sometimes reduplicated for emphasis. ==== Synonyms ==== (only): abia, decât, doar (all): tot (exclusively): decât, doar, exclusiv (almost): aproape, cât pe ce, mai (only just): abia, de-abia, taman, tocmai ==== Derived terms ==== de numa’ de numa-numa numaidecât numaicât === Conjunction === numai (now nonstandard) but Synonyms: dar, însă ==== Usage notes ==== It’s more common and standard for numai to introduce a sentence as an adverb in the conjunctional phrase numai că (“it’s just that”, or, more loosely, “but”). === References === “numai”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026