The Romanian alphabet

The Romanian writing system uses the Latin alphabet, with 5 additional letters formed
with diacritics: Ă, ă; â; Î, î; Ş, ş; Ţ, ţ. In reading and writing Romanian, the general rule is
that one letter corresponds to one sound. There are, however, some situations in which
several letters correspond to one sound, or several sounds to one letter.

The letters and their names in Romanian are:

A, a (a); Ă, ă (ă ); â (â din a); B, b (be), C, c (ce); D, d (de), E, e (e); F, f (fe / ef); G, g (ghe /
ge); H, h (ha / haş); I, i (i); Î, î (î din i); J, j (je), K, k (ka de la kilogram), L, l (le / el); M, m
(me / em); N, n (ne / en); O, o (o); P, p (pe); R, r, (re / er); S, s (se / es); Ş, ş (şe); T, t (te);
Ţ, ţ (ţe); U, u (u); V, v (ve); X, x (ics); Z, z (ze / zet).

The letters correspond to sounds as follows :

Letter Sound Examples

A, a [a]; vowel, similar to a in father cap head, masă table, palat

palace
Ă, ă [ ə ]; vowel, similar to a in măr apple, masă table,
about, or to e(r) in father pătrat square
â – this letter does not [y]; vowel, it is pronounced mână hand, când when,
occur in word-initial somewhat like the sound [ ə ], but pâine bread
or word-final farther back and higher, like a
positions
sound between i and u
B, b [b]; consonant, like b in bar barcă boat, bine good
C, c
1. when followed by [k]; consonant, like c in car cap head, cămaşă shirt
a, ă, â, o, u, or
consonants, or in
final
position

2. in the groups che, [k’]; consonant, like k in keen or rachetă rocket, chitară guitar
chi kennel

3. in the groups ce, [t∫]; consonant, like ch in cer sky, afacere business, cine
ci charter who, circ circus
D, d [d]; consonant, similar to d in da yes, adesea often, când
dare, but dental when
E, e [e] vowel, similar to e in send; elefant elephant, bere beer,
cerere request

in some situations (some eu I, ei they, este is

personal pronouns and forms of
the verb a fi to be, inherited from
Latin) in word-initial position, it
is preceded by the semivowel [j]
F, f [f]; consonant like f in far floare flower, praf dust
G, g
1. when followed by [g]; consonant, like g in garment gard fence, grad degree, fag
a, ă, â, o, u, or or grade beech tree
consonants, or final
position

2. in the groups ghe, [g’]; consonant, like g in get or îngheţată icecream, ghid
ghi gift, but more palatal guide,

gen gender, gin gin, a fugi to

3. in the groups ge, [ dʒ ]; consonant, like j in job run
gi
H, h [h]; consonant, like h in hi haină cloth, hrană food
I, i
1. in initial position [i]; vowel, longer than the short i inimă heart, milion million
before a consonant; in win and shorter than the long i
in medial position, in in deep
final position when
stressed and after
the groups cl, cr, dr,
str, ştr

2. in initial position [i]; semi-vowel, like y in yes or in iarnă winter, iepure rabbit,
before a vowel, in boy convoi convoy, evantai fan,
final position after a pui chicken
vowel

3. in final position [i]; short semivowel unchi uncle, calmi

after consonants, calm (m., pl.), ani years
nonsyllabic
Î, î – this letter [y]; vowel, the same sound as for înger angel, a coborî to
occurs at the â descend, multîndrăgit
beginning or at beloved
the end of a word,
i.e. in initial or final
position, as well as
at the beginning of
the second
component of
a compound word
J, j [ ʒ ]; consonant, like s in joi Thursday, ajutor
pleasure help, bagaj luggage
K, k – this letter [k], [k’]; consonant, like k in keen kaki khaki, kilogram
occurs just in several kilogram, kilometru kilometer
neologisms
L, l [l]; consonantlike l in life lapte milk, altitudine
altitude, cal horse
M, m [m]; consonant, like m in man mare big, ambianţă ambiance,
gem jam
N, n [n]; consonant, like n in nose nume name, nebun crazy
O, o
1. all the positions [o]; vowel, like o in order ochi eye, oraş city
except the one
below

2. pre-vocal, [o]; semivowel, rounded oaie sheep, şcoală school

nonsyllabic
P, p [p] consonant, like p in park pahar glass, corp body,
lapte milk
R, r [r]; consonant, similar to r in ramă frame, moral moral,
bread but trilled pahar glass

S, s [s]; consonant, like s in sound sare salt, pas step, veste news,

Ş, ş [∫] consonant, like sh in sharp şarpe snake, a aştepta to wait,

laş coward
T, t [t]; consonant, similar to t in temă theme, alt other,
team, but dental, not alveolar aşteptare waiting
Ţ, ţ [ts]; consonant, like ts in its ţap goat (male), cuţit knife
U, u
1. all positions [u]; vowel, like u in rule unde where, sunet sound,
except 2

2. pre- and [u]; semivowel, like w in want ouă eggs, două two (f.)
postvocalic,
non-syllabic
V, v [v]; consonant like v in voice vamă customs, acvariu
aquarium
X, x [ks]; group of two consonants: pix ball pen, taxi taxi,
k+s excepţie exception

[ gʒ ]; group of two consonants: examen exam, exemplu

g+z example
Z, z [ ʒ ]; consonant, like z in zero zar die, zero zero, gaz gas

In foreign words, especially proper nouns, letters like Q, q; W, w; Y, y; Ü, ü; Ö, ö; etc. are

used, e.g. Quinet, Washington, Müller, Böhm, yoga, New York, etc. As a rule, foreign
word are pronounced in Romanian as close as possible to the foreign language they
come from.

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Romanian Grammar, Dana Cojocaru © SEELRC 2003