There’s a shortcut to Romanian fluency.

Well, not really. But there’s a great framework that can get you having comfortable conversations very quickly.

You see, people tend to have the same conversations with language-learners over and over. You introduce yourself, say where you’re from, and then probably ask why they’re learning that particular language.

And questions, naturally, are a big part of that. The whole conversation is a big back-and-forth of questions and answers.

If you want to get yourself speaking automatically in conversations, then you should take a look at the most common Romanian questions and answers. You’ll impress your conversation partner, and with that comes great motivation to keep pushing yourself to learn more.

Table of Contents

1. Start with Yourself
2. The Place You Call Home
3. Linguistic Difficulties
4. Following Up About Romanian
5. The Burning Question for Romanian-Learners
6. A Question for the Future Traveler
7. A Taste of Romania
8. Do This, Not That
9. Life Back Home
10. The Price is Right
11. Conclusion

1. Start with Yourself

When you start introducing yourself in Romanian, you’ll want to know your interlocutor’s name! 

• Care este numele tău?
  “What’s your name?”

• Cum te cheamă?
  “What’s your name?”

Right off the bat, we have two separate yet equivalent ways to ask someone for their name in Romanian. The first is pretty literal, translating nearly word-for-word into English. The only difference is that the word order for numele tău is switched, as is typical with Romanian possessive pronouns. 

The second is similar to French, Spanish, and Italian: “What do you call yourself?”

To round it off, we can actually respond in a different way entirely.

• Mă numesc Rosa.
  “My name is Rosa.”

2. The Place You Call Home

Although it’s a beautiful place, Romania isn’t nearly as much of a tourist destination as some of its neighboring countries, and Moldova is even less so. Therefore, people will definitely want to know where you’re from. This is one of those typical questions in Romanian that a foreigner can expect to hear a lot. 

• De unde ești?
  “Where are you from?”

This is a classic Romance language construction. Unde means “where,” and so de unde means “from where?” Look what happens to the preposition here:

• Sunt din Albania.
  “I’m from Albania.”

In addition, you can give your nationality instead of saying where you’re from. In that case, remember that if you’re writing in Romanian, you shouldn’t capitalize nationality names.

• Sunt indian.
  “I’m an Indian.”

3. Linguistic Difficulties

When visiting a Romanian-speaking country, you probably won’t need this question, but stop for a moment and think about when you might hear or be able to use this:

• Știi să vorbești românește?
  “Do you know how to speak Romanian?”

Of course, you can swap out românește for any other language.

The answer depends on your comfort level with that particular language. Here are answers you might get if you flip the script and start asking people about their English ability:

• Nu pot vorbi bine engleză.
  “I can’t speak English well.”

• Da, desigur.
  “Yes, of course.”

4. Following Up About Romanian

Whether you’re tripping over your words or speaking elegant prose, the idea that a foreigner would invest a serious amount of time into studying the Romanian language is rather baffling to most people, to put it frankly.

As soon as you mention that you’re a learner, you’re bound to get this follow-up:

• De cât timp studiați limba română?
  “How long have you been studying Romanian?”

You’ll note that the preposition de, meaning “since” or “from,” was also used in an earlier question to refer to physical space. Now, we’re literally saying “from which time?”

Interestingly enough, we don’t need to say “since” or “for” in our answers to this question. Just the amount of time is enough.

• Am studiat limba română doi ani.
  “I’ve studied Romanian for two years.”

• Am început să studiez anul acesta.
  “I started studying this year.”

5. The Burning Question for Romanian-Learners

We’ve established the fact that you’re learning and how long you’ve been learning, but the question that most people are holding back the entire time is “Why?” Statistically speaking, you probably don’t have to be learning Romanian.

And so not many people do—which makes you special.

• De ce înveți limba română?
  “Why are you learning Romanian?”

Now, this is a question that can get you started on all kinds of tangents. Here are a couple of sentences to get you started:

• Pentru că țara este frumoasă.
  “Because the country is beautiful.”

• Pentru că limba română sună frumos.
  “Because the Romanian language sounds beautiful.”

• Soțul meu este român.
  “My husband is Romanian.”

This particular question is practically guaranteed to come up, so one excellent study strategy would be to map out different responses that you could possibly have. When you do get asked, you can easily toss out a phrase and make a grand impression.

6. A Question for the Future Traveler

So, we’ve gone over questions that you’re likely to be asked in Romania or Moldova. How about outside of those places?

Interestingly enough, if you start up a conversation with a Romanian speaker outside of their home country, they’ll probably be significantly more talkative and curious about you. After all, they’re certainly not expecting you to speak their language! You should be prepared for Romanian questions like this one:

• Ai fost în România?
  “Have you been to Romania?”

Note that we don’t say “to Romania,” but instead “in Romania.” This is the same structure you would use in German.

• Nu încă!
  “Not yet!”

• Vreau să merg anul viitor.
  “I want to go next year.”

7. A Taste of Romania

Romanian cuisine is unfairly overlooked across Europe and the rest of the world. Most people couldn’t name a single dish! 

It’s likely that you’ll stay in a small bed-and-breakfast if you end up outside one of the main cities. In that case, your host will almost certainly interrogate you about your opinions on Romanian cooking.

• Îți place mâncarea românească?
  “Do you like Romanian food?”

If the answer is yes, it’s wise, of course, to name something typically Romanian.

• Da, îmi place mămăliga.
  “Yes, I love polenta.”

But if you’re panicking and nothing comes to mind:

• Totul este delicios!
  “Everything is delicious!”

8. Do This, Not That

People learning Romanian by themselves are, no doubt, used to the effort required in finding good things to watch online.

One of the benefits of watching Romanian TV or videos online is that you’ll get exposed to the most common questions and answers over and over and over. Plus, you’ll get to see the body language and hear the responses that go along with it. It just so happens that a lot of these are questions that you can use with Romanian friends!

• Ce faci?
  “What are you doing?”

• Nu fac nimic.
  “I’m not doing anything.”

In this example, you can see the classic double negation that’s present in Romanian. Literally, you’re saying “I’m not doing nothing.” There’s no sense of it “canceling out” like it would in English; instead, it’s just a regular old negative.

• Ești ocupat?
  “Are you busy?”

• Nu, doar citesc.
  “No, I’m just reading.”

9. Life Back Home

As you get to know Romanians more and more, your small talk will become a little more personal.

In Romanian culture, family and familial ties tend to take on a little bit more importance than they do in  American or English culture. Therefore, it’s pretty commonplace to ask about how someone’s family is doing.

• Ce mai face familia ta?
  “How is your family?”

That ce mai face part can’t really be translated literally, but you can interpret it as a set phrase meaning “how is someone.” Note too, of course, that “your family” has a reversed word order in Romanian, becoming familia ta.

Here are a couple of examples of responses you might offer:

• Sora mea se căsătorește. 
  “My sister is getting married.”

• Toată lumea este sănătoasă!
  “Everyone is healthy!”

10. The Price is Right

Although Romania isn’t really a place where you bargain for prices, knowing how to ask for the price is a valuable skill wherever you go. If you’re into hitchhiking (like many Romanians are), then that would be a perfect time to ask about money.

• Cât costă aceasta?
  “How much is it?”

The word cât simply means “how many,” and costă is an easy cognate for “to cost” in English. You can expect the answer to be given in one of two ways. One way is with a full sentence using the verb a fi, meaning “to be,” or a costa. The other way is for the person to just give the number itself.

• Este două sute de lei.
  “It’s two hundred lei.”

Remember that for numbers over twenty, the rules change ever so slightly: you have to add de! But to get around that, just say the number without saying what it is.

• Șaptezeci.
  “Seventy.”

11. Conclusion

Now that you’re familiar with a solid handful of Romanian questions and answers, why not look for more on your own?

Go to the most popular YouTube channels in Romania or the Instagrams of Romanian influencers, and see what people are asking and answering.

Those little mini-conversations can be the perfect framework to help you get comfortable with Romanian interactions, and you’ll soon be following the native-speaker content like it’s nothing.

Or better yet, why comb through YouTube comments at all? By signing up for RomanianPod101, you can get access to podcasts with transcripts (itself a rarity in Romanian learning), vocabulary lists, and grammar resources all in one place, carefully selected and graded for your convenience.

These questions are really just the tip of the iceberg for your Romanian conversation preparation. Sign up with RomanianPod101 today and unleash your potential!

Before you go, practice right away by trying to answer one or more of the questions from this article in Romanian! We look forward to hearing from you.

Why take a Romanian language proficiency test? Well, let me paint you a picture:

From the moment you laid eyes on the mountains, villages, cities, and beaches of Romania, you knew it had to be yours.

The language took some time to learn, of course, and there were ups and downs along the way.

But now you speak Romanian quite well. You read the latest news in Romanian, you have a hilarious Romanian group chat going, and you know more Romanian bands than the locals do.

And as luck would have it, one day you hear about a job that you’d love to do—right in your favorite Romanian city.

The only catch? The hiring manager won’t even look at your application if you don’t have some kind of Romanian language certificate.

Now, this scenario is a little bit contrived. But getting a job or residency is one of the main reasons you might want to take a Romanian language exam—and this article is going to show you how to do it.

Table of Contents

1. Finding a Romanian Test in Romania
2. At a Romanian University
3. The Romanian OPI Test
4. The FIDES Exam
5. The ILR Exam
6. Don’t Lose Time in Preparing for Your Exam
7. Conclusion

1. Finding a Romanian Test in Romania

As it turns out, the Romanian language exam for residency permits is a quick test conducted at the immigration office, and some officers may not even administer it.

However, there’s a reasonable number of smaller Romanian proficiency tests that you can try your hand at, and since they come from reputable institutions, they’ll be recognized wherever you need them.

And besides, perhaps you don’t even want to use your Romanian skills in the country of Romania itself. Big cities in the United States sometimes have hundreds of thousands of Romanian-Americans, and since a change in the law in 2014, the number of Romanians in the United Kingdom has more than doubled.

Having a Romanian qualification on your resume can help significantly if you’d like a job at a Romanian-owned business abroad, or a job in the public sector working with Romanians (think court interpreter or social worker).

Let’s have a look at the different Romanian language exams available to you! 

2. At a Romanian University

They’re not shy about multilingualism at Romanian universities, that’s for certain. You can study degree programs in English, French, German, Hungarian, and of course, Romanian.

If you want to get a degree in a subject only offered in Romanian—more than half of the degree programs offered at the Bachelor’s level at the biggest universities are in Romanian—you’d better prove your worth with a language exam.

Lucky for you, both the University of Bucharest and Babeș-Boylai University offer Romanian courses and certificates for you to use later on in your academic career.

If Cluj is your style, you can head there a year early and take what they call a “Romanian Preparatory Year,” where you take two semesters’ worth of courses to get to the B2 level. 

They’ve devised their own test, which is totally free to take. The test is split into two sections: a written part and an oral test. The written part is considered the most difficult one because it has four sub-sections: listening, reading, communication constructions, and, of course, writing. Since there isn’t a flood of people taking this exam, they can afford to interview you one-on-one for the oral section. The maximum number of points you can get for this exam is 100.

In addition to what you’d expect in terms of reading, writing, listening, and grammar, you’ll also be asked to describe pictures and summarize what you see. 

In less than a week, you can find your test results and celebrate your accomplishments with your Romanian friends.

The best way to practice for this is to try watching Romanian documentaries—or failing that, reading Romanian subtitles on English documentaries with the sound turned off! 

Of course, the University of Bucharest offers its own program along similar lines if you prefer capital-city life. Its program crams an intensive language course into the first semester, then focuses more on culture before making you sit an exam. 

That means if you have a language certificate from the University of Bucharest, you’ll definitely be prepared to discuss Romanian culture! 

3. The Romanian OPI Test

The ACTFL is an American organization of foreign language educators, and they’ve devised an exam designed entirely for measuring proficiency in Romanian speaking. It’s called the OPI, or Oral Proficiency Interview. 

Its approach is unique, as you simply sign up for a specific time and date, dial the number of the assigned examiner, and have a conversation lasting between 15 and 30 minutes.

The examiner is trained to ask you questions and introduce you to scenarios that slowly stretch your language ability, becoming more and more difficult as the test goes on and you continue to do well. 

You’re rated at the end based on the ACTFL scale, a ten-level scale from “Novice Low” to “Superior.” 

And don’t think that you’ll score at the top end of the scale just because you know how to order a couple of beers. This is the same exam used by the diplomatic branches of the United States when it sends ambassadors and interpreters abroad. 

One classic strategy for the OPI is to prepare a consistent list of hobbies, interests, and experiences that you can talk about when pressed. 

The examiner doesn’t know you, and they’re not working off of a curriculum of set questions every year. 

Instead, they’ll use what you give them to increase the difficulty of the questions. For example, they may ask you to give more detailed descriptions of your hobbies, and perhaps analyze them critically and make guesses about what other people tend to do compared to you.

4. The FIDES Exam

FIDES is one of the oldest private foreign language schools in Romania, offering language classes to foreigners and locals alike. Similar to the universities mentioned above, they first offer a language course to get you familiar with Romanian, and then a language exam at the end that you can use as a certificate. 

Since they’re a language school, their main product is the courses, which can be taught in English, French, German, or Romanian, and taken as a group or individually.

The maximum course level offered is a B2.2, or a very high intermediate level. However, if you happen to speak very good Romanian already, they’ll be willing to arrange language courses and an exam at the C1 or C2 levels. If you pass the B2.2 test, you’ll get the “FIDES Language Proficiency Certificate,” which can help you qualify for a scholarship at a Romanian university.

5. The ILR Exam

The ILR is the Institutul Limbii Române, an arm of the Romanian Ministry of Education in Bucharest. 

They conduct the only nationally standardized Romanian exam, though it’s only offered twice a year in Bucharest at the headquarters of the Ministry. 

They also have partnerships with the Universities of Alicante, Granada, and Seville in Spain, but the tests are only held if ten or more people register.

Out of all the tests mentioned so far in this article, only this one actually publishes sample materials for each of its levels! Even if you plan on taking an exam from a different place, it would do you good to look over the sample exams and get familiar with some typical question formats and topics on a formal Romanian exam.

The oral section here is of note: You will be required to listen to a lecture or text and then discuss the issues raised with your examiner. 

If you want to practice this, one of the best ways would be to find a tutor and grab a newspaper or magazine. Have them read a short article aloud, and then, without referring back to the article, have a brief conversation or debate about the topic.

6. Don’t Lose Time in Preparing for Your Exam

Since these Romanian language proficiency exams are all oriented toward small populations, there are no published test prep books or mock exams that you can buy without taking one of the courses mentioned.

However, don’t be discouraged. If you’ve got a lot riding on your exam, put yourself in contact with the test center and ask if they can specifically recommend any materials or if they have advice for you.

And besides, there are skills you can practice that will help you with any kind of language exam.

First, you should have a wide vocabulary. Once you reach a certain level of understanding, it’s easy to let your vocabulary study slide in favor of just more reading or listening practice.

However, at the intermediate or advanced level, the most important words that you might miss on the exam  are the ones you might think you know, but actually don’t have a full grasp of. Do you know the difference between agoniseală (“personal income,” “fortune”) and câştig (“business income”)?

One of the most important exercises you can do for your Romanian speaking is summarization. Simply read an article in any language and then try to summarize it in Romanian—first in just one sentence, then in a few sentences, gradually adding more detail to increase the challenge.

There’s always a different way to present any piece of information, meaning that as you continue consuming Romanian content, you’ll naturally get practice describing and reformulating your ideas in tons of different ways. 

7. Conclusion

By now, you should feel much more confident in your ability to ace that exam! Did we answer your Romanian language proficiency test questions, or do you still need clarification on something? We look forward to hearing from you in the comments. 

Let’s take a moment to imagine how you might use RomanianPod101.com to prepare for that exam.

With a handful of clicks, you’ve got immediate access to tons of real-life native audio with transcriptions and vocab lists.

If your listening isn’t quite where you want it to be, then try making your own transcript of a short TV episode and then check what you wrote against what everybody was really saying.

And when you’re tired of actively studying, you can keep the hours and hours of podcasts playing in the background, meaning that whenever your mind wanders you get another good dose of Romanian listening to keep you on track.

With hundreds of lessons available right now and more on the way, you’ll be sure to be prepared for any topic on any exam paper that comes your way! Noroc!

Human beings are excellent at noticing patterns.

Have you ever seen shapes in the clouds, or noticed “faces” in electrical sockets? That’s your subconscious pattern-matching system working around the clock.

That said, if you went and looked at some text in, say, Waray-Waray (a language of the Philippines), you’d probably give up trying to understand it after a short while. In Romanian, though, you start noticing patterns. For example, you may see words that look an awful lot like words in English (or other European languages you might be familiar with).

That effect becomes ten times more powerful when you can compare each Romanian sentence structure and pattern to an English translation. You start to quickly see where the languages match up, and also where they differ. Just fifty sentences in Romanian with English translations are enough to teach you the basics of Romanian syntax patterns.

And then all you’ve got to do is learn a little more vocab. Then you come back to these patterns, or any other, and start using your new vocabulary in these familiar molds to create beautiful, correct, and idiomatic Romanian every time. Let’s get started!

Table of Contents

1. Simple “To Be” Sentences in Romanian
2. Adding an Adjective
3. I Want it All
4. Everything You Need
5. Lightning Round: Questions
6. Polite Requests
7. Skip Forgiveness, Ask for Permission
8. Find Out About the World
9. Telling Time in Romanian
10. Locations and Positions
11. Conclusion

1. Simple “To Be” Sentences in Romanian

Romanian is unique among Romance languages when it comes to the humble verb a fi (“to be”).

While in Spanish, people wrestle with two verbs meaning “to be a thing” and “to be a state,” Romanian learners don’t have to deal with that at all. But there are still two verbs (kind of)!

The word este is the third person singular of a fi (equivalent to “he/she/it is”), but you can also shorten it to e if you wish. This is relatively informal and used quite often in ordinary spoken Romanian. 

Let’s see how it works in these Romanian sentence examples! 

• Sunt profesor.
  “I am a teacher.”

• David e doctorul meu.
  “David is my doctor.”

• Aceasta este noua mea cameră.
  “This is my new camera.”

•  Fericirea este relativă.
  “Happiness is relative.”

• Noul nostru președinte  a fost cântăreț.
  “Our new president was a singer.”

Like German, the commonly used Romanian past tense form is a compound that maps closer to “has been” than “was,” at least in form. In function, though, it’s definitely still the preterite!

2. Adding an Adjective

In Romanian, we can use the same este and e to describe things in terms of what adjectives they are or aren’t. Romanian adjectives agree with nouns in number and gender, so when you have a plural noun, your adjective becomes plural as well. Don’t worry about that now—you’ll pick it up fast, and today you should just be looking at the word order of these basic Romanian sentences.

• Mașina dumneavoastră este roșie.
  “Your car is red.”

• Puloverele mele sunt mici.
  “My sweaters are tiny.”

Also note in this section that the pronoun goes after the noun to show possession.

• Ceasul acesta e defect.
  “This clock is broken.”

• Ultimul său album a fost cu adevărat uimitor.
  “Her last album was really amazing.”

• Exercițiul zilnic este un obicei bun.
  “Daily exercise is a good habit.”

Note in that last sentence that obicei bun is using the typical Romanian adjective order of noun+adjective. Although it’s a masculine noun and you can’t tell, the adjective is agreeing in number and gender here as well.

3. I Want it All

You’re definitely going to need this sentence pattern when you travel to Romania. The verb a vrea is the same as a dori, and they both mean “want.” Let’s see some examples of how each one is used in a Romanian sentence.

• Vreau apă.
  “I want water.”

• Ei vor taxe mai mari.
  “They want higher taxes.”

Generally, you might use a dori in more formal situations or when you want to speak more politely.

• Dorim o masă lângă fereastră.
  “We want a table near the window.”

• Aș dori să plec chiar acum.
  “I would like to leave right now.”

• Vreau tot ce nu pot avea.
  “I want everything that I can’t have.”

4. Everything You Need

Again, there are two identical forms of the same basic verb in Romanian, both commonly used. Can you figure out which one is literally the equivalent of “I have need of” and which one is “I need?”

• Trebuie să beau ceva.
  “I need a drink.”

• Trebuie să te calmezi.
  “You need to calm down.”

• Chiar trebuie să merg la culcare devreme.
  “I really need to go to sleep early.”

• Nu avem nevoie de banii tăi.
  “We don’t need your money.”

• Această țară are nevoie de cineva care să ne poată conduce.
  “This country needs someone who can lead us.”

5. Lightning Round: Questions

Let’s do a real quick review of the vocabulary we’ve seen in these sentences so far, and at the same time practice making questions in Romanian. In essence, you just swap the subject and verb—but you can also keep them in the same order and use a question intonation, similar to what you would do in English.

• Aveți nevoie de bani?
  “Do you need money?”

By the way, this one is the “have need of” form. Did you get it right?

• Ce vrei?
  “What do you want?”

• Mașina ta este roșie?
  “Is your car red?”

• Ești scriitor?
  “Are you a writer?”

• Ce culoare are mașina ta?
  “What color is your car?”

6. Polite Requests

“Please” in Romanian is vă rog or te rog (formal and informal respectively), but just like in English, we can use different forms of verbs to show politeness. After all, that’s exactly what we always do with “can” and “could.”

• Vă rugăm să vă îndepărtați de mașină.
  “Please step away from the car.”

• Vrei să-mi răspunzi?
  “Would you please answer me?”

• Ai putea să-mi mai dai o șansă?
  “Could you give me another chance?”

• Poți să-mi aduci telefonul?
  “Could you bring me my phone?”

• Vrei să mă duci la aeroport mâine?
  “Would you drive me to the airport tomorrow?”

7. Skip Forgiveness, Ask for Permission

You’re about to see the little word să pop up all over the place. Here, it’s part of the set phrase pot să? (“may I?”). It’s very useful, and definitely the kind of thing you can apply to all sorts of casual and formal situations! Let’s see how it looks in a few Romanian language sentences:

• Pot să intru?
  “May I come in?”

• Pot să iau asta?
  “May I have this?”

• Pot să te sărut?
  “May I kiss you?”

• Pot să vin mâine târziu la serviciu?
  “Can I come late to work tomorrow?”

• Pot să preiau contul?
  “Can I take over the account?”

8. Find Out About the World

When you’re traveling in Romania, you’ll gain a lot of favor if you can manage to be open and genuinely curious about the world. Whether they speak good English or not, people are likely to appreciate your efforts to speak Romanian, so why not do it all the time with questions like these?

• Ce este asta?
  “What is this?”

• Care este numele dumneavoastră?
  “What is your name?”

• La ce restaurant am fost săptămâna trecută?
  “Which restaurant did we go to last week?”

• Ce film este acesta?
  “What film is this?”

• Ce carte citești?
  “What book are you reading?”

9. Telling Time in Romanian

Saying the hour in Romanian is super-easy, since all you have to do is use the cardinal number after the word ora (“hour”). The verb “it’s” for telling time works exactly like it does in English!

• E ora două.
  “It’s two o’clock.”

• E aproape ora trei.
  “It’s almost three o’clock.”

• Vom ajunge la ora șapte.
  “We’ll arrive at seven o’clock.”

• Trebuia să plec la ora patru.
  “I was supposed to leave at four o’clock.”

• Te rog să mă trezești la ora opt.
  “Please wake me up at eight o’clock.”

10. Locations and Positions

Like other European languages, Romanian has a complete array of prepositions. You can clearly see here the cognate în, perhaps the easiest of all to remember. Here are some Romanian phrases and sentences:

• Mașina mea se află în fața casei mele.
  “My car is in front of my house.”

• Cheile tale sunt în poșetă.
  “Your keys are in your purse.”

• Casele noastre se află pe același drum.
  “Our houses are on the same road.”

Did you notice how the phrase se află showed up in this sentence (and the first one in the section)? Using that, you can make a guess that the meaning is something like “to stand” or “to be located,” much like how we’d use those words in English to describe big things like buildings or cars.

• El nu a reușit să treacă peste râu.
  “He couldn’t get over the river.”

• Câte stele sunt deasupra noastră?
  “How many stars are above us?”

11. Conclusion

In this article, you’ve seen several dozen sentences and quite a few general sentence patterns.

But go back and look more carefully (perhaps after a couple of days to get the memories to sink in faster), and you’ll probably be able to notice some patterns that we didn’t even mention specifically.

Building that kind of focus and curious mindset is a huge advantage when it comes to learning Romanian or any other language.

And say, what’s the best place online to see tons of Romanian words, sentences, and phrases right next to their English counterparts for easy translation? You already know—it’s RomanianPod101.com!

Each vocabulary lesson has an example sentence with its English translation; this way, you can not only see the Romanian word in context, but also start picking up on more and more Romanian sentence patterns.

That’s not even mentioning the goldmine of audio and video resources, all in one place! Try it out today and see how fast you can pick up the beautiful Romanian language!

Before you go, let us know in the comments how many of these sentence patterns are new to you. Did we answer all of your Romanian sentence pattern questions? We look forward to hearing from you!

You asked, so we provided—easy-to-follow instructions on how to set up your electronic devices to write in Romanian! We’ll also give you a few excellent tips on how to use this keyboard, as well as some online and app alternatives if you prefer not to set up a Romanian keyboard.

Table of Contents

1. Why it’s Important to Learn to Type in Romanian
2. Setting up Your Computer and Mobile Devices for Romanian
3. How to Activate an Onscreen Keyboard on Your Computer
4. How to Change the Language Settings to Romanian on Your Computer
5. Activating the Romanian Keyboard on Your Mobile Phone and Tablet
6. Romanian Keyboard Typing Tips
7. How to Practice Typing Romanian

1. Why it’s Important to Learn to Type in Romanian

Learning a new language is made so much easier when you’re able to read and write/type it. This way, you will:

• Get the most out of any dictionary and Romanian language apps on your devices
• Expand your ability to find Romanian websites and use the various search engines
• Be able to communicate much better online with your Romanian teachers and friends, and look super cool in the process! 

2. Setting up Your Computer and Mobile Devices for Romanian

It takes only a few steps to set up any of your devices to read and type in Romanian. It’s super-easy on your mobile phone and tablet, and a simple process on your computer.

On your computer, you’ll first activate the onscreen keyboard to work with. You’ll only be using your mouse or touchpad/pointer for this keyboard. Then, you’ll need to change the language setting to Romanian, so all text will appear in Romanian. You could also opt to use online keyboards instead. Read on for the links!

On your mobile devices, it’s even easier—you only have to change the keyboard. We also provide a few alternatives in the form of online keyboards and downloadable apps.

3. How to Activate an Onscreen Keyboard on Your Computer

1- Mac

1. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard.

2. Check the option “Show Keyboard & Character Viewers in Menu Bar.”

3. You’ll see a new icon on the right side of the main bar; click on it and select “Show Keyboard Viewer.”

2- Windows

1. Go to Start > Settings > Easy Access > Keyboard.

2. Turn on the option for “Onscreen Keyboard.”

3- Online Keyboards

If you don’t want to activate your computer’s onscreen keyboard, you also have the option to use online keyboards. Here are some good options:

• Gate2Home
• Branah

4- Add-ons of Extensions for Browsers

Instead of an online keyboard, you could also choose to download a Google extension to your browser for a language input tool. The Google Input Tools extension allows users to use input tools in Chrome web pages, for example.

4. How to Change the Language Settings to Romanian on Your Computer

Now that you’re all set to work with an onscreen keyboard on your computer, it’s time to download the Romanian language pack for your operating system of choice:

• Windows 8 (and higher)
• Windows 7
• Mac (OS X and higher)

1- Windows 8 (and higher)

1. Go to “Settings” > “Change PC Settings” > “Time & Language” > “Region & Language.”
2. Click on “Add a Language” and select “Romanian.” This will add it to your list of languages. It will appear as Română with the note “language pack available.”
3. Click on “Română” > “Options” > “Download.” It’ll take a few minutes to download and install the language pack.
4. As a keyboard layout, you’ll only need the one marked as “Romanian – Română.” You can ignore other keyboard layouts.

2- Windows 7

1. Go to “Start” > “Control Panel” > “Clock, Language, and Region.”
2. On the “Region and Language” option, click on “Change Keyboards or Other Input Methods.”
3. On the “Keyboards and Languages” tab, click on “Change Keyboards” > “Add” > “Romanian.”
4. Expand the option of “Romanian” and then expand the option “Keyboard.” Select the keyboard layout marked as “Romanian.” You can ignore other keyboard layouts. Click “OK” and then “Apply.”

3- Mac (OS X and higher)

If you can’t see the language listed, please make sure to select the right option from System Preferences > Language and Region

1. From the Apple Menu (top left corner of the screen) go to “System Preferences” > “Keyboard.”
2. Click the “Input Sources” tab and a list of available keyboards and input methods will appear.
3. Click on the plus button, select “Romanian,” and add the “Romanian-Standard” keyboard.

5. Activating the Romanian Keyboard on Your Mobile Phone and Tablet

Texting and searching in Romanian will greatly help you master the language! Adding a Romanian keyboard on your mobile phone and/or tablet is super-easy.

You could also opt to download an app instead of adding a keyboard. Read on for our suggestions.

Below are the instructions for both iOS and Android mobile phones and tablets.

1- iOS

1. Go to “Settings” > “General” > “Keyboard.”
2. Tap “Keyboards” and then “Add New Keyboard.”
3. Select “Romanian” from the list.
4. When typing, you can switch between languages by tapping and holding on the icon to reveal the keyboard language menu.

2- Android

1. Go to “Settings” > “General Management” > “Language and Input” > “On-screen Keyboard” (or “Virtual Keyboard” on some devices) > “Samsung Keyboard.”
2. Tap “Language and Types” or “+ Select Input Languages” depending on the device, and then “MANAGE INPUT LANGUAGES” if available.
3. Select “Română” from the list.
4. When typing, you can switch between languages by swiping the space bar.

3- Applications for Mobile Phones

If you don’t want to add a keyboard on your mobile phone or tablet, these are a few good apps to consider:

• Gboard
• Romanian (Română) Language for AppsTech Keyboards

6. Romanian Keyboard Typing Tips

Typing in Romanian can be very challenging at first! Therefore, we added here a few useful tips to make it easier to use your Romanian keyboard.

1- Computer

• When your keyboard is set to Romanian, to type diacritics, you’ll have to use:
  • [ → ă
  • ] → î
  • → â
  • ; → ș
  • ‘ → ț
• To be able to type the uppercase versions, use “Shift” + the same keys.

2- Mobile Phones

• On mobile keyboards, in order to get access to diacritics, press the selected letter until the desired diacritic mark appears. For example, if you want to find “ă” or “â,” you should press the letter “a” and hold it for two to three seconds. For “ș,”press “s,” for “ț,” use the letter “t,” and for “î,” use “i.”.
• When choosing the diacritic marks, be very careful to get the right ones and not make some common mistakes. For Ă / ă choose the one with grave, not tilde or caron. For Ș /ș please choose the one with a comma below, and NOT the one with cedilla. Same thing for Ț / ț—the correct one is with comma and NOT with cedilla.

7. How to Practice Typing Romanian

As you probably know by now, learning Romanian is all about practice, practice, and more practice! Strengthen your Romanian typing skills by writing comments on any of our lesson pages, and our teacher will answer. If you’re a RomanianPod101 Premium PLUS member, you can directly text our teacher via the My Teacher app—use your Romanian keyboard to do this!

Romanian verb conjugations are way, way easier than they might appear to be.

That’s good, too—because they look pretty bad!

If you want to learn to speak good Romanian, you definitely can’t ignore the conjugations. English doesn’t have a lot of conjugations, but you still notice the mistake if someone says “He go to the library.”

Multiply that by the numerous Romanian conjugations, and it can seem, at first glance, like the language is a minefield just waiting to trip you up.In reality, though, you just need to learn a couple of key patterns. Quite a few of the conjugations are rarely used these days, and in casual conversations, you’ll hear the same conjugations over and over again.

Table of Contents

1. What Do You Need to Care About?
2. Verb Groups in Romanian
3. Things That Happened in the Past
4. Things That are Happening Now
5. Things That are Going to Happen
6. Conclusion

1. What Do You Need to Care About?

If you look at a sprawling list of every single Romanian conjugation, you’ll probably feel overwhelmed. Truth be told, that’s a pretty dishonest way of presenting information to students. You don’t need to care about everything at once, not at all.

There are three terms that we’ll be discussing in this article, and it’s important that you know what they mean in English before learning them in Romanian. These terms are directly associated with Romanian verb conjugation patterns, so pay attention.

First is “person,” which refers to the individual and the identity of who’s using the verb. That could be:

• First person: Equivalent to “I” in English. 
• Second person: Equivalent to “you” and “you all.” 
• Third person: Anybody else being referred to, such as “he,” “she,” ” it,” or “them.”

Next is “mood,” or how you feel about what you’re saying. For example, if it’s a statement of fact, you’d use one mood; if it’s a wish, you’d use another. English has just four moods, but Romanian has nine! There’s plenty of resources out there for clarification, and most of these moods are used infrequently anyway.

Then we have “tense,” which you’re likely already familiar with as well. It’s about what time something happened, or when it happened related to other events. English and Romanian both have lots of tenses, so it’s not too difficult to find conjugations that are equivalent in meaning.

2. Verb Groups in Romanian

There are four Romanian verb groups, much like French, Italian, and Spanish. These are words that have the same type of ending in the infinitive, and therefore follow the same patterns.

Well, kind of. Some of them have extra endings! Let’s see what the Romanian verb endings look like by conjugating into the first person present (the equivalent of “I do”).

• Type 1: Verbs ending in -a, like a înota, meaning “to swim.” The first person present is eu înot. Simple enough. However, some verbs conjugate with the ending –ez.
• Type 2: Verbs ending in -ea. No subtypes here! Once you know how to conjugate one -ea verb, you know them all.
• Type 3: Verbs ending in -e. Again, no exceptions to this rule.
• Type 4: Verbs ending in -i or -î. Sometimes these verbs will end in -esc, and sometimes in -ăsc.

Hopefully, you’re beginning to see that Romanian verbs have a lot of things for you to think about. A lot of this just has to be memorized, and it would be a great idea for you to work on memorizing a verb chart early. The earlier you memorize the chart, the faster everything will become automatic for you.

3. Things That Happened in the Past

In order to present things in a chronological manner, we’ll start with a quick overview of the past tenses in Romanian. These are the most common ones you’ll see when reading books or news articles anyway, so they’re very important to know.

Romanian has four different past tenses. We will start with discussing the simple perfect and the compound perfect.

Those are the equivalents of “I did” and “I have done.” The difference is that in English, those have two separate meanings. In Romanian, they mean the same thing, but the simple perfect is used more for writing, while the compound is used more for speaking. The six conjugation forms for the simple perfect are as follows. Romanian usually drops the pronoun, so we’ll show it with only the verb form. We’re using the example a face (“to do”), which as you’ll recall, is a Type 2 verb.

“I did”	“You did”	“He/she/it did”	“We did”	“You (plural) did”	“They did”
făcui	făcuși	făcu	făcuram	făcurăți	făcură

The compound perfect is way easier! You just have to memorize one single conjugation—for the helping verb a avea (“to have”)—and then add the past participle of the actual verb. Just like in English, really.

“I have done”	“You have done”	“He/she/it has done”	“We have done”	“You (plural) have done”	“They have done”
am făcut	ai făcut	a făcut	am făcut	ați făcut	au făcut

One more important distinction is a tense called the imperfect. In Romanian, the pluperfect (mai mult ca perfect) is another past tense that originates from Latin and also exists in other languages. The main specific value of the pluperfect is of a relative moment in time, expressing a past process that happened before another past process.

“I had been doing”	“You had been doing”	“He/she/it had been doing”	“We had been doing”	“You (plural) had been doing”	“They were doing”
făcusem	făcusei	făcuse	făcuserăm	făcuserăți	făcuseră

It also exists in Spanish and Italian, so it’s nothing unique—but we don’t have it in English. It’s used for talking about ongoing actions in the past. The perfect is for completed actions only—the difference between “I was reading a book” and “I read a book.”

“I was doing”	“You were doing”	“He/she/it was doing”	“We were doing”	“You (plural) were doing”	“They were doing”
făceam	făceai	făcea	făceam	făceați	făceau

• În timp ce dormeam, mi-a umblat prin lucruri.
  “While I was sleeping, he went through my things.”

In the sentence above, dormeam is imperfect, while umblat is perfect because it marks a completed action.

4. Things That are Happening Now

Moving on from what has happened, let’s now talk about things that are happening or that do happen. If you’re a native speaker or advanced learner of English, that last sentence should show you quite clearly the difference between the present progressive tense and the present simple tense.

We use the simple present tense to talk about habitual actions in English, and the present progressive to describe what actions are happening during the moment of speech. The same is not true in Romanian, where the simple present works for both situations.

Now, let’s look at Romanian present tense conjugations:

“I do”	“You do”	“He/she/it does”	“We do”	“You (plural) do”	“They do”
fac	faci	face	facem	faceți	fac

• Ea se învârte în cerc.
  “She’s running in circles.”

• Fac yoga în fiecare dimineață.
  “I do yoga every morning.”

We need to use the subjunctive mood now, in a place that might seem a little odd.

The subjunctive isn’t terribly hard to produce. It’s the same as the present indicative, but for the “he/she/it” and “they” parts, we change the ending to -ască.

So what’s odd about the subjunctive? Usually, it’s used to express hopes or wishes or, as mentioned before, unreal statements. In Romanian, it’s not only that. It’s also used any time we use the connecting word să.

• Aș vrea să pot.
  “I wish I could.”

• Aș fi vrut ca el să vorbească cu noi.
  “I wish he would talk to us.”

5. Things That are Going to Happen

The future tense in Romanian might be challenging to understand. We use a helping verb to express what happens in the future. The reasons for this, as compared to the complexities of other Romance languages can either be searched in the history of grammar or are not completely known. Here is an example of a verb conjugation in the future tense:

“I will do”	“You will do”	“He/she/it will do”	“We will do”	“You (plural) will do”	“They will do”
voi face	vei face	va face	vom face	veți face	vor face

• Ne vom întâlni din nou.
  “We will meet again.”

When talking about a plan, the present is commonly used, e.g. “I will go there on Monday” =”Luni merg acolo”.

There are also other forms of the future tense that are used in the spoken language.

Two of the spoken future tenses are interchangeable, form I is “o să” + present (present form according to number and person) and form II is “a avea” (conjugated according to number and person) + “să” + present (according to number and person). Form III describes a future that is not sure, with an undetermined probability. It is used to express intent, but lack of assurance that the subject will go through with the action intended. It is conjugated as such: oi/oi/o/om/oți/or + infinitive(without the a).

• Ai să citești?/ Will you read?
• O să mă gândesc la programul pentru mâine./ I will think about the schedule for tomorrow.
• Om face ceva de mâncare. / We’ll (probably) make something to eat.

6. Conclusion

The main thing you have to keep in mind as you gaze over this long and wide set of conjugation tables is this: Romanian babies know this too.

Well, toddlers at least.

And that comes from tens of thousands of hours living and breathing the Romanian language, 24/7.

You don’t need to put in quite that kind of time, but you do need to actually expose yourself to the language as it’s spoken and written. Only that kind of slowly accumulating experience is going to give you the feeling for things like using the subjunctive or the imperfect.

At the same time, don’t ignore the benefits of actually sitting down and studying. That, combined with good Romanian content, is going to make the process a whole lot shorter.

RomanianPod101.com is the best place on the web for getting both grammar lessons and excellent audio and text resources in real, authentic Romanian.

As you read and listen, pay attention to the conjugations instead of just directly translating them in your mind. Think about which tenses are being used, and which pronouns are present or omitted.

That kind of language consciousness is going to pay off big time as you jump leaps and bounds ahead of your Romanian-learning peers!

In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments section with any questions you have about Romanian verb conjugations. We’ll do our best to help you out!

A sentence without a verb is like a bird without a nest.

It wants to fly around and express itself, but without a foundation to rely upon, it’s limited.

How’s your knowledge of Romanian verbs? We understand—the grammar is no joke. You don’t really want to learn verbs when you could be enjoying Romanian TV shows and music.

But if you never end up paying attention to Romanian verbs, you’ll find yourself lost for words all the time.

Advanced learners need to learn the grammatical nuances, as well as just the plain old nuances of the lexicon itself. Beginner learners need to nail down a foundation of basic words for everyday use.Enough chit-chat. In this article, you’re going to learn 100 Romanian verbs, every one of them shown conjugated in an example for better learning efficiency.

Table of Contents

1. Verbs About Going Places
2. Verbs About Interacting with Others
3. Verbs About Daily Activities
4. Abstract Verbs for Abstract Concepts
5. Moving Things Around
6. Work and Study
7. Thoughts and Feelings
8. Move Your Body
9. Conclusion

1. Verbs About Going Places

You’re probably learning Romanian for travel, is that right? That’s why we’ve put the verbs of motion and traveling—the most common Romanian verbs—right here at the top, so that you learn them when you’re fresh.

1. arrive – a ajunge

Cred că el va ajunge în curând.

I believe he’ll arrive soon.

2. come – a veni

Prietenul meu a venit azi pe la mine.

My friend came over today.

3. enter – a intra

Era cât pe ce să intre în cameră.

He was just about to enter the room.

4. go – a merge

Se pare că trebuie să mergem.

It looks like we need to go.

5. leave – a pleca

Trebuie să plec neîntârziat.

I have to leave immediately.

6. return – a se întoarce

Amy nu s-a întors acasă în acea noapte.

Amy didn’t return home that night.

7. ride a bike – a merge cu bicicleta

Nu știam că poți să mergi pe bicicletă.

I didn’t know you could ride a bike.

8. sightsee – a vizita

Nu am venit aici să vizitez.

I didn’t come here for sightseeing.

9. stay – a rămână

Nimeni nu știe dacă să rămână sau să plece.

Nobody knows whether to stay or go.

10. travel – a călători

Am călătorit 10,000 de mile pentru a fi aici.

I traveled 10,000 miles to be here.

11. walk – a plimba

El s-a dus în parc ca să se plimbe.

He went for a walk in the park.

2. Verbs About Interacting with Others

Language at its core is all about interaction. In this list of Romanian verbs, you’ll learn about speaking with and listening to Romanians, other learners, or people who have no idea how to speak Romanian at all!

12. ask – a întreba

Niciodată să nu întrebi o femeie despre vârsta ei.

Never ask a woman about her age.

13. believe – a crede

Am crezut în tine.

I believed in you.

14. call – a suna

Pe cine ai sunat?

Who did you call?

15. explain – a explica

Lasă-mă să explic ce s-a întamplat.

Let me explain what happened.

16. listen – a asculta

Ar trebui să o asculți.

You should listen to her.

17. apologize – a cere scuze

De ce ți-ai cere scuze pentru așa ceva?

Why would you apologize for that?

18. repeat – a repeta

Te rog repetă ce ai spus.

Please repeat what you just said.

19. say – a spune

Este timpul să spui la revedere.

It is time for you to say goodbye.

20. sing – a cânta

Cântam cântece folk.

We sang folk songs.

21. speak – a discuta

Am discutat cu mama ta.

I spoke with your mother.

22. talk – a vorbi

E grozav să vorbesc cu tine.

It’s great talking with you.

23. understand – a înțelege

Noi punem întrebări pentru a înțelege lucrurile mai bine.

We ask questions to understand things better.

3. Verbs About Daily Activities

Daily activities are some of the easiest things to describe in Romanian, if only because you’ll be reminded of those words as you do them every day. Here’s a Romanian verbs list of things you probably do often.

24. bathe – a face baie

Ea îi face baie bebelușului în fiecare seară.

She is bathing the baby every evening.

25. buy – a cumpăra

Am cumpărat un bilet greșit.

I bought the wrong ticket.

26. clean – a curăța

Sper că el mă va ajuta să curăț bucătăria.

I hope he will help me clean the kitchen. 

27. cook – a găti

Bunica lui adoră să gătească.

His grandmother loves to cook.

28. dance – a dansa

Nu pot să dansez cu el.

I can’t dance with him.

29. draw – a desena

O să desenez o față tristă.

I’ll draw a sad face.

30. eat – a mânca

Nu mănânc carne sau fructe de mare.

I don’t eat meat or seafood.

31. drink – a bea

Dimineața îmi place să beau cafea.

I like to drink coffee in the morning.

32. exercise – a exersa

Exersez timp de 10 minute în fiecare zi.

I exercise for 10 minutes every day.

33. get up – a se scula

Scoală-te, e timpul să mergem!

Get up, it’s time to go!

34. look for – a căuta

Îmi voi căuta o altă slujbă.

I’m going to look for another job.

35. read – a citi

Am citit multe despre tine.

I’ve read a lot about you.

36. rent – a închiria

Noi am închiriat o casă în Palm Springs.

We rented a house in Palm Springs.

37. rest – a se odihni

Acum, tu ar trebui să te odihnești.

You should rest now.

38. see – a vedea

Poți vedea diferența?

Can you see the difference?

39. sleep – a dormi

Tu ar trebui să mergi acasă și să dormi.

You should go home and sleep. 

40. text – a trimite un mesaj

Tatăl tău mi-a trimis un mesaj.

Your father texted me.

41. wake up – a se trezi

El se va trezi în 5 minute.

He’ll wake up in 5 minutes.

42. write – a scrie

El a scris raportul.

He wrote the report.

4. Abstract Verbs for Abstract Concepts

Some verbs just don’t fit into boxes. This category is for verbs that are more abstract in meaning, that is, verbs that are hard to describe with other words. Imagine trying to describe “become” in your native language! That’s why vocabulary is so important. Take a look at some of the most important Romanian verbs to describe difficult concepts.

43. become – a deveni

Puteam să devin președinte dacă doream.

I could become President if I wanted.

44. begin – a începe

Atacul a început la ora 02:35.

The attack began at 02:35.

45. to be able to – a putea

Mă bucur că am putut fi de ajutor.

I’m glad I was able to help.

46. do – a face

Vreau să îmi fac tema.

I want to do my homework.

47. exist – a exista

Persoana aceea nu mai exista.

That person doesn’t exist anymore.

48. finish – a termina

N-am terminat programul de instrucție.

I didn’t finish the training program.

49. pay – a plăti

Aveam de gând să plătesc pentru cină.

I had planned to pay for the dinner.

50. look for – a căuta

Îmi voi căuta o altă slujbă.

I’m going to look for another job.

51. resemble – a semăna cu

Fetița seamănă cu mama ei.

The little girl resembles her mother.

52. thank – a mulțumi

I-am mulțumit cu o cafea.

I thanked him with a coffee.

53. think – a considera

Cum consideri tu că e mai bine.

Whatever you think is best.

54. use – a folosi

Ei se folosesc de tine.

They’re using you.

55. want – a vrea

El vrea o mașină nouă.

He wants a new car.

5. Moving Things Around

Interact with objects in the environment—that sounds like a video game description, but if you want to speak correctly and accurately about everyday things in Romanian (not just about people), then you’ll need these Romanian language verbs as well.

56. break – a sparge

Nu se va sparge.

It’s not going to break.

57. brush – a peria

Nu am timp să-mi perii părul.

I don’t have time to brush my hair.

58. cut – a tăia

M-am tăiat la deget.

I cut my finger.

59. freeze – a îngheța

Mi-au înghețat mâinile.

My hands are freezing.

60. help – a ajuta

Profesorul meu m-a ajutat să îmi termin eseul.

My teacher helped me finish my essay.

61. hold – a ține

Te rog ține-mi ușa.

Please hold the door for me.

62. open – a deschide

Vreau să deschid fereastra aceea.

I want to open that window.

63. pick up – a lua

Poți să iei copiii de la școală?

Can you pick up the kids from school? 

64. pull – a trage

Trage maneta în jos.

Pull the lever down.

65. push – a împinge

Te rog, nu mă împinge.

Please don’t push me.

66. rain – a ploua

Sigur va ploua mai târziu.

It’s definitely going to rain later.

67. take – a lua

Te rog să iei acest medicament.

Please take this medicine.

68. turn off – a opri 

Nu opri aparatele încă.

Don’t turn off the machines yet.

69. turn on – a porni

Acest televizor pornește foarte greu.

This TV takes forever to turn on.

6. Work and Study

Are you headed to Romania for a job or for a degree? These are some of the most-used verbs in Romanian when discussing those concepts!

70. close – a închide

La ce oră închizi magazinul?

What time do you close the shop?

71. correct – a corecta

Te rog să mă corectezi.

Please correct me.

72. erase – a șterge

Pentru a șterge mesajul, apăsați tasta patru.

To erase the message, press four.

73. learn – a învăța

Unde ai învățat germana?

Where did you learn German?

74. memorize – a memora

Îmi ia ceva timp ca să memorez un nume.

It takes me a while to memorize a name.

75. prepare – a pregăti

Mai bine te-ai pregăti pentru mâine.

You’d better prepare for tomorrow.

76. sell – a vinde

Ea vinde legume și fructe.

She sells vegetables and fruits.

77. send – a trimite

Profesorul îți va trimite o evaluare.

The teacher will send you an evaluation.

78. serve – a servi

Am servit țara mea cu mândrie.

I served my country proudly.

79. shop – a cumpăra

Toți vecinii cumpără de la acest magazin.

All the neighbors shop at this store.

80. study – a studia

Ce o să studiezi?

What are you going to study?

81. teach – a preda

Acolo voi preda franceza.

I’m going to teach French there.

82. wipe – a șterge

Șterge tot machiajul ăla!

Wipe off all that makeup!

83. work – să lucreze

Primul nostru programator a plecat să lucreze pentru Google.

Our first programmer went to work at Google.

7. Thoughts and Feelings

Romanians are open about their thoughts and feelings, more so than residents of other countries. Here, it’s all right for you to cry if you’re feeling overwhelmed with things.

In this section are some very useful verbs about expressing your emotions through actions, as well as verbs about thinking.

84. cry – a plânge

Te rog nu plânge.

Please don’t cry.

85. dream – a visa

Sunt sigur că nu am visat.

I’m sure I wasn’t dreaming.

86. feel – a simți

El se simte bolnav și obosit.

He feels sick and tired. 

87. forget – a uita

Mi-am uitat cheia.

I forgot my key.

88. hear – a auzi

Ai auzit asta?

Did you hear that?

89. laugh – a râde

Ea a râs în fața mea.

She laughed in my face.

90. like – a place

Nu-mi place deloc.

I don’t like it at all.

91. love – a iubi

Mă mai iubești?

Do you still love me?

92. miss – a-ți lipsi 

În pofida tuturor lucrurilor, îmi lipsește sora mea. 

Despite everything, I miss my sister.

93. need – a avea nevoie

Am venit aici pentru că am nevoie de o prietenă.

I came here because I needed a friend.

94. remember – a își aminti

Tot nu-mi amintesc unde am pus banii.

I still don’t remember where I put the money.

95. respect – a respecta

Ei îmi respectă părerea.

They respect my opinion.

8. Move Your Body

Last, a couple of verbs that relate to physically moving your body, even if you aren’t actually going anywhere with those movements. These might not be your daily activities—instead, they’re more like tiny verbs that you usually do but rarely say.

96. live – a trăi

Cât de mult trăiesc broaștele țestoase?

How long do turtles live?

97. stand – a sta

Te rog nu-mi sta în drum!

Please, don’t stand in my way!

98. sweat – a transpira

De obicei nu transpir atât de mult!

I don’t usually sweat so much!

99. hug – a îmbrățișa

S-au îmbrățișat și s-au sărutat.

They hugged and kissed.

100. wait – a aștepta

Te rog să aștepți în zona de primire.

Please wait in the reception area.

101. watch – a privi

Privește cu atenție și apoi repetă. 

Watch carefully and then repeat.

9. Conclusion

Congratulations! 100+ Romanian verbs under your belt. You’ve truly hit a great milestone here, and you should be proud.

This is very much an effective way to learn Romanian, by the way. 

Romanian grammar is nothing to be trifled with, and by seeing a hundred examples of verbs in different conjugations, you’ve got a great practical background to go with your theoretical knowledge gained from courses or grammar books. If you do want more information on Romanian conjugation, though, keep an eye out for our upcoming article! 

Are there any Romanian verbs we didn’t cover that you want to know? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll do our best to help you out!

Romanian has a lot of personal pronouns.

Significantly more, in fact, than other related languages in Europe.

Nobody knows who came up with this system, but it’s not going away anytime soon. Are you ready to rise to the challenge?

You should be, because although the Romanian pronoun system is complex, native speakers use it without thinking. If it was too unwieldy, it would have been pared down and simplified over time.

We’ll be here to guide you as well. We’ll provide a couple of tricks and links that you might not find in other resources.And besides, it’s not like you can just ignore this. You already know quite a bit of it from just a few simple introductory phrases! Pronouns are so integral to the Romanian language that you’ll soon integrate them perfectly into your own speech and writing without breaking a sweat.

Table of Contents

1. How to Talk About Pronouns in Romanian
2. Romanian Personal Pronouns: Case by Case
3. Romanian Possessive Pronouns
4. Pronouns in Questions
5. Conclusion

1. How to Talk About Pronouns in Romanian

First, you should know about cases. Did you ever take Latin, German, or Russian?

If so, don’t panic! Romanian cases are significantly simpler than cases in those three languages. But they’re still there, and we’ll be describing its cases here in this article. Yes, Romanian has three cases (which are an inheritance from Latin), but truly, there are a lot of words that don’t change.

Romanian has a bit of terminology here that’s pretty unique among European languages, namely the terms “stressed” and “unstressed.” These refer to two different forms of the pronoun in each case.

“Unstressed” is a simpler way to say “clitic,” which is a technical term that pretty much nobody needs to know (but if you’re interested, you can look it up).

All it means is that the pronoun accompanies a verb. In most cases, it’s actually folded into the verb. In English, we contract “I am” into “I’m.” That same process happens quite a bit more in Romanian, and you’ll learn all about it!

In contrast, “stressed” pronouns appear by themselves, always with a preposition. One of the most common prepositions is pe, which is used when talking about people. You’ll see this a lot in emphatic sentences.

• Te iubesc pe tine.

I love you (and nobody else).

Here, te is an unstressed form (matching with the verb iubesc), and pe tine is the stressed form to add emphasis.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves!

Let’s start from the beginning and learn each form of Romanian pronouns.

2. Romanian Personal Pronouns: Case by Case

Learning the pronouns all at once is going to be pretty confusing. We’ll definitely have a good selection of example sentences for you to look at, but count on re-reading this as a reference page in the future.

1. The Nominative 

The nominative case is the “basic” case for all nouns and pronouns. This is what you use for the subject of a sentence, and what you’ll see in a dictionary.We’ll start with the informal Romanian nominative pronouns. This is what you’re likely to hear the most in songs and on TV, though when you actually go to Romania, you’ll want to crank up the politeness factor a little bit.

English	Romanian
I	tu
you	tu
he	el
she	ea
we	noi
you (plural)	voi
they (men; men and women)	ei
they (only women)	ele

Here you can note that Romanian distinguishes between men and women when referring to a group of people, and indeed between masculine and feminine when referring to a group of nouns.

• Fără ele ești pierdut.

Without them (women) you would be lost.

• Eu sunt la magazin.

I’m at the store.

• Ea este cea mai bună.

She’s the best there is.

Also, in English we say “It’s him!” but in Romanian the literal equivalent would be “It is he!”

• El este!

It’s him!

And now for some formal pronouns. Romanian has formal versions of everything except the first-person “I’ and “we” pronouns.

What’s more, there are actually several levels of politeness for all this. We’ll go with the most commonly used variants in speech first.

English	Romanian (polite)	Romanian (polite and formal)
you	dumneata	dumneavoastră
he	dânsul	dumnealui
she	dânsa	dumneaei
you (plural)	dumneavoastră	dumneavoastră
they (men; men and women)	dânşii	dumnealor
they (women)	dânsele	dânsele

The “polite” category is slowly falling out of use, as many people feel that it’s actually just about the same as the “informal” category anyway. However, among people who still use it, the difference is subtle yet apparent.

“Polite” pronouns are for people you know but aren’t very well-acquainted with, like coworkers or people you meet up with for classes. “Polite and formal” indicates not only an absence of friendship, but also a difference in societal ranking, for example a professor and students.

Note that the formal “you” is conjugated the same way in singular and plural form—in fact, it’s always the plural form, following the pattern in German, Spanish, and other languages with this distinction.

• Dumneavoastră aveți timp?

Do you have time?

That’s a long word! And that’s why you’ll much more commonly see it dropped entirely, using only the verb to connote politeness.

• Aveți timp?

Do you have time?

So for the subject of a sentence, as you can see, Romanian usually drops the pronoun entirely.

But that doesn’t mean pronouns in Romanian are useless. Far from it.

2. The Accusative

The accusative case refers to the direct object of a verb. Now we’ll start breaking things up into stressed and unstressed variants. Here’s a table of the Romanian accusative pronouns.

English	Romanian accusative (stressed)	Romanian accusative (unstressed)
I	mine	mă
he	el	te
he	el	îl
she	ea	o
we	noi	ne
you (plural)	voi	vă
they (men; men and women)	ei	îi
they (women)	ele	le

Oh man.

Remember, though, that only mine and tine actually changed in the stressed form. And yes, you do have to learn new unstressed forms, but it’s not so bad because the consonant remains the same for all the words that have consonants.

There’s more logic, too: The vowel î is a relatively hard sound to make, and so you’ll see in a moment how it disappears when our unstressed (connected) forms start getting slapped onto verbs.

The hard part is that the unstressed forms combine in different ways. Since this is already a lot to swallow, we won’t go into detail about the rules for the unstressed forms. Many learners pick it up from lots of examples, and if you end up reading and listening to a lot of Romanian, you will too!

• I-ai anunţat?

Did you tell them?

Here we’ve combined îi with the helping verb ai. We’ll use the easier vowel, so the î drops away and leaves us with a combining i-. Romanian is nice enough to keep the hyphens for our reference!

Now some more examples of combined pronouns.

• Daniela mi-a telefonat.

Daniela telephoned me.

• Îi voi da cartea mâine.

I will give him the book tomorrow.

• Ni s-a spus că putem pleca acasă.

We were told that we could go home.

3. The Dative

We’re on the home stretch now with the last of the three cases in Romanian. The dative case usually translates pretty well with the pronoun “to” in English. For example: “I sent a letter to her.” It’s also called the indirect object. Here are the Romanian dative pronouns:

English	Romanian dative (stressed)	Romanian dative (unstressed)
I	mie	îmi
you	ție	îți
he	lui	îi
she	ei	îi
we	nouă	ne
you (plural)	vouă	vă
they (men; men and women)	lor	le
they (women)	lor	le

Oh jeez.

Again, it’s not as bad as you might think. These dative pronouns are so common in the words and phrases that beginners learn most, that you probably already recognize one very important one.

• Îmi pare rău.

I’m sorry.

In this example, one of the first phrases that everybody learns in Romanian is a dative pronoun. Specifically “to me,” because what you’re literally saying with this expression is “It is bad to me.”

3. Romanian Possessive Pronouns

In continuing the theme of Romanian grammar being at once alike and different from other European languages, there’s a subtle yet tricky difference in the matter of possessive pronouns.

First, the pronoun comes after the noun. That’s relatively normal, though, occurring also in Spanish and Italian.

• Pisica mea.

My cat.

What’s unusual is that the word for “my” changes depending on gender and number of the object.

• Pisicile mele.

My cats.

Let’s have a look at another Romanian pronouns table:

	Singular masc./ntr.	Singular fem.	Plural masc.	Plural fem./ntr.
my	meu	mea	mei	mele
our	nostru	noastră	noștri	noastre
your (singular)	tău	ta	tăi	tale
your (plural)	vostru	voastră	voștri	voastre
his/her	său	sa	săi	sale

Wow.

But wait! There’s still a pattern. Look carefully and you can see that the same consonant roots hold true from the Romanian nominative pronoun chart. Furthermore, the plural first-person (our) and second-person (your) share the same pattern, as do singular second-person (your) and singular third-person (his/her).

It’s a lot to take in, no doubt about it.

Remember to pay special attention to how, in the singular, masculine and neuter nouns are grouped together. In the plural, it’s feminine and neuter.

We’re definitely going to need some examples here.

• Fraţii noştri sunt studenţi.

Our brothers are students.

• Pe masă sunt cărţile mele.

My books are on the table.

In fact, this chart could be significantly more complicated if we added all of the formal forms. 

We will, however, include the most common: dumneavoastră. As the formal “you,” this gets used very often in Romanian, and it’s also dead simple to understand.

It doesn’t change at all!

• Prietenii dumneavoastră.

Your friends.

• Prietenul dumneavoastră.

Your friend.

Ironically, if you happen to study in a way that makes you used to applying rules for meu, mea, mei, and so on, you might look at an example sentence with dumneavoastră and think that something’s missing. Nope, it’s just the Romanian language cutting you a break.

4. Pronouns in Questions

The last major thing we need to cover here is when we ask questions with pronouns. This is an incredibly common situation, as you probably know.

Right now, we’re only going to cover the nominative case. They do change for case, but questions outside the nominative are relatively rare and we all know that you’ve seen a lot of charts today.

1. Who? – Cine?

• Cine este acolo?

Who’s there?

• Cine este responsabil?

Who is in charge?

2. What? – Ce?

• Ce i-ai spus?

What did you say?

• Ce este asta?

What is that?

3. Which? – Care?

• Pe care o vrei?

Which do you want?

• Care e al vostru?

Which one is yours?

4. Whose? – A cui?

• A cui pantofi sunt aia?

Whose shoes are these?

• A cui idee a fost?

Whose idea was it?

As you can see, learning only the nominative case for these question pronouns is definitely enough to get you going on your road to Romanian fluency!

5. Conclusion

So throughout this article, we’ve mentioned that there’s more.

More pronouns to learn, more cases in which pronouns might or might not change, and so on.

How can you get a handle on it? How can you ever commit all of this to memory?

One of the best ways is seriously to copy down these charts. Even better is if you copy down our charts, and then go find another one, then copy down that one too. By copying information down in your notes from two different sources, you’ll get to actually see the relationships between these words and their functions, and through that you’ll boost your memory.

The other way is to rely on immersion.

Mix a little bit of grammar study (such as reading these articles) with immersive, interesting content in Romanian. That’s going to make a lot of these pronoun tricks fall into place.

And what better place for interesting and immersive content than RomanianPod101? You’ll get access to all of our lessons on vocabulary, grammar, conversations, and more, in an easy format for you to take wherever you need to!

There’s no reason to delay. Get your free access to RomanianPod101 today and start taking charge of Romanian pronouns!

In the meantime, let us know in the comments how you feel about Romanian pronouns after going through this Romanian pronoun list. Are there any questions you still have? We’ll do our best to help you out.

Happy Romanian learning!

Do you remember the moment you fell in love with languages?

Do you desire to learn or advance in Romanian quickly and effectively?

Then you need a Romanian tutor.

A common question that first-time language-learners ask is “Where do I begin?” The answer? Guidance.

For native English-speakers who want to learn Asian languages, for example, timelines provided by the U.S. Foreign Service Institute can appear discouraging. However, defeating these odds is not unheard of. If you want to beat the odds yourself, one of the best learning options is a subscription to Premium PLUS from Innovative Language.

As an active Premium PLUS member of JapanesePod101.com and KoreanClass101.com myself, I have an enjoyable experience learning at an accelerated pace with at least thirty minutes of study daily. The following Premium PLUS features contribute to my success:

• Access to thousands of lessons
• A voice recorder 
• Spaced-repetition system (SRS) flashcards
• Weekly homework assignments
• A personal language instructor

As someone who decided to make Japanese her second language one year ago, I am extremely grateful for Premium PLUS.

Allow me to emphasize on how these Premium PLUS features strengthen my language studies.

Gain Unlimited Access to Audio and Video Lessons!

As a Premium PLUS member, I have full access to the lesson library and other Premium features. Best of all, I’m not limited to one level; I can learn to my heart’s content with upper-level courses.

There are lessons on various topics that tackle crucial language-learning elements, such as:

• Reading
• Writing
• Listening
• Speaking
• Conversation

Specifically, there are pathways. Pathways are collections of lessons that center on a specific topic. Some Innovative Language sites, like JapanesePod101.com, even have pathways geared toward proficiency tests. For example, the JLPT N3 Master Course pathway.

Because of the abundance of lessons, I’ve found pathways in the lesson library to help me prepare for certain events. Thanks to the “Speaking Perfect Japanese at a Restaurant” pathway, I spoke fully in Japanese while dining in Japan. Additionally, I participated in conversations at language exchange meetups in South Korea after completing the “Top 25 Korean Questions You Need to Know” pathway.

Each lesson has lesson notes, which I read while simultaneously listening to the audio lesson. This strategy enables me to follow along on key points. Lesson notes generally contain the following:

• Dialogue
• Vocabulary
• Grammar points
• Cultural insights

As someone who’s constantly on-the-go, I heavily benefit from mobile access to lessons. Podcasts and lesson notes are available on the Innovative Language app and/or Podcasts app for iOS.

All lessons and their contents are downloadable. Prior to my flights to Japan and South Korea, I downloaded lessons on my iPhone. The apps make learning more convenient for me during my commutes.

Practice Speaking with the Voice Recording Tool!

Pronunciation is an essential ingredient in language-learning. Proper pronunciation prompts clear understanding during conversations with native speakers.

Prior to learning full Korean sentences, my online Korean language tutor assigned the “Hana Hana Hangul” pathway to me. It demonstrated the writing and pronunciation of Hangul, the Korean alphabet. Throughout this pathway, I submitted recordings of my Hangul character pronunciations to my language teacher for review.

I was given a similar task on JapanesePod101.com with the “Ultimate Japanese Pronunciation Guide” pathway. My Japanese language teacher tested my pronunciation of the Japanese characters kana. My completion of the two pathways boosted my confidence in speaking.

Speaking is one of the more challenging components of learning a language. The voice recording tool in particular was a great way for me to improve my speaking skills. Further, because the lesson dialogues are spoken by native speakers, I’m able to practice speaking naturally.

This feature is also available for vocabulary words and sample sentences. Being able to hear these recordings improves my pronunciation skills for languages like Japanese, where intonation can change the meaning of a word entirely. The voice recorder examines my speed and tone. I also follow up by sending a recording to my online language tutor for feedback.

A great way to boost one’s speaking confidence is to shadow native speakers. During the vocabulary reviews, it’s helpful for me to hear the breakdown of each word; doing so makes a word that was originally difficult to even read a breeze to say!

Some lessons create opportunities to speak your own sentences. For example, the “Top 25 Korean Questions You Need to Know” pathway presents opportunities to answer questions personally. This helps you gain the ability to give answers as the unique individual you are.

Example Scenario:

The host asks the following question:

어디에 살고 있습니까?

eodieseo salgo isseumnikka

“Where do you live?”

If you live in Tokyo, you would readily say the following:

도쿄에 살고 있습니다.

Tokyo-e salgo isseumnida.

“I live in Tokyo.”

Increase Your Vocab with Spaced-Repetition Flashcards and More!

Imagine having a conversation with a native speaker and hesitating because you lack a solid vocabulary base.

Premium PLUS offers various features to expand learners’ vocabulary, including Free Gifts of the Month. RomanianPod101’s free gifts for April 2020 included an e-book with “400 Everyday Phrases for Beginners,” and the content is updated every month. When I download free resources like this, I find opportunities to use them with co-teachers, friends, or my language tutors.

An effective way to learn vocabulary is with SRS flashcards. SRS is a system designed for learning a new word and reviewing it in varying time intervals.

You can create and study flashcard decks, whether it’s your Word Bank or a certain vocabulary list. For example, if you need to visit a post office, the “Post Office” vocabulary list for your target language would be beneficial to study prior to your visit.

In addition to the SRS flashcards, each lesson has a vocabulary slideshow and quiz to review the lesson’s vocabulary.

There’s also the 2000 Core Word List, which includes the most commonly used words in your target language. Starting from the 100 Core Word List, you’ll gradually build up your knowledge of useful vocabulary. These lists can be studied with SRS flashcards, too.

With the SRS flashcards, you can change the settings to your liking. The settings range from different card types to number of new cards per deck. Personally, I give myself vocabulary tests by changing the settings.

After studying a number of flashcards, I change the card types to listening comprehension and/or production. Then I test myself by writing the translation of the word or the spoken word or phrase.

The change in settings allow me to remember vocabulary and learn how to identify the words. This is especially helpful with Japanese kanji!

Complete Homework Assignments!

Homework assignments are advantageous to my language studies. There are homework assignments auto-generated weekly. They range from multiple-choice quizzes to writing assignments.

Language tutors are readily available for homework help. Some writing assignments, for instance, require use of unfamiliar vocabulary. In such cases, my language teachers assist me by forwarding related lessons or vocabulary lists.

In addition to these auto-generated homework tasks, language tutors customize daily assignments. My daily homework assignments include submitting three written sentences that apply the target grammar point of that lesson, and then blindly audio-recording those sentences. My personal language tutor follows up with feedback and corrections, if needed.

Your language tutors also provide assignments upon requests. When I wanted to review grammar, my Korean teacher sent related quizzes and assignments. Thus, you are not only limited to the auto-generated assignments.

Every weekend, I review by re-reading those written sentences. It helps me remember sentence structures, grammar points, and vocabulary to apply in real-world contexts.

Furthermore, I can track my progress with language portfolios every trimester. It’s like a midterm exam that tests my listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Get Your Own Personal Language Teacher!

My language teachers cater to my goals with personalized and achievable learning programs. The tangible support of my online language teachers makes it evident that we share common goals.

Once I share a short-term or long-term goal with my teacher, we establish a plan or pathway that will ultimately result in success. I coordinate with my teachers regularly to ensure the personalized learning programs are prosperous. For example, during my JLPT studies, my Japanese language tutor assigned me practice tests.

Your language tutor is available for outside help as well. When I bought drama CDs in Japan, I had difficulty transliterating the dialogue. My Japanese teacher forwarded me the script to read along as I listened.

Additionally, I often practice Korean and Japanese with music. I memorize one line of the lyrics daily. Every time, I learn a new grammar point and new vocabulary. I add the vocabulary to my SRS flashcards, locate the grammar in the Grammar Bank, and study the associated lessons online.

I send my teachers the name of the songs, making them aware of my new goal. One time, my song for Korean was “If You Do” by GOT7. My Korean teacher revealed that she was a huge fan of GOT7 like me! For Japanese, it was “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA,” also known as the Dragonball Z theme song. My Japanese teacher excitedly told me that she sang the song a lot as a kid!

A remarkable thing happened to me in South Korea. I was stressed about opening a bank account with limited Korean. I sought help from my Korean teacher. She forwarded me a script of a bank conversation.

After two days, I visited the local bank. It all started with my opening sentence:

은행 계좌를 만들고 싶어요

eunhaeng gyejwaleul mandeulgo sip-eoyo.

I want to open a bank account.

Everything went smoothly, and I exited the bank with a new account!

The MyTeacher Messenger allows me to share visuals with my teachers for regular interaction, including videos to critique my pronunciation mechanisms. I improve my listening and speaking skills by exchanging audio with my teachers. In addition to my written homework assignments, I exchange messages with my language teachers in my target language. This connection with my teachers enables me to experience the culture as well as the language.

Why You Should Subscribe to Premium PLUS

It’s impossible for me to imagine my continuous progress with Japanese and Korean without Premium PLUS. Everything—from the SRS flashcards to my language teachers—makes learning languages enjoyable and clear-cut.

You’re assured to undergo the same experience with Premium PLUS. You’ll gain access to the aforementioned features as well as all of the Premium features.

Complete lessons and assignments to advance in your target language. Increase your vocabulary with the “2000 Core Word List” for that language and SRS flashcards. Learn on-the-go with the Innovative Language app and/or Podcasts app for iOS users.

Learning a new language takes dedication and commitment. The Premium PLUS features make learning irresistibly exciting. You’ll look forward to learning daily with your language tutor.

As of right now, your challenge is to subscribe to Premium PLUS! Complete your assessment, and meet your new Romanian teacher.

Have fun learning your target language in the fastest and easiest way!

Subscribe to Posted by RomanianPod101.com in Feature Spotlight, Learn Romanian, Romanian Language, Romanian Online, Site Features, Team RomanianPod101 | Comment

Being outside in Romania is great—except when you’re lost.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could ask somebody for help? Or even just ask where the McDonald’s is?

That, of course, is the obvious benefit of knowing how to talk about directions in Romanian. (Not the McDonald’s part, the not-getting-lost part.)

Did you know, though, that mastering directions in Romanian can level-up your whole command of the language? Think about it: you’ve got new vocabulary, new sentence patterns, and even new conversation starters, just from one topic.

How much do you know already about directions in Romanian?

Table of Contents

1. Basic Cultural Notes and Phrases
2. Learn the Romanian Compass Points
3. City Vocabulary and Reference Points
4. Phrases for Directions in Romanian, Part 1: Asking Others
5. Part 2: Giving Directions in Romanian
6. Travel Time
7. Directions Can Lead You to a Wealth of Language Practice
8. Conclusion

1. Basic Cultural Notes and Phrases

A lot of Romanians are quite good at English, and they’re all very polite and friendly. If you ask for directions in English, you’re likely to be understood by young people in any city.

However, if you can show them that you’ve put some real effort into your Romanian (that means having correct pronunciation), then they’ll be impressed and quite happy not to switch to English on you.

To politely get somebody’s attention on the street, simply say:

• Scuzați-mă!

Excuse me!

Or maybe:

• Mă puteți ajuta?

Could you help me?

These two phrases will help you lead into actually asking them for directions, which we’ll cover in a little while.

Romanian towns and cities are old, and people usually grew up on the same streets that are there now. During the various changes in government in the twentieth century, though, many street names did change in Romania to honor political figures.

Therefore, older people and younger people may remember streets by different names. If you can’t find a certain street that you heard mentioned, you can ask someone like this:

• Scuzați-mă, unde e strada asta?

Excuse me, where is this street?

2. Learn the Romanian Compass Points

If you happen to have studied any German in the past, these compass points in Romanian are going to seem very familiar to you.

English	Romanian
north	nord
south	sud
east	est
west	vest
northwest	nord-vest
northeast	nord-est
southwest	sud-vest
southeast	sud-est

Nord-Vest, Nord-Est, Sud-Est, Sud-Vest, and Vest are all also names of development regions of Romania, by the way. They’re not often used in daily conversation, but if you read any articles about Romania, particularly its economy, you may be confused by this.

To make it clear, it’s better to be specific about the fact that you’re talking about the parts of a country or city. This is done in two ways: using the phrase partea de and a cardinal direction, or using the adjective form of that direction.

• Este în partea de vest a UE.

It’s in the western part of the EU.

• E din partea sudică a Albei.

It’s from the southern part of Alba.

In addition to these absolute directions, you’ll also need to know four very useful relative directions for talking to drivers, and really just describing things in general.

English	Romanian
left	stânga
right	dreapta
forward	înainte
back	înapoi

When you talk about turning, you’ll need to add la in front of the direction to speak grammatically correct. Take a look at this example now, and we’ve got more coming up.

• După intersecție, ia-o la stânga.

At the intersection, turn left.

3. City Vocabulary and Reference Points

Now we come to the actual studying: the vocabulary. You simply can’t speak accurately about Romanian cities without having a good set of words and phrases. In this section, we’ll give you helpful phrases that you can use to practice prepositions as well. Remember, it’s always good to learn a language in chunks!

centru — city center

• Restaurantul este situat în centrul oraşului.

The restaurant is located in the city center.

cartier de afaceri — business district

• Suntem în mijlocul unui cartier de afaceri.

We’re in the middle of a business district.

marginea orașului — the edge of town

• Locuiește la marginea orașului.

She lives on the edge of town.

centru comercial — shopping center

• De ce ești în spatele unui centru comercial?

Why are you behind a shopping center?

Make sure that you not only have these words memorized, but you also know how to talk about the basics, like landmarks and streets. Cities in Romania tend to have an abundance of statues and churches, so these are good words to know as well.

statuie — statue

• Ne întâlnim la hotel de lângă statuie.

We’ll meet in the hotel next to the statue.

piață — square

• Este o biserică drăguță în piața orașului.

There’s a pretty church in the town square.

stradă — street

• Te uiți în ambele părți când traversezi strada.

Look both ways when you cross the street.

semafor — traffic light / traffic signal

• Fă dreapta la semafor.

Turn right at the traffic light.

oficiu poștal — post office

• Magazinul de bijuterii este chiar lângă oficiul poștal.

The jewelry store is right next to the post office.

bancă — bank

• Nu se află nimic în apropierea băncii.

It’s nowhere near the bank.

biserică — church

• În spatele acelor copaci este o biserică mică.

Behind those trees is a little church.

4. Phrases for Directions in Romanian, Part 1: Asking Others

Two words in Romanian, and you’re most of the way there to asking people for directions: unde este. This literally means “where is,” and you can make hundreds of sentences with these words alone.

I just said that there were only two words, but you’ve doubtlessly also seen unde e, meaning the same thing. What gives?

Actually, nothing. In Romanian, the verb a fi, or “to be,” has a short form (e) and a long form (este). Este is simply considered more formal than e alone.

• Unde e biblioteca?

Where is the library?

• Scuză-mă, dar unde e oficiul poștal?

Excuse me, but where is the post office?

This is good, but you should also be aware that it implies the definite existence of a library or post office. If there’s no library or post office in that area of town, it might be confusing for everybody involved.

That’s why you can also use this sentence pattern:

• E vreun restaurant prin apropiere?

Is there a restaurant nearby?

• E vreun hotel pe aici?

Is there a hotel around here?

Vreun actually means “some” or “any”—the root verb is simply a fi meaning “to be.” However, vreun is only singular, making it a little awkward to try and translate directly into English.

You can also ask about what you’d like to do, and hopefully somebody nearby knows where you can accomplish that task.

• De unde pot cumpăra ceva de băut?

Where can I get something to drink?

• De unde pot lua niște apă, vă rog?

Where can I get some water, please?

5. Part 2: Giving Directions in Romanian

The longer you live or travel in a foreign country, the more your body language will show that you’re comfortable there. At some point, locals may ask you for directions! Let me tell you, that’s a wonderful feeling, and even better when you can give them the correct answer quickly and easily in Romanian.

Of course, these are also phrases that you might get as answers to the questions we went over in the previous section, but it’s a lot more fun to pretend that you’re the expert in Romania.

You should first give them a general idea of the distance they’re dealing with.

• Este foarte aproape.

It’s very close by.

Or:

• Este departe. Doi, poate trei kilometri.

It’s far away. Two, maybe three kilometers.

This will at least give them a ballpark of what to expect.

You should know that there are two ways to tell someone “to turn” in Romanian: luați-o and faceți. There’s no difference, but you’ll probably hear both of them if you travel through the country.

Here are some more phrases you can use:

• Nu este pe strada asta.

It’s not on this street.

• Trebuie să mergeți pe această stradă și apoi faceți la dreapta.

You need to go down this road and then turn right.

• După 100 de metri, faceți la stânga.

After 100 meters, turn left.

• La semafor, faceți la dreapta.

Turn right at the traffic light.

One very important word for you to know is înainte, which means “straight” or “straight ahead.” If you’ve forgotten all else, you can guide a taxi by simply pointing and saying înainte! over and over until you arrive at your destination.

This kind of “Tarzan Romanian,” by the way, can get you far if your mind goes blank and you can’t remember any of your verbs. In a pinch, you can point at a map and say Unde? and it still counts as Romanian practice!

6. Travel Time

Now, a quick section on travel time. This isn’t directions specifically, but it’s used to add extra detail to your question or answer, and really start to stretch your abilities. It’s also very useful information!

Romanians usually get around with buses, taxis, or even by hitching a ride from passing drivers. Therefore, if you’re traveling by foot, they might not be sure about how long it really takes to get to a certain place.

For that reason, it’s a good idea to ask questions like the ones below that can help you get a better idea of the time investment you’re putting in.

• Este departe?

Is it far?

• Cât timp fac dacă merg pe jos?

How long does it take to walk?

• Cât de departe este Piața Victoriei?

How far is Victory Square?

And the answers could be anything. For example: 

• E la 5 minute de mers pe jos.

It’s a five-minute walk.

• Poate dura o oră sau mai mult.

It could take an hour or more.

7. Directions Can Lead You to a Wealth of Language Practice

Whether you’re taking a taxi or hitchhiking, you’ll probably come to a point in your travels when you have the chance to speak to a driver. Obviously, this is a great opportunity to practice your Romanian, but it’s super-easy to be lost for words here.

It turns out that one of the best things you can talk about is how much the city has changed.

Anybody loves talking about the changes in their hometown, and with as much change as Romania has gone through in the last few decades, you’re never going to run out of topics to discuss.

You can start with something like this:

• Cum s-a schimbat orașul de-a lungul anilor?

How has the city changed over the years?

• S-a schimbat foarte mult?

Has it changed a lot?

You don’t need to rely on drivers, either. Ordinary people and business owners likely have a lot to say on the topic, too.

• Ce era aici înainte să faceți hotelul?

What was here before you built the hotel?

They’ll give you plenty of opportunity to practice what you’ve learned so far.

And perhaps talking about past changes seems a little intimidating for your level of Romanian. Not a problem—we can still start conversations with others in an easy way.

All you have to do is ask for directions to places that you already know. Go right out of your hotel and go to a grocery store, and ask how to get to your hotel. They don’t know where you came from! Since you already know the way, you’ll be able to understand more easily.

Then another day, ask at your hotel about how to get to that grocery store! The repetition over multiple days, plus the different approaches to the same topic, will absolutely help you get the material in your memory.

8. Conclusion

What should you do if you’re not in Romania yet?

You’re already doing one of the best things—visiting RomanianPod101.com and reading through the lessons and articles right here.

Another super-easy way to practice directions is to go to Google Maps and switch the interface language to Romanian in the settings. Try this on an incognito tab if you’re worried you won’t be able to change it back afterward.

Challenge yourself, as well. Ask yourself where things are in your own town and see if you can answer in Romanian. 

The more you work on this material, the easier it will be to bring to mind when you need it—and the slower it will fade over time. 

Do you still have questions about directions in Romanian, or are things pretty crystal-clear? Feel free to drop us a comment with any questions or concerns you have on this topic! We look forward to hearing from you.

Happy Romanian learning!

If you’ve got no nouns, you’ve got problems.

Circumlocution is an important skill, but when it comes down to it, it’s really hard to do with certain things. Try describing your head or your manager without knowing those words, and you’ll see just what a challenge you’ve jumped into.

This article is here to help. No fluff, just vocab—one hundred of the Romanian nouns you need most. Read through this article just one time and see how much you can pick up!



Table of Contents

1. Time
2. The Body
3. The Family
4. Working Life
5. School Days
6. At the Restaurant
7. Food and Drink
8. Mealtimes
9. Transportation
10. Technology
11. Around the Home
12. Conclusion

1. Time

If you haven’t learned the right words for time, then you may think you’ve gotten away with it. Turns out, it’s really difficult to be specific about any particular event if you don’t even know how to say what day it happened on!

The first three “nouns” (astăzi, mâine, and ieri) are considered adverbs in Romanian, but since they’re nouns in English, I thought it would be best to include them in our Romanian nouns list.

astăzi — today

Începând de astăzi, am nevoie de soluții.
Starting today, I need solutions.

mâine — tomorrow

De mâine să nu mai vii aici.
Don’t come in tomorrow.

ieri — yesterday

A fost ziua de naștere al lui Adrian ieri.
It was Adrian’s birthday yesterday.

zi — day

Prietenia noastră s-a încheiat în acea zi.
Our friendship ended that day.

săptămână — week

O dată pe săptămână mergem să înotăm împreună.
Once a week, we go swimming together.

luna — month

Luna aceasta e pe sfârșite.
This month is almost over.

an — year

Mihaela a locuit împreună cu noi aproape un an.
Mihaela lived with us for almost a year.

→ For more information on telling time in Romanian, check out RomanianPod101’s article on this very topic!

2. The Body

Is your back flaring up again? How about your complaining neighbor? Whether describing your symptoms or offering sympathy, you need these Romanian nouns.

laba piciorului — foot

El și-a tăiat laba piciorului de o piatră.
He cut his foot on a rock.

picior — leg

Cred că mi-am rupt piciorul.
I think I may have broken my leg.

cap — head

A început sa mă doară capul din senin.
My head suddenly started to hurt.

braț — arm

Bebelușul dorme doar în brațele mele.
The baby only sleeps in my arms.

mână — hand

Mâinile tale sunt mai reci decât ale mele.
Your hands are colder than mine.

stomac — stomach

Florin s-a plâns de dureri de stomac.
Florin complained of stomach pain.

spate — back

Am simțit o durere ascuțită în partea de jos a spatelui.
I felt a sharp pain in my lower back.

piept — chest

El a avut dureri în piept.
He had pains in his chest.

talie — waist

Uite cât de mică este talia ei!
Look how small her waist is!

3. The Family

Talking about your family is a great topic for small talk. Romanians have big and connected families, so don’t be surprised if they ask about your cousin that you haven’t seen since fifth grade. Here are the most important nouns in Romanian for family talk!

familie — family

Această cheltuială nu va afecta bugetul familiei noastre.
This expense will not affect our family budget.

mamă — mother

Faptul că sunt mamă, mă face fericită.
Being a mother makes me happy.

tată — father

Tatăl său a fost marinar.
His father was a sailor.

părinte — parent

Fiecare părinte are impresia că odrasla lui este specială.
Every parent thinks their child is special.

copil — child

Fiecare copil ar trebui să se simtă în siguranță.
Every child should feel safe.

fiică — daughter

El a plecat să o caute pe fiica sa.
He went to find his daughter.

fiul — son

Eu sunt fiul ei.
I’m her son.

mătușă — aunt

Mătușa ta a sunat de opt ori.
Your aunt called eight times.

unchi — uncle

Nu l-am întâlnit niciodată pe unchiul tău.
I’ve never met your uncle.

soț — husband

Va fi un soț bun.
He’ll be a good husband.

văr — cousin

Acest copil este vărul tău.
That child is your cousin.

soție — wife

El locuiește la o fermă împreună cu soția și copiii lui.
He lives on a farm with his wife and kids.

→ Do you want more Romanian family words or more information on the structure of a Romanian family? RomanianPod101 has just the article for you!

4. Working Life

We’ve got lots of names for people so far, but none for their jobs. How about some Romanian nouns related to jobs and the office?

vânzător — salesman

Ești un bun vânzător.
You are a good salesman.

profesor — teacher

Ea a fost profesoara mea de matematică.
She was my math teacher.

medic — doctor

Ar trebui să respecți sfatul doctorului.
You should follow the doctor’s advice.

bucătar — cook; chef

Am profesat ca și bucătar.
I used to be a chef.

angajat — employee

Sunt doar trei angajați cu jumătate de normă.
There are only three part-time employees.

scriitor — writer

Fiecare scriitor are nevoie de un editor bun.
Every writer needs a good editor.

șofer — driver

Am înțeles că aveți nevoie de un șofer.
I’ve heard you need a driver.

menajeră — housekeeper

Nu cred că avem nevoie de o menajeră.
I don’t think we need a housekeeper.

pictor — painter

Pictorul era înconjurat de studenții săi.
The painter was surrounded by his students.

salariu — salary

Nu vă puteți permite toate acestea din salariu.
You can’t afford this with your salary.

5. School Days

Romania isn’t the hottest destination for students, but it still boasts several famous European universities. With a relatively low cost of living and tuition, why not study among the Carpathians?

carte — book

Această carte e foarte importantă pentru mine.
This book is very important to me.

pix — pen

Dă-mi un pix și o hârtie.
Give me a pen and paper.

creion — pencil

Așteaptă o secundă ca să iau un creion.
Wait a minute, I’ll get a pencil.

facultate — university

Când aveam 20 ani, am renunțat la facultate.
When I was twenty, I dropped out of university.

caiet — notebook

Scrie-ți numărul ăsta în caiet.
Write this number in your notebook.

școală — school

Mergi pe jos până la școală?
Do you walk to school?

student — student

Amândoi suntem studenți.
Both of us are students.

temă — homework

Doar ce mi-am terminat tema la engleză.
I just finished my English homework.

examen — exam

Ultimul examen a fost perfect.
The final exam was perfect.

foarfecă — scissors

Am nevoie de o foarfecă și niște hârtie.
I need a pair of scissors and some paper.

6. At the Restaurant

Any tourist is going to want to know how to talk about things in a restaurant. Let’s look at what’s on the table first, then what’s on the plates.

platou — plate

Asta e un platou cu fructe și niște iaurt.
That’s a plate of fruit and some yogurt.

castron — bowl

Am un castron uriaș cu bomboane.
I have a giant bowl of candy.

cuțit — knife

Pune cuțitul ala pe podea.
Put that knife on the floor.

furculiță — fork

Am nevoie de furculița aia.
I need that fork.

lingură — spoon

Poți să speli lingura asta, te rog?
Can you wash this spoon, please?

ceașcă — cup

Aceasta nu este ceașca ta.
This is not your cup.

ceainic — teapot

Îmi place cum șuieră ceainicul asta.
I like how this teapot is whistling.

chelner — waiter

Chelnerul a adus aperitivele.
The waiter brought the starters.

chelneriță — waitress

Am fost cea mai bună chelneriță.
I was the best waitress.

nota de plată — bill

Ai plecat fără să achiți nota de plată.
You left without paying the bill.

7. Food and Drink

Now it’s time to discuss what’s actually on those plates. Romanian cuisine is hearty and makes use of a lot of cheese and thick sauces.

apă — water

Am nevoie de un pahar cu apă.
I need a glass of water.

cafea — coffee

Vreau o alta cană de cafea.
I want another cup of coffee.

ceai — tea

Ți-am adus niște ceai.
I brought you some tea.

carne de vită — beef

Specialitatea de astăzi este vită stroganoff.
The special today is beef stroganoff.

porcul — pork

Îmi place puiul mai mult decât porcul.
I like chicken better than pork.

pui — chicken

Am pregătit ce îți place, tocăniță de pui.
I made your favorite, chicken stew.

miel — lamb

La prânz am comandat cotlet de miel.
I ordered lamb chops for lunch.

pâine — bread

Pâinea cu mălai este preferata mea.
Cornbread is my favorite.

pește — fish

Îmi place să cumpăr pește din acest magazin.
I like to buy fish from this shop.

bere — beer

Pot să ne aduci niște bere?
Could you bring us some beer?

vin — wine

Ce fel de vin îți place?
What kind of wine do you like?

suc — fruit juice

Dă-mi un suc, te rog.
Give me a juice, please.

lapte — milk

El bea lapte în fiecare zi.
He drinks milk everyday.

8. Mealtimes

And there are of course names for the different meals throughout the day in Romania.

mic dejun — breakfast

El a ratat un mic dejun foarte bun.
He missed a very nice breakfast.

prânz — lunch

Am crezut că mergem să mâncăm masa de prânz.
I thought we were going to get lunch.

cină — dinner

Am acceptat să luăm cina împreună.
We agreed to have dinner together.

gustare — snack

Mama ne-a pregătit o gustare.
My mother made a snack for us.

ospăț — feast

Ce ospăț pe cinste!
What an amazing feast!

9. Transportation

Most Romanians take buses or cars to get around. It’s also quite common to see people lining up looking to hitch a ride with anybody going out of town! Here are the most important nouns in Romanian for transportation.

stradă — street

Ai grijă când treci strada!
Be careful crossing the street!

mașină — car

Am nevoie de mașina ta.
I need your car.

autobuz — bus

Cât costă un bilet de autobuz?
How much does a bus ticket cost?

stație de autobuz — bus station

L-am așteptat în stația de autobuz.
I picked him up at the bus station.

avion — plane

Învață-mă cum să fac avioane de hârtie.
Teach me how to make paper airplanes.

bicicletă — bicycle

Pot să merg pe un monociclu.
I can ride a bicycle with one wheel.

motocicletă — motorcycle

El a cumpărat cel mai nou model de motocicletă.
He bought the latest model motorcycle.

microbuz — mini-bus

Toate microbuzele sunt pline.
All the mini-buses are full.

tren — train

Trenul pleacă la fiecare jumătate de oră.
The train runs every half hour.

stația de tren / gară — train station

Nu vreau să locuiesc aproape de stația de tren.
I don’t want to live near the train station.

10. Technology

Romanians tend to interact with technology in English, since a lot of websites and apps don’t have Romanian versions. Therefore, some brand names are simply in English, and other words like “wi-fi” are just pronounced according to Romanian rules.

televizor — TV

Îmi place să mă uit la televizor înainte să adorm.
I like to watch television before I go to sleep.

parolă — password

Care este parola?
What’s the password?

telefon — phone

Pot să folosesc acest telefon?
May I use this phone?

cameră — camera

Am văzut imaginile surprinse de camera de supraveghere.
I saw the security camera images.

tabletă — tablet

Aceste tablete au devenit foarte populare.
Those tablets have become very popular.

11. Around the Home

Are you staying in a bed-and-breakfast, visiting Romanian friends, or renting an apartment? You’ll see these appliances all over Romania no matter what.

frigider / congelator — refrigerator

L-am ajutat pe fratele meu să mute un frigider.
I helped my brother move a refrigerator.

mașina de spălat — washing machine

Mi-am găsit portofelul în mașina de spălat.
I found my wallet in the washing machine.

microunde — microwave

Vreau să folosesc cuptorul cu microunde.
I want to use the microwave.

ventilator — fan

Ventilatorul este pe masă.
The fan is on the table.

radiator — heater

Cred că s-a stricat radiatorul.
I think the heater is broken.

aer condiționat — air conditioner

Nu avem nevoie de un aparat de aer condiționat.
We don’t need an air conditioner.

aragaz — stove

Mâncarea se încălzeșete pe aragaz.
The food is warming up on the stove.

masă — table

Masa dumneavoastră va fi gata îndată, domnule.
Your table will be ready shortly, sir.

scaun — chair

Poți să stai pe scaunul meu.
You can sit on my chair.

canapea — sofa

Ar trebui să cumpărăm o canapea nouă.
We should buy a new sofa.

ușa — door

Deschide ușa și uită-te afară.
Open the door and look outside.

fereastră — window

El doarme cu fereastra deschisă.
He sleeps with his window open.

12. Conclusion

Congratulations, you’ve just read 100 sentences (or about five book pages) of Romanian! But I bet you couldn’t tell me what the first one was. To really lock these words into your memory, you’ve got to come at them again and again, preferably over several days.

If you combine regular and intensive vocabulary review with the normal material and blog posts from RomanianPod101, you’ll be on the number-one path to Romanian excellence.

Eventually, you’ll be ready to start learning about things like Romanian nouns declension and gender, or Romanian verb conjugation!

Are there any important Romanian nouns we missed? Let us know in the comments and we’ll do our best to help.

Happy Romanian learning!