Tap a sentence to see its translation.
Romanian is written with the Latin alphabet, as English is, with five letters of its own: ă, â, î, ș and ț. It has thirty-one letters, and k, q, w and y are found only in foreign words and names. Its spelling is very regular: each letter has one sound or a small number of sounds, and a word is said as it is written. The difficulties for an English speaker are the vowels ă and â / î, which English has no letter for; c and g, which are soft before e and i and hard again when an h is written; the groups ea and oa; and the stress, which is never written.
0
The Romanian alphabet
The Romanian alphabet follows the English order, and each letter with a mark has its own place: ă and â come after a, î after i, ș after s and ț after t. The vowels are named after their sound. Most consonants are named with an e as in “bed”, placed after the consonant (be, ce, de, ge, pe, te) or before it (ef, el, em, en, er, es). The names that catch out an English speaker when spelling are those of c (ce, said “cheh”), g (ge, said “jeh”), h (haș), i (i, said “ee”), j (je, said “zheh”) and the two letters named after their sound, â and î.
A letter’s name is what you say when you spell a word aloud, for example your name or address on the phone.
| Letter | Name | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a /a/ | /a/ | casă | like “a” in “father”, but short (casă); never “ay” as in “name” said ah |
| Ă ă | ă /ə/ | like “a” in “about”, stressed or not (mamă) named after its sound, like “a” in “about” | ||
| Â â | â din a /ɨ din a/ | a sound English lacks: the lips spread as for “ee”, the tongue pulled back as for “oo”; the same sound as î, written inside a word (pâine) called â din a (“â from a”), the letter’s sound followed by din a | ||
| B b | be /be/ | /b/ | bine | as in English (bine) said beh |
| C c | ce /tʃe/ | /k/ · /tʃ/ | casă cine | “k” (casă); like “ch” in “church” before e and i (cine) said cheh; never “see” |
| D d | de /de/ | /d/ | da | as in English, the tongue against the upper teeth (da) said deh |
| E e | e /e/ | /e/ · /je/ | mere este | like “e” in “bed” (mere); at the start of este, el, ea, said “ye” said eh, like “e” in “bed”; never “ee” |
| F f | ef /ef/ | /f/ | frate | as in English (frate) said ef |
| G g | ge /dʒe/ | /ɡ/ · /dʒ/ | gară germană | hard, as in “go” (gară); like “j” in “jam” before e and i (germană) said jeh; never “jee” |
| H h | haș /haʃ/ | /h/ | hartă | breathed, as in “house” (hartă); in che, chi, ghe, ghi it is not said said hahsh; never “aitch” |
| I i | i /i/ | /i/ · /j/ · /ʲ/ | bine iarnă bani | like “ee” in “see” (bine); like “y” in “yes” before a vowel (iarnă); unstressed at the end of a word after a consonant, barely heard (bani) said ee; never “eye” |
| Î î | î din i /ɨ din i/ | the same sound as â, written at the start and at the end of a word (în) called î din i (“î from i”), the letter’s sound followed by din i | ||
| J j | je /ʒe/ | /ʒ/ | joi | like the “s” of “pleasure” (joi); never the “j” of “jet” said zheh, with the “s” of “pleasure”; never “jay” |
| K k | ka /ka/ | /k/ | kilogram | “k”, in foreign words only (kilogram) said kah |
| L l | el /el/ | /l/ | lapte | a clear l, as in “look”, at the end of a word too (lapte) said el |
| M m | em /em/ | /m/ | mamă | as in English (mamă) said em |
| N n | en /en/ | /n/ | nu | as in English (nu) said en |
| O o | o /o/ | /o/ | om | a pure “o”, with no glide into “oo” as in “go” (om) said o, a pure “o” with no glide |
| P p | pe /pe/ | /p/ | pâine | as in English, without the puff of air of “pen” (pâine) said peh |
| Q q | kü /ky/ | “k”, in foreign words and names only said kü, with a vowel close to the German ü; never “cue” | ||
| R r | er /er/ | /r/ | roșu | rolled or tapped with the tip of the tongue, at the end of a word too (roșu) said er, the r rolled |
| S s | es /es/ | /s/ | soare | always “s” as in “sun”, between two vowels too (soare); never “z” said es |
| Ș ș | șe /ʃe/ | like “sh” in “ship” (șase) said sheh | ||
| T t | te /te/ | /t/ | tată | as in English, the tongue against the upper teeth and without the puff of air of “top” (tată) said teh |
| Ț ț | țe /tse/ | like “ts” in “cats”, at the start of a word too (țară) said tseh | ||
| U u | u /u/ | /u/ · /w/ | un ou | like “oo” in “food” (un); after a vowel, like “w” (ou) said oo; never “you” |
| V v | ve /ve/ | /v/ | vin | as in English (vin) said veh |
| W w | dublu ve /ˈdublu ve/ | “v” or “w”, in foreign words only said DOO-bloo veh (“double v”) | ||
| X x | ics /iks/ | /ks/ · /ɡz/ | taxi exemplu | “ks” as in “six” (taxi), or “gz” as in “exam” (exemplu) said eeks |
| Y y | i grec /iˈɡrek/ | “ee” or “y”, in foreign words only said ee-GREK (“Greek i”) | ||
| Z z | zet /zet/ | /z/ | zi | “z” as in “zoo” (zi) said zet |
Spelling aloud. A word is spelt aloud with the name of each letter: to the question Cum se scrie? (“How is it written?”), the answer for țară is țe – a – er – ă. A letter with a mark has a name of its own: ș is șe, ă is ă, â is â din a. To make the mark clear, the letter may also be described: s cu virgulă (“s with a comma”), a cu breve (“a with a breve”).
- Cum se scrie?How is it written?
Many consonants are said much as in English: b, d, f, l, m, n, p, t, v and z, although p and t are said without the puff of air heard in English “pen” or “top”. Said differently are, above all, c and g, which change their sound before e and i, j and r, and the vowels, each said in full, stressed or not.
Difference from English
In English, one letter stands for many sounds: the a of “cat”, “name” and “father”. In Romanian, one letter has one sound or a small number of sounds, and every vowel is said in full: a is always the “a” of “father”, e the “e” of “bed”, u the “oo” of “food”. Two vowels, ă and â / î, have no English letter: ă is the vowel of “about”, said even under stress, and â / î is a sound English lacks. The stress is never written: mamă is stressed on its first syllable and cafea on its last, and each word’s stress is learnt with the word.
- casă / cinehouse / who
- gară / germanăstation / German
Practise
0
Letter groups
Before e and i, c and g are soft: ce, ci are said with the “ch” of “church”, ge, gi with the “j” of “jam”. To keep the hard sound before e and i, an h is written after the consonant: che, chi are said “keh”, “kee”, and ghe, ghi with the “g” of “go”; the h itself is not said. Two vowels written side by side often form one syllable, a diphthong: ea and oa are the most frequent.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| ce | /tʃ/ | ceapă | like “che” in “chess” (ceapă); before a, the e only marks the soft c (ceapă is said “CHAH-puh”) |
| ci | /tʃ/ | cine cinci | like “chee” in “cheese” (cine); at the end of a word, unstressed, the i is barely heard (cinci) |
| che | /k/ | ureche | “keh”, the h not being said (ureche); never the “ch” of “church” |
| chi | /k/ | chiar ochi | “kee”, the h not being said (chiar); at the end of a word, unstressed, the i is barely heard (ochi) |
| ge | /dʒ/ | merge | like “je” in “jet” (merge) |
| gi | /dʒ/ | girafă | like “gee” in “jeep”, with the “j” of “jam” (girafă) |
| ghe | /ɡ/ | gheață | “geh”, with the hard g of “go”, the h not being said (gheață) |
| ghi | /ɡ/ | ghid | “gee”, with the hard g of “go”, the h not being said (ghid) |
| ea | /e̯a/ | seară | one syllable, close to “ya” in “yard”, the e very short (seară) |
| oa | /o̯a/ | școală | one syllable, like “wa” in “water”, the o very short (școală) |
| ia | /ja/ | iarnă | one syllable, like “ya” in “yard” (iarnă) |
| ie | /je/ | ieri | one syllable, like “ye” in “yes” (ieri) |
| eu | /ew/ | leu | one syllable, an “e” as in “bed” followed by “oo” (leu); never “you” |
| ai | /aj/ | mai | like “y” in “my” (mai) |
| oi | /oj/ | joi | like “oy” in “boy” (joi) |
c and g before e and i
Before a, o, u, ă, â, î and before a consonant, c is said “k” and g is hard, as in “go”. Before e and i, c is said like “ch” in “church” and g like “j” in “jam”. To keep the “k” sound or the hard g before e and i, ch and gh are written: cine (“who”) and chiar (“even”), ger (“frost”) and ghid (“guide”).
- ceapăonion
- cinewho
- urecheear
- ochieyes
- gheațăice
- ghidguide
- searăevening
- școalăschool
Remember
ch is said “k” and gh is the hard “g” of “go”, never “ch” or “j”: ochi is said “OHK”, ghid “GHEED”. ce, ci and ge, gi are soft: cine begins like “cheese”, merge ends like “jet”.
Practise
0
Written marks
Romanian has five letters with a mark, each a letter of its own in the alphabet: ă and â with a breve and a circumflex, î with a circumflex, ș and ț with a comma below. The marks never show the stress: they make a different letter, and a word written without them is misspelt.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| ă | /ə/ | mamă | like “a” in “about”, stressed or not (mamă) |
| â | /ɨ/ | pâine | a sound English lacks, between “ee” and “oo”: the lips spread, the tongue pulled back; written inside a word (pâine) |
| î | /ɨ/ | în | the same sound as â, written at the start or at the end of a word (în) |
| ș | /ʃ/ | șase | like “sh” in “ship” (șase); written with a comma below, not a cedilla |
| ț | /ts/ | țară | like “ts” in “cats” (țară); written with a comma below, not a cedilla |
â and î
â and î stand for the same sound. î is written at the start and at the end of a word (în, a coborî), â inside it (pâine, mâine). In a word formed with a prefix, the î of the word it is built on is kept: neînțeles (“misunderstood”). The name of the country and its people is written with â: România, român.
ș and ț with the comma below
The correct letters have a comma below: ș, ț. Letters with a cedilla, ş and ţ, are still seen in older texts and on some keyboards, but they are not the Romanian letters.
Practise
0
Final i and initial e
Two letters are not said as written in some places. An unstressed i at the end of a word, after a consonant, is barely heard: it is not a syllable of its own and only softens the consonant before it, as in the plurals pomi (“fruit trees”) and lupi (“wolves”). An e at the start of the pronouns el, ea, ei, ele and of the forms of a fi (“to be”) such as este and e is said with a “y” before it.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| -i | /ʲ/ | bani | barely heard, not a syllable of its own: it only softens the consonant before it (bani is said in one syllable) |
| e- | /je/ | este | “ye” as in “yes” in este, e and ești (forms of a fi) and in el, ea, ei, ele |
- banimoney
- esteis
Remember
bani, pomi and lupi each have one syllable: the final i only softens the consonant. este begins with “ye”, el is said “yel” and ea “ya”.