Two vowels together, and which piece you lean on

Eleven pairs of vowels make one sound each, and Romanian never writes an accent to say which piece of a word you lean on. Two habits cover most words.

≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

Two vowels together are usually one sound with a glide: oa is “wah”, ea is “yah”.
An i ending a word after a consonant is barely sounded — lupi — but ii is a full “ee”: lupii.
The pronouns and the forms of “to be” that begin with e open with a y sound; other words do not.
Nothing marks stress. Two habits get you close; a small group ignores both.

Two vowels that make one sound

When two vowels sit together they usually run into one sound, often with a y or w gliding in front. Say each row as a single beat.

On the page	Sound to try, with a word that uses it
ea	“yah” — searaSYAH-rah“the evening”
oa	“wah” — floareFLWAH-reh“flower”
ia	“yah” — iarnăYAHR-nuh
ie	“yeh” — iepureYEH-poo-reh
iu	“yoo” — iubireyoo-BEE-reh
ai	“eye” — maimy
au	“ow” — sausow
ei	“ay” — leilay
eu	“eh-oo” — greuGREH-oo
oi	“oy” — noinoy
ou	“oh-oo” — ouOH-oo

ea and ia land in almost the same place. The first four teams are one beat, not two — as fast as the “wa” of “water”.

Where the spelling is not the sound

These are the spellings that catch you out if you read them letter by letter. Take the spelling on the left, then the sound it stands for on the right.

ce · ci

“cheh” · “chee” — zeceZEH-cheh“ten”

Before another vowel that i is silent, there only to soften the c: ciocolatăchoh-koh-LAH-tuh.

ge · gi

“jeh” · “jee” — mergeMEHR-jeh“he goes”

che · chi

“keh” · “kee” — cheieKEH-yeh“key”

ghe · ghi

“geh” · “gee” — gheațăGYAH-tsuh“ice”

the pronouns eu, el, ea, ei, ele and every form of a fi“to be” that begins with e

they open with a y sound — esteYES-teh“is” · erayeh-RAH“was”

That group and no other. An e opening any other word is a plain “eh”: elefanteh-leh-FAHNT“elephant”.

a final i after a consonant

barely there — lupiLOO-p(y)“wolves”

Doubled to ii it is a full “ee”: lupiiLOO-pee“the wolves” — one letter apart from “wolves”.

One sound, two letters: în at the edge, când inside. A few words built out of others keep î in the middle.

Which piece of a word to lean on

Every word of more than one piece has one you lean on, and nothing on the page marks it. Two habits get you close; the last row is the group that ignores both.

a word ending in a consonant

lean on the last piece — copackoh-PAHK · băiatbuh-YAHT

a word ending in -ă or -e

lean on the piece before it — casăKAH-suh · pădurepuh-DOO-reh

a small group that leans further back than either habit predicts

pasărePAH-suh-reh · iepureYEH-poo-reh · prietenPRYEH-ten · galbenGAHL-ben

Romanian never writes an accent to tell you, so learn these as you meet them. One thing is reliable: welding an ending on never moves the lean — lupulLOO-pool“the wolf” leans where lup did.

One sound, or two

floare
oa is a single sound: wah.
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floareFLWAH-reh“flower”
lupii
Written with two i, so the ee is full.
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lupiiLOO-pee“the wolves”
când
â is the tight, dark ih.
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cândkihnd“when”
mergi
The g softens in front of that i, and the i itself is barely there.
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mergimehrj(y)“you go”

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