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.
The past a fable is told in, and how speech is tagged
- The story past is two words: a plus a fixed form — a mers.
- Four new verbs; the rest are shapes you have.
- A second past describes instead of moving: era, avea.
- In a speech tag the verb comes first: a spus vulpea.
- Speech is wrapped in „…”.
The most useful section on the path for reading. One guess first: văd is “I see”, and the story column has a văzutah vuh-ZOOT. What does it mean?
Now, and in a story
| English | Happening now | In a story |
|---|---|---|
| is | este | a fostah fohst |
| has | are | a avutah ah-VOOT |
| sees | vede | a văzutah vuh-ZOOT |
| says | spune | a spusah spoos |
| asks | întreabă | a întrebatah ihn-treh-BAHT |
| answers | răspunde | a răspunsah ruhs-POONS |
| goes | merge | a mersah mehrs |
| comes | vine | a venitah veh-NEET |
| falls | cade | a căzutah kuh-ZOOT |
Read the third column twice: recognising it beats any rule about how it is built. The little word changes with who — am văzut“I saw” — but a fable is told about somebody else, so plain a is on nearly every line.
The second past: how things were
Six small words a story runs on
| English | Romanian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| and | și | shee |
| but | dar | dahr |
| very | foarte | FWAHR-teh |
| now | acum | ah-KOOM |
| because | pentru că | PEN-troo kuh |
| one day | într-o zi | IHN-troh zee |
Nearly every fable opens A fost odată ca niciodată…ah fohst oh-DAH-tuh kah nee-choh-DAH-tuh“once upon a time” — “it was once, like never”.
“Good day,” said the fox.
„Bună ziua”, a spus vulpea.
BOO-nuh ZEE-wah, ah spoos VOOL-pyah
a spus“said” comes before vulpea: a Romanian story tags speech verb-first. The marks „…” open low and close high, with «…» inside them.
Moving, or describing
- Vulpea a văzut o pasăre.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Vulpea a văzut o pasăre.VOOL-pyah ah vuh-ZOOT oh PAH-suh-reh“The fox saw a bird” - A venit vântul.
The doing word comes first.
Show answer +Hide answer −
A venit vântul.ah veh-NEET VIHN-tool“The wind came” - Tika era foarte tristă.
This one holds the story still.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Tika era foarte tristă.TEE-kah yeh-RAH FWAHR-teh TREES-tuh“Tika was very sad”