Lessons for English speakers
Learn to read Romanian
A short, active path into reading Romanian: decode real words from a small sound guide, learn why the word for “the” is welded onto the end of the noun, meet the past that fables are told in, and read a whole fable before opening your first book.
13 core sections · ≈ 34 min + 3 optional lookups · ≈ 49 min with everything
5
Script lookup: every letter, every letter team
Optional lookup · ≈ 4 min
What you'll learn
- Open this when a word will not come apart. The stories ahead do not need it.
- The Romanian alphabet is thirty-one letters: the English twenty-six plus ă â î ș ț.
- k, q, w and y turn up almost only in borrowed words.
- The last two blocks collect the spelling-is-not-the-sound cases in one place.
You do not need this section to finish the lesson. It is here for the moment a word will not come apart in your mouth — an unfamiliar letter pair, a spelling that refuses to match the sound you expect. Look up the row, then go straight back to where you were. Nothing in the two stories at the end depends on reading it.
The consonants that are not English
- ck before a, o, u — but the ch of church before e and icopackoh-PAHK“tree”
- gg as in go before a, o, u — but j as in jam before e and imergeMEHR-jeh“he goes”
- ha real, breathed h, said wherever it is written on its ownOnly inside ch and gh does it go quiet, and there it is a wall, not a sound.hartăHAHR-tuh“map”
- jthe s of “measure” — never the j of jamThe French j, borrowed whole.joszhohs“down”
- rtapped — the tongue flicks once behind the top teethThe tt of an American “butter” — one flick, not a growl.mareMAH-reh“big”
- ss as in sit, always — it never goes to a z between vowelscasăKAH-suh“house”
- șsh as in shipșapteSHAHP-teh“seven”
- țts as in catsțarăTSAH-ruh“country”
- vv as in vanvulpeVOOL-peh“fox”
- xks, or gz between vowelsexemplueg-ZEM-ploo“example”
- zz as in zoozizee“day”
The four remaining letters — k, q, w, y — are counted in the alphabet but appear almost only in borrowed words and names, said roughly the way the lending language says them.
The vowels, including the two extra ones
- aah, as in fatherapăAH-puh“water”
- ăuh — the relaxed vowel at the end of “sofa”pădurepuh-DOO-reh“wood”
- âih — tight and dark; written this way inside a wordvântvihnt“wind”
- eeh, as in bedverdeVEHR-deh“green”
- iee, as in machine — full in zi and gri, but barely sounded when it ends a word right after a consonant, as in lupizizee“day”
- îih — the same sound as â; written this way at the start or end of a wordînihn“in”
- ooh, as in morepotpot“I can”
- uoo, as in foodluploop“wolf”
Spelling on the left, sound on the right
ce
“cheh” — zeceZEH-cheh“ten”
ci
“chee” — cincicheench(y)“five”
che
“keh” — cheieKEH-yeh“key”
chi
“kee” — chipkeep“face”
ge
“jeh” — gerjehr“frost”
gi
“jee” — gingașjeen-GAHSH“delicate”
ghe
“geh” — gheațăGYAH-tsuh“ice”
ghi
“gee” — ghidgeed“guide”
oa
“wah” — soareSWAH-reh“sun”
ea
“yah” — cafeakah-FYAH“coffee”
ii at the end
a full “ee” — lupiiLOO-pee“the wolves”
i ending a word after a consonant
barely sounded — lupiLOO-p(y)“wolves”
x
“ks”, or “gz” between vowels — exemplueg-ZEM-ploo“example”
Two spelling habits worth knowing
î at the edges
â in the middle
în“in” and a începe“to begin” take î; când“when” and român“Romanian” take â. A word built on top of another keeps the letter the smaller word had.
ș · ț with commas
ş · ţ with cedillas
The comma is correct and is what modern printing uses. The cedilla is a legacy of older fonts and turns up in scanned books and on some websites. Read them as the same letters.