Conversational Romanian Masterclass
Phonetics and Alphabet
The Romanian Alphabet
Welcome to Romanian! The first step to speaking any new language is learning its sounds. The good news is that Romanian uses the Latin alphabet, just like English. Most letters will look familiar to you.
Romanian uses the Latin alphabet with 31 letters, including five special characters: ă, â, î, ș, and ț.
These five special letters, marked with what are called , give Romanian its unique sound. Let's break them down.
The Five Special Characters
Mastering these five sounds is your first major step. Once you know them, you can pronounce a huge number of Romanian words correctly. Romanian is a highly phonetic language, which means words are pronounced just as they are spelled.
| Letter | Sound Guide | English Example |
|---|---|---|
| ă, Ă | Like the 'a' in ago or sofa | sună (it rings) |
| â, Â | No direct equivalent. Try saying 'uh' with a wide smile. | cântec (song) |
| î, Î | Same sound as 'â'. | în (in) |
| ș, Ș | Like 'sh' in shoe | și (and) |
| ț, Ț | Like 'ts' in cats | piață (market) |
You might wonder why there are two letters, , for the exact same sound. It’s a matter of spelling rules. You'll use 'â' in the middle of words and 'î' at the beginning or end. For example, the word for 'in Romania' is în România.
Don't worry too much about this rule for now. Just focus on recognizing the sound.
Vowels and Consonants
Romanian has five basic vowels, just like English, but they are typically pronounced more crisply.
- a is like the 'a' in father
- e is like the 'e' in bed
- i is like the 'ee' in seen
- o is like the 'o' in g**o
- u is like the 'oo' in moon
Most consonants sound just as they do in English, but a few combinations change their sound depending on the vowel that follows them.
The most common tricky combinations are ce, ci, ge, and gi.
When 'c' or 'g' comes before an 'e' or 'i', the sound becomes 'soft'.
- ce sounds like 'che' in cherry. Example: ceas (clock).
- ci sounds like 'chee' in cheese. Example: cinci (five).
- ge sounds like 'je' in jet. Example: ger (frost).
- gi sounds like 'jee' in jeep. Example: fragil (fragile).
If another vowel follows the 'e' or 'i' in these groups (like in cea or cio), the 'e' or 'i' becomes almost silent, acting only as a signal to soften the consonant before it. For now, just remember the basic 'che' and 'je' sounds.
Now that you've seen the building blocks, let's review them.
Ready to test your knowledge?
What are the special marks on Romanian letters like 'ă' and 'ș' called?
The Romanian letter 'ș' is pronounced like the 'sh' in which English word?
That's it for the alphabet. The key takeaway is simple: Romanian is phonetic. If you learn these basic sounds, you can read almost any word you see. This is a huge advantage as you begin to build your vocabulary.