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

The script

4 sections

Your first reading job: five extra letters, and the two that change

≈ 2 min

What you'll learn

Romanian is written very nearly as it is said.
Its alphabet is the English twenty-six plus ă â î ș ț.
â and î are one sound: î at the edges, â inside.
c and g soften before e and i; ch and gh harden them.
Romanian says the vowels it writes, bar two exceptions taught later.

The one thing the spelling keeps back is which piece of a word you lean on. A section two steps on deals with it.

The seven vowel sounds

Letter	Sound to try	Example
a	ah, as in father	casăKAH-suh
e	eh, as in bed	verdeVEHR-deh
i	ee, as in machine	micmeek
o	oh, as in more	potpot
u	oo, as in food	luploop
ă	uh — the a at the end of sofa	apăAH-puh
â · î	ih — one tight, dark vowel	cândkihnd

A final -ă or -e is said in full: vulpeVOOL-peh“fox” has two pieces.

The five letters English does not have

ăa with a breve
uh — the relaxed vowel ending English “sofa”
The little cup scoops the sound out of the a.
casăKAH-suh
“house”
âa with a circumflex
ih — say “ee”, tongue pulled back, lips unrounded
The hat is French; the sound is not.
cândkihnd
“when”
îi with a circumflex
ih — the same sound as â; only the spelling changes
î at a word’s edges; â inside it.
înihn
“in”
șs with a comma
sh, as in ship
An s whose tail is the h. Older printing hooks on a cedilla instead — ş — for the same letter and the same sound.
șoareceSHWAH-reh-cheh
“mouse”
țt with a comma
ts, as in cats
A t whose tail is the s — and ţ with a cedilla is the very same letter.
mulțumescmool-tsoo-MESK
“thank you”

c and g, in six cells

Letter	before a, o, u	before e, i	with an h put back in
c	k — casăKAH-suh	ch — cecheh	k again — cheieKEH-yeh
g	g — gândgihnd	j — gerjehr	g again — ghidgeed

Six cells, the whole rule. That h is a wall stopping the e or i from softening the letter before it; elsewhere it is the breathed h of “hat”.

Say three words with the new letters

Try each aloud first.

ce
c before an e.
Show answer +Hide answer −
cecheh“what”
ghid
The h is a wall.
Show answer +Hide answer −
ghidgeed“guide”
mulțumesc
ț is ts; lean on the last piece.
Show answer +Hide answer −
mulțumescmool-tsoo-MESK“thank you”