Romanian Pronunciation Guide

Romanian pronunciation is very phonetic. The accent and sounds are almost identical to Italian and other Romance languages (with very few, if any, Slavic influences), so remember to sound every letter clearly. Also, sounds very rarely differ between words (i.e. the letter i is always pronounced the same, every time, unlike in English or even French).

Like English, Romanian has secondary stresses in words. We have not attempted to represent those here. Stress usually falls on the second-last syllable if it ends in a vowel, and last if it ends in a consonant. If you know another Romance language, you shouldn't worry as the stress partterns are usually the same in similar-sounding words.

Questions in Romanian that end with a verb often use a rising tone on the last syllable or two.

Vowels

a
    in between the 'a' in "father" and the 'a' in "trap"

e
    in between 'e' of "dress" and 'a' of "face". However, it is not a diphthong like the vowel in "face" is in most accents of English. When the word begins with an 'e' and it is a form of "a fi" (to be) or a pronoun it is like 'ye' in "yell"

i
    like 'ee' in "beep" when in the middle or start of a word. When at the end, it is barely sounded - for example, in the word Bucureşti, it is pronounced Boo-KOO-resht with a very short and slight i - never pronounce it as Boo-KOO-reshtee. The terminal "i" causes a slight "softening" of the preceding consonant. (If this is too hard, don't pronounce the i at all.) The few Romanian words with a very strong terminal "i" sound are spelled with a double "i" ("ii").

o
    like 'o' in "chlorine", rounded, fairly short sound

u
    like 'oo' in "broom", but much shorter

ă
    like 'a' in "digital". This sound is usually mispronounced (people tend to pronounce it like 'u' in 'cup', but in fact, this sound is frequently found in English.) When seeing ă always think of the sound in the rather than in bra. Similar to French 'e' in word 'je'.

â, î
    no precise English equivalent - it's best to hear it being spoken. â and î are the same sound in Romanian. î is used at the beginning and at the end of words, â in all other cases. The closest American English sound is the ""oo"" in "book", but it's a bit shifted toward a "soft 'i'", as in "it". Similar to French 'u' in word 'rue'.

Consonants

b
    like 'b' in "bed"
c
    like 'ch' in "cheese" (like Italian 'c') when followed by 'e' or 'i', otherwise like 'k'
d
    like 'd' in "dog"
f
    like 'f' in "federation"
g
    like 'g' in "gym" when followed by 'e' or 'i', otherwise like 'g' in "gear"
h
    like 'h' in "help" (never silent in Romanian)
j
    like the French 'j' in "Bonjour" - English equivalent is the "s" in "pleasure"
k
    like 'c' in "scan"
l
    like 'l' in "love"
m
    like 'm' in "mother"
n
    like 'n' in "nice"
p
    like 'p' in "spit"
q
    like 'k' in "sketch" (this letter is rarely used in Romanian)
r
    not like the 'r' in "row"; more like 't' of "pretty" in North American English (similar to the Italian r)
s
    like 's' in "snake"
ş
    like 'sh' in "lush"
ţ
    similar to 'ts' in "thats"
t
    like 't' in "stand"
v
    like 'v' in "very"
w
    like 'v' in "very" or "w" in english loadwords
x
    like 'cks' in "picks", sometimes 'gs' in "pigs"
y
    like 'i' in "dip"
z
    like 'z' in "fizz"

Common diphthongs

oi
    like 'oy' in "boy"
ea
    diphthong beginning with a short Romanian "e" sound and ending with the Romanian "a" sound. These two sounds are pronounced smoothly and quickly together as one syllable. However, this letter pair is not always a diphthong.
oa
    diphthong beginning with a short Romanian "o" sound and ending with the Romanian "a sound. These two sounds are pronounced smoothly and quickly together as one syllable.

Common digraphs

ch
    like 'c' in "collar" (hard sound)
gh
    like 'g' in "giving"