Tips and notes

The following notes will aid you in case you're having trouble with the
lesson, but feel free to skip them and continue with the lesson. Once you
have a broader context, they will help you put everything together.

ROMANIAN ALPHABET
Romanian uses an extended Latin alphabet. Compared to the English
alphabet, it has the following five extra letters.

Letter English name

Ă A-breve

 A-circumflex

Î I-circumflex

S-comma (not to be confused with Ş - S-

Ș
cedilla)

T-comma (not to be confused with Ţ - T-

Ț
cedilla)
PRONUNCIATION
Apart from a few exceptions, Romanian consonants sound virtually
identical to their English counterparts. Vowels, on the other hand, have
slightly different pronunciations using a more relaxed/open mouth.

The following tables will aid you in pronouncing what are most probably
the most unfamiliar sounds to English speakers, yet they are by no means
complete. See Romanian pronunciation for a more exhaustive explanation.

Vowels
Sound IPA phoneme English example
A a father

Ă ə above

Â/
ɨ roses
Î

I i creed

O o door

U u loom

Consonants
C and G followed by either E or I change their sounds.
Sound IPA phoneme English example
C k car

Ce
/ tʃ chalk
Ci

Ge
/ dʒ general
Gi

J ʒ exposure

Ș ʃ sharp

Ț ts pizza
 OR Î
Although  and Πsound precisely the same, Romanian use of both letters
stems from etymology. So, by using a simple rule to swap between the
two, Romanian has been able to retain some similarity with Latin, where
most etymons use A instead of  and I instead of Î.

The rule between them is that Î is only used at the start and end of a word.
In the middle, you would use Â.

•începe (to begin) - start

•hotărî (to decide) - end
•mânca (to eat) - middle
•neînfricat (fearless) - here we use î because the word stems from
înfricat with the preposition ne
EU, EA, E, ESTE
Although Romanian has exceptionally few pronunciation exceptions, there
is one which is noticeable from the very beginning. Eu (I/me), el
(he/him),ea (she/her),ei (they/them masc.),ele (they/them fem.), e (is), and
este (is) are all pronounced starting with /ie/ instead of simply /e/.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Compared to English, Romanian's personal pronouns lack a precise
translation for it. When having a subject that you would normally use it for,
you can either use demonstrative pronouns (acesta (this masc.), aceea
(that fem.) etc.), or simply refrain from using a pronoun.

English Romanian
I eu

you tu
English Romanian
el /
he / she / it
ea /N/A

we noi

you (pl.) voi

they (masc. /
ei / ele
fem.)
TO BE
In Romanian, the subject of any setence has to be in agreement with the
verb representing the action it is performing. This agreement is called
conjugation and comes with its own set of rules and exceptions. Below you
will find the conjugation table for a fi(to be).

English Romanian
I am Eu sunt

you are Tu eşti

he / she is El / Ea este

we are Noi suntem

you are (pl.) Voi sunteţi

they are (masc. /

Ei / Ele sunt
fem.)
INFLECTION
Compared to English, Romanian is an inflected language. This means that
the words of the language are comprised of roots, which rarely change,
and inflections, or endings. Although not all words change form, most of
them (nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs) do.

CASES
Even though Romanian has five cases, namely nominative, accusative,
dative, genitive, and vocative, nominative and accusative, respectively
dative and genitive have the same form.

Below is an example of how a noun forms differ in Romanian but remain

the same in English.

Case English Romanian

nominative man bărbat

accusative man bărbat

Case English Romanian
dative man bărbatului

genitive man's bărbatului

bărbatule/
vocative man
bărbate
TO HAVE
Conjugation table for a avea (to have).

English Romanian
I have Eu am

you have Tu ai

he / she has el / ea are

we have Noi avem

you have (pl.) Voi aveţi

they have (masc. /

ei / ele au
fem.)
SALUT!
Romanian culture puts a great emphasis on politeness. Thus, knowing how
to greet is an essential skill for anyone learning the basics.

Formal greetings
English Romanian
Good day Bună ziua

Good
Bună dimineața
morning

Good evening Bună seara

Good night Noapte bună

Good bye La revedere

Less formal greetings

Apart from salut (hi), most Romanian informal greetings have higher usage
only in particular regions but are understood by virtually everyone.

Also, some ways of greeting can be use when meeting and departing.
English Romanian
Hi Salut

Hi Bună

Hi Ciao

Hi Servus

Bye Pa

Bye Salut

Bye Ciao
POLITE PRONOUNS
Much like in the case of the French language, Romanian has a special
politeness pronoun. If you want to be explicitly polite, you use the
following forms.

English Usual Polite

tu/v dumneavoast
you
oi ră

he el dumnealui

she ea dumneaei

ei/el
they dumnealor
e
This difference also adds more polite forms of some phrases.

English Usual Polite

please te rog vă rog

thank [îți] [vă]

you mulțumesc/mersi mulțumesc

UNCOUNTABLES
In Romanian, the equivalent of uncountable nouns are the nouns lacking a
plural form. Some exmples would be lapte, miere, zahăr etc. Like in
English, these nouns usually denote substances or concepts that cannot be
separated into individual elements.

When talking about food, for example, you should use the singular of
nouns lacking plural form and the plural for all others, as long as the
quantity is not known.
English Romanian
I never eat sugar. Eu nu mănânc zahăr niciodată.

They eat tomatoes every day. Ei mănâncă roșii în fiecare zi.

If the quantity is known, you should use the proper form.

English Romanian
We are eating two
Noi mâncăm doi castraveți.
cucumbers.

You are eating a cake. Voi mâncați un tort.

MEALS

English Romanian
breakfast mic dejun

lunch prânz

supper cină
COURSES

English Romanian
entrée/first
antreu/felul întâi
course

felul principal/felul
main course
doi

dessert desert

COMPOUND FOOD NAMES

In order to use more complex names of foods that usually require multiple
nouns, you will have to use a preposition. The two most frequent ones
when it comes to food are de(of) and cu (with).

De is used when in English you would normally use nothing, while cu is

simply translated from the Englishwith. (usually used in the case of dish
names)

English Romanian
cocoa butter Unt de cacao

seawater fish Pește de mare

chicken with soy

Pui cu sos de soia
sauce
There are some exceptions when one language may have a specialized
word, whereas the other will use a compound noun, like carne de
vită (beef), or even miss the preposition de entirely, like lună plină (full
moon).

This will come in handy later, as it applies to most English compound nouns
that are also translated to compound nouns in Romanian.

ANIMAL NAMES FOR MALE, FEMALE, AND BABY

Romanian has specialized names for common animal types. The plural is
formed from either the male or the female form.

English Male Female Baby Plural

horse cal iapă mânz cai

chicken cocoș găină pui găini/pui

sheep berbec oaie miel oi

goat țap capră ied capre

cattle taur vacă vițel vaci

ANIMAL GROUPS
Like in English, some groups of animals have specialized names.
Herbivores, for example, will get the name turmă which is similar to the
word herd.

•turmă de oi (flock of sheep)

•turmă de elefanți (elephant herd)
•turmă de vaci (cattle herd)
For birds one would usually use the word stol.

•stol de ciori (murder of crows)

•stol de porumbei (flock of pigeons)
Some groups, though, have custom names.

English Romanian
pack of wolves/dogs haită de lupi

beaver colony colonie de castori

bee hive/swarm stup/roi de albine

locust swarm nor de lăcuste

PLURAL FORMS BY GENDER
Compared to English, Romanian plural forms have to be acquired when
learning each noun. Nevertheless, the forms are not completely irregular
as they roughly fall into categories, according to their gender:

Masculine
English Singular Plural Rule
carrot morcov morcovi cons. + i

bear urs urși cons. + i

lion leu lei u→i

dog câine câini e→i

vowel + l
horse cal cai
→i

Feminine
English Singular Plural Rule
salad salată salate ă→e

cabbage varză verze ă→e

evening seară seri ă→i

beer bere beri e→i

book carte cărți e→i

ea →
coffee cafea cafele
ele

kitchen bucătărie bucătării ie → ii

Neuter
Note: Although Romanian has three genders, the neuter gender usually
acts like a masculine noun when being singular and feminine one when
being plural. If you see rules or tables where neuter is missing (which is
probably most of them), treat neuter nouns as either masculine or
feminine depending on their count.

English Singular Plural Rule

dessert desert deserturi cons. + uri

message mesaj mesaje cons. + e

menu meniu meniuri u + ri

English Singular Plural Rule
tea ceai ceaiuri i + uri
EXCEPTIONS
Some examples like ou -ouă don't fit in any of the rules above and should
simply be remembered. In a similar fashion to English, some uncountable
nouns form plural with the use of compound nouns:

English Singular Plural

garlic clove cățel de usturoi căței de usturoi

perechi de
pair of glasses pereche de ochelari
ochelari
I/II/III
As mentioned in a previous lesson, Romanian is an inflected language.
Each word has its own stem that is inflected in order to convey meaning,
and one such examples is the plural.

Because some nouns' stems end with an i, you can have plurals that end
with iior with iiiif articulated.

English Singular Plural Plural + article

lion leu lei leii

son fiu fii fiii

ADJECTIVE INFLECTION
Adjectives change their form in order to be in agreement with the noun
they are modifying. This is called inflection, and, in the case of Romanian,
it affects gender and number.

Varible form
Some adjectives like greoi (heavy), vioi (lively), bălai (blond) change form
only in the case of gender.

Number Masculine Feminine

Sing
greoi greoaie
ular

Plura
greoi greoaie
l
Others like mare (big), dulce (sweet) change form only in the case of
number.
Number Masculine Feminine
Sing
mare mare
ular

Plura
mari mari
l
Most of them, though, change have a different form in each case,
like bun (good).

Number Masculine Feminine

Sing
bun bună
ular

Plura
buni bune
l
With some exceptions where the plural is the same
like roșu (red), drag (dear).

Number Masculine Feminine

Sing
drag dragă
ular

Plura
dragi dragi
l

Number Masculine Feminine

Sing
roșu roșie
ular

Plura
roșii roșii
l
While learning the language, you will notice that most adjectives roughly
follow the above endings with e a few exceptions, e.g. -oaie ending for
feminines in the first group, -e ending being used instead of -ă in the last
group, u turning into i in the case of roșu whenever a vowel comes after it,
etc.

These rules and exceptions will come natural after a while, and, based of
the form of the adjective, you will be able to know all the forms only by
recognizing the pattern. But, for starters, you can look up any adjective in
the dictionary, and expand the section labeled declinări (declinations) to
see all forms.

Invariable form
Some adjective have the same form in all possible use cases, but they few
and some of them are rarely used,
like gata (ready), cumsecade (kind), vivace (vivacious).
DEFINITE ARTICLE - NOMINATIVE-ACCUSATIVE, SINGULAR
One particularity of Romanian is the definite article. Along with a few other
languages like Bulgarian, Macedonian, Norwegian, the definite article gets
attached to the end of the noun. In other words, instead of having it in the
beginning like in the cat, Romanian has a specific ending.

The definite article is used to tell that its noun is particular and identifiable
by person listening. (It's not just a game, it's the game.)

During this lesson we only deal with the nominative-accusative form., with
the dative-genitive form coming in a later lesson.

DEFINITE ARTICLE - NOMINATIVE-ACCUSATIVE, PLURAL

During this lesson we only deal with the nominative-accusative form., with
the dative-genitive form coming in a later lesson.

Masculine
Masculine plural nouns' definite article is a simple i to the end of the plural
form.

•bărbați - bărbații (men - the men)

•vulturi - vulturii (eagles - the eagles)

Feminine
Feminine plural nouns are just as easy. One only needs to add le at the end
of the plural form.

•femei - femeile (women - the women)

•supe - supele (soups - the soups)

VERB MOODS

In Romanian, verbs have moods that help a speaker express attitude

towards something. (command, wish, etc.) Two important moods that you
will use and should probably remember are indicative and infinitive.

Indicative is the default mood use for factual statements and is the most
common one. Compared to English, infinitive is less used in Romanian (it
has more specialized moods instead), but it's very useful in recognizing
conjugation groups.

CONJUGATION GROUPS
All Romanian verbs fall into four conjugation groups which help when
conjugating. Unfortunately, these groups are divided into further groups,
but they still help form four rough conjugation sets of rules that work for
all regular verbs with very minor exceptions.
The four groups are identified by the way verbs end when in the infinitive
mood.

Group Ending
I a

II ea

III e

IV i or î

Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs have different conjugations that don't fall in the
aforementioned rules, but they are usually learned on the fly as they are
not many.

A few examples are a fi (to be),a avea (to have),a vrea (to want),a da(to
give),a lua(to take),a ști(to know),a mânca(to eat),a face(to do), and a few
more.

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Like in English, Romanian distinguishes between two types of possessive

pronouns named relative and absolute.

Relative possessive pronouns are used when only wanting to replace the
owner.

•El e prietenul meu. (He is my friend.)

Absolute possessive pronouns, on the other hand, are used instead of the
owner and the owned object or person.

•Nu e al tău. (It's not yours.)

The absolute form is formed by adding the possessive article to the
relative form according to the gender and number of the replaced noun
(neuter nouns are masculine when singular, and feminine when plural):

Number Masculine Feminine

Sing
al a
ular

Plura
ai ale
l
RELATIVE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Relative possessive pronouns change form according to the owner's person
and number, and to the owned object or person's gender and number.
 Owned masc. Owned fem. Owned masc.
Owner English Owned fem. pl.
sg. sg. pl.
1st person, sg. my meu mea mei mele

2nd person, sg. your tău ta tăi tale

3rd person,
his său/lui sa/lui săi/lui sale/lui
masc. sg.

3rd person, fem.

her său/ei sa/ei săi/ei sale/ei
sg.

1st person, pl. our nostru noastră noștri noastre

2nd person, pl. your vostru voastră voștri voastre

3rd person, pl. their lor lor lor lor

ABSOLUTE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Like in the case of relative possessive pronouns, they change form
according to the owner's person and number, and to the owned object or
person's gender and number, while also adding the possessive article in
front.

Owned masc. Owned fem. Owned masc.

Owner English Owned fem. pl.
sg. sg. pl.
1st person, sg. mine al meu a mea ai mei ale mele

2nd person, sg. yours al tău a ta ai tăi ale tale

3rd person,
his al său/lui a sa/lui ai săi/lui ale sale/lui
masc. sg.

3rd person,
hers al său/ei a sa/ei ai săi/ei ale sale/ei
fem. sg.

1st person, pl. ours al nostru a noastră ai noștri alenoastre

2nd person, pl. yours al vostru a voastră ai voștri ale voastre

3rd person, pl. theirs al lor a lor ai lor ale lor

GENITIVE-DATIVE FORM
Possession can also be expressed by not replacing the owner with a
possessive pronoun and using the noun's genitive-dative form which is
similar to 's you would add in English to signal possession.

•Nu găsesc portofelul lui. (I can't find his wallet.)

•Nu găsesc portofelul bunicului. (I can't find grandfather's wallet.)
In the example above, we are keeping the owner, bunicului, instead of
using a pronoun-originating adjective, lui.

The genitive-dative form is better explained in a further lesson. The

introduction here is only meant to give you a bigger picture when it comes
to possession in Romanian.

NUMERALS UP TO TEN

The parts of speech that refer to numbers directly are called numerals.

Up to the number ten, they have specific names:

English Romanian
zero zero

one unu

two doi

thre
trei
e

four patru

five cinci

six șase

seve
șapte
n

eigh
opt
t

nine nouă

ten zece
NUMERALS UP TO NINETEEN
Numerals between eleven and nineteen are formed from the numbers
euqivalent to their last digit and the ending sprezece (spre
zece means towards ten) with a few small exceptions.

English Romanian
eleve
unsprezece
n

twelv
doisprezece
e
English Romanian
thirte
treisprezece
en

fourte
paisprezece
en

fiftee cincisprezec
n e

sixtee
șaisprezece
n

seven șaptesprezec
teen e

eighte
optsprezece
en

ninete nouăsprezec
en e
TENS
Numerals of tens are formed by adding zeci (tens) to the numbers
equivalent to their first digit.

English Romanian
twe
douăzeci
nty

thirt
treizeci
y

fort patruzec
y i

fifty cincizeci

sixt
șaizeci
y

seve
șaptezeci
nty

eigh
optzeci
ty

nine
nouăzeci
ty
IN-BETWEEN TENS
To form numerals that are between tens, you need to start with the lower
boundary (23's lower boundary is 20) and add și (and) followed by the last
digit.

•douăzecișitrei (twenty-three) - douăzeci + și + trei

•patruzecișișase (forty-six) - patruzeci + și + șase
LARGER NUMERALS
Apart from the above, all other numerals will be composed from separate
words which are not hyphenated. To form them, you need to remember a
few multiples and their plural forms.

English Romanian Plural

hund
sută sute
red

thous
mie mii
and

milli milioa
milion
on ne

billio miliard
miliard
n e
Here are a few examples. It's also common in Romanian to use the
prepositon de between multiples (apar from sută) in order to form larger
numerals but it is not necessary.

•șaizecișitrei (de) milioane două sute optzecișiuna (de) mii trei sute
paisprezece (63,281,314)
•un milion șapte (1,000,007)
1, 2 AND 12
You may have noticed until now that the numerals for 1, 2 and 12 change
form. The reason why this happens is because they have different forms
when agreeing with masculine and feminine nouns in case it is used where
you would normally use an adjective.

For example:

•un bărbat / o femeie (one man / one woman)

•doi bărbați / două femei (two men / two women)
This also applies when using multiples (sute, mii, milioane) which are all
feminine.
English Masculine Feminine
one un o

two doi două

twel doispreze douăspreze

ve ce ce
In case you're wondering why unu is missing from the table above, it's
because this particular form is used only when talking about the
mathematic number one or quantities whose name is not provided. In
other words, unu is used only in the case of pure numerals, not adjectives
form from numerals.

•Am doar unul. (I have just one.) - numeral

•Un om și jumătate. (One and a half men.) - adjective formed from
numeral
•Verbs for clothing
When it comes to clothes, in Romanian we use verbs like:

•a purta/to wear

English Romanian
I wear eu port

you wear tu porți

el /
he / she wears
ea poartă

we wear noi purtăm

you wear (pl.) voi purtați

they wear (masc. / ei /

fem.) ele poartă
•a (se) îmbrăca/to dress

English Romanian
I dress eu îmbrac

you dress tu îmbraci

el /
he / she dresses
ea îmbracă

we dress noi îmbrăcăm

you dress (pl.) voi îmbrăcați

English Romanian
they dress (masc. / ei /
fem.) ele îmbracă
In Romanian, we use its reflexive form (reflexive pronoun +
verb) :

mă îmbrac I am getting dressed

You are getting dressed te îmbraci

se îmbracă He/She/It is getting dressed

We are getting dressed ne îmbracăm

vă îmbracați You are getting dressed

They are getting dressed se îmbracă

Other verbs that require the same form:

•a (se) trezi/ to wake up

•a (se) spăla/ to wash
•a (se) bucura/ to enjoy etc.
Different verbs need different forms when translated into English

Eu mă spăl I am washing myself

Tu teare
You trezești
waking up

El/Ea se bucură He/She/It enjoys

DEGREES OF
COMPARISON
Unlike English, Romanian has only one way of comparing adjectives, and it
involes no irrgulars. It does, however, invole some degree of inflection just
like in the case of adjectives.

Comparative
Comparative type English Romanian
more
of superiority mai pronunțat
pronounced

less mai puțin

of inferiority
pronounced pronunțat

la fel de
of equality as pronounced
pronunțat
Superlative
Relative superlative requires the use of the demostrative
pronoun cel which has 4 forms that differ by gender and number. The
pronoun has to agree with noun that the adjective describes.

Number Masculine Feminine

sing
cel cea
ular

plura
cei cele
l

Relative superlative type English Romanian (masc. sg.)

most
of superiority cel mai pronunțat
pronounced

least cel mai puțin

of inferiority
pronounced pronunțat
Absolute superlative is straightforward; it is constructed by
prepending foarte (very).

•foarte pronunțat (very pronounced)

Adverb or adjective?
•roșu/red
Mărul roșu este al meu.The red apple is mine.

In this case the word roșu is an adjective, because it modifies a

noun (mărul/the apple).

El vede roșu în fața ochilor | He sees red in front of his eyes.

In this case the word roșu is an adverb, because it modifies a

verb (vede/sees).

Different forms
Colors can have different forms when acting like an adjective, according to
number/person:

câine negru black dog

câini negri black dogs

pisică neagră black cat

pisici negre black cats

EXCEPTIONS:
 •mov (mauve)
•roz (pink)
•maro (brown)
•gri (gray)
These colors keep the same form, exactly like in English.

câine gri (gray dog) | câini gri (gray dogs)

pisică gri (gray cat) | pisici gri (gray cats)
Masculine
Masculine nouns fall into the following rules.

Definite
English No article Rule
article
cons. +
carrot morcov morcovul
ul

dad tată tatăl ă+l

lion leu leul u+l

claw clește cleștele e + le

Feminine
While feminine ones fall into these other rules.

No Defininte
English Rule
article article
cheese brânză brânza ă→a

cons. + e +
salt sare sarea
a

tomato roșie roșia ie → ia

coffee cafea cafeaua ea + ua