Language/Romanian/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation
Hello Romanian learners! 📚
In today's lesson, you will learn how to write the different letters of the Romanian alphabet and how to pronounce these letters, whether it is through the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) or through a video with the pronunciation of the letters by a native speaker. You will also find at the end of this lesson a virtual keyboard to be able to type each special character of this language. 🎹
After mastering the Romanian alphabet and pronunciation, you might want to explore other aspects of the language. Feel free to check out our lessons on Romanian Grammar: Plural Nouns, Romanian Vocabulary - Body, and Romanian Vocabulary Basic Romanian Vocabulary Family and Relationships to further enhance your Romanian language skills. Happy learning! 😊
Romanian Alphabet & English Pronunciation[edit | edit source]
Vowels[edit | edit source]
- a is pronounced similar to the "a" in "rather"
- e is pronounced similar to the "a" in "crate”
- i is usually pronounced similar to the "ee" in "meet”
- o is pronounced similar to the 'o' in "chore"
- u is pronounced similar to the 'oo' in "room",
- ă is pronounced similar to the 'a' in "aloud”
- â and î are both pronounced similar to the "i" in "twirl". However, î only appears at the beginning of the word while â appears everywhere else in the word.
Consonants[edit | edit source]
- ş is pronounced similar to the 'sh' in "rush"
- ţ is pronounced similar to the 'ts' in "sports"
- c (ce) proceeded by an i or e, is pronounced similar to the 'ch' in "cheer", otherwise like the 'c' in "cry".
- ch solely appears preceding i or e, is pronounced similar to the 'c' in "cry”.
- g (ghe/ge) when followed by i or e, pronounced similar to the 'j' in "jar", otherwise like the 'g' in "goose”.
- gh solely appears preceding an i or e and is pronounced similar to the 'g' in " goose”.
Diphthongs[edit | edit source]
- oi is pronounced similar to the 'oy' in "joy".
- ea is pronounced similar to the 'a' in " crate " followed by the 'a' in "rather".
- ai is pronounced similar to the 'i' in "ride".
- ei is pronounced similar to the 'a' in "lane".
- au is pronounced similar to the 'ou' in "south".
- ău is pronounced similar to the 'a' in "amount" proceeded by the 'oo' in "loot”.
- ăi is pronounced similar to the 'a' in " amount " proceeded by the 'ee' in "meet”.
- âi is pronounced similar to the Romanian 'â' or 'î' proceeded by the 'ee' in "meet”.
- îi is pronounced similar to the "i" in "like".
Alphabet & IPA Pronunciation[edit | edit source]
Letter | Name | IPA |
---|---|---|
A, a | a | /a/ |
Ă, ă | ă | /ə/ |
Â, â | î / î din a | /ɨ/ |
B, b | be / bî | /b/ |
C, c | ce / cî | /k/ |
/tʃ/ | ||
D, d | de / dî | /d/ |
E, e | e | /e/ |
/e̯/ | ||
/je/ | ||
F, f | ef / fe / fî | /f/ |
G, g | ge / ghe / gî | /ɡ/ |
/dʒ/ | ||
H, h | haș / ha / hî | /h/, /ç/, /x/ |
∅ | ||
I, i | i | /i/ |
/j/ | ||
/ʲ/ | ||
Î, î | î / î din i | /ɨ/ |
J, j | je / jî | /ʒ/ |
K, k | ca / capa | /k/ |
L, l | el / le / lî | /l/ |
M, m | em / me / mî | /m/ |
N, n | en / ne / nî | /n/ |
O, o | o | /o/ |
/o̯/ | ||
P, p | pe / pî | /p/ |
Q, q | kü / chiu | /k/ |
R, r | er / re / rî | /r/ |
S, s | es / se / sî | /s/ |
Ș, ș | șe / șî | /ʃ/ |
T, t | te / tî | /t/ |
Ț, ț | țe / țî | /ts/ |
U, u | u | /u/ |
/w/ | ||
V, v | ve / vî | /v/ |
W, w | dublu ve / dublu vî | /v/ |
/w/ | ||
/u/ | ||
X, x | ics | /ks/ |
/ɡz/ | ||
Y, y | igrec / i grec | /j/ |
/i/ | ||
Z, z | ze / zet / zed / zî | /z/ |
Phonology[edit | edit source]
Vowels[edit | edit source]
There are seven monophthongs in Romanian:
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i ⟨i⟩ | ɨ ⟨î/â⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ |
Mid | e ⟨e⟩ | ə ⟨ă⟩ | o ⟨o⟩ |
Open | a ⟨a⟩ |
Consonants[edit | edit source]
Romanian has 20 phonemic consonants:
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-
alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
central | sibilant | |||||||
Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ||||||
Plosive/
Affricate |
voiceless | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | t͡s ⟨ț⟩ | t͡ʃ ⟨c⟩ | k ⟨c/ch/k⟩ | ||
voiced | b ⟨b⟩ | d ⟨d⟩ | d͡ʒ ⟨g⟩ | ɡ ⟨g/gh⟩ | ||||
Fricative | voiceless | f ⟨f⟩ | s ⟨s⟩ | ʃ ⟨ș⟩ | h ⟨h⟩ | |||
voiced | v ⟨v⟩ | z ⟨z⟩ | ʒ ⟨j⟩ | |||||
Trill | r ⟨r⟩ | |||||||
Approximant | l ⟨l⟩ | j ⟨i⟩ | w ⟨u⟩ |
Video - Romanian Alphabet Pronunciation by a Native Speaker[edit | edit source]
Romanian Online Virtual Keyboard[edit | edit source]