Kammala jumla mai zuwa: An haife shi a Uzunu, Giurgiu County, iyayensa sune Anghel Cartojan da Maria ("née" Petrescu). Ya kammala karatunsa daga Kwalejin Kasa ta Saint Sava ta Bucharest a 1902. Daga nan sai ya shiga makarantar adabi da falsafar Jami'ar Bucharest, inda Ioan Bianu ya kasance ɗaya daga cikin farfesa, kuma ya kammala karatu a 1906. Tun da farko, ya sami sha'awar adabin Romanian na farko da kuma binciken rubuce-rubucen Laburaren Kwalejin Romanian, inda ya yi aiki daga 1906 zuwa 1912. A lokaci guda, shi mataimakin malami ne. Daga 1912 zuwa 1914, Cartojan ya halarci kwasa-kwasan kwararru a Jami'ar Friedrich Wilhelm da ke Berlin. Bayan ya koma Bucharest, an nada shi darektan makarantar motsa jiki ta Ioan Maiorescu. Ya auri Sevastia Condeescu a ranar 14 ga Afrilu, 1916. Bayan da Romania ta shiga yakin duniya na farko da kuma Tsakiyar Tsakiya
Bayan mamaye Bucharest a watan Disamba na 1916, an mayar da gidan wasan motsa jiki zuwa sansanin tsare fursunonin yaƙi na Romania da Rasha. Cartojan ya ci gaba da koyarwa na ɗan lokaci a makarantun sakandare na Matei Basarab da Gheorghe Lazăr; bayan da sojojin mamaye suka ɗaure shi na ɗan gajeren lokaci, ya sami damar sake buɗe makarantar motsa jiki a Giurgiu.