Romanian Pronunciation Guide

By Dick Oakes

A a, Ă ă, Â â, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g,
H h, I i, Î î, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p,
R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, Ţ ţ, U u, V v,
X x, Z z

The Romanian (Român) language is quite phonetic and uses accents on some vowels and on some consonants. It is a Romance language spoken by about 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova.

Letters not listed below are pronounced approximately as in English.

A, a	- a as in father
Ă, ă	- a as in around
Â, â	- i as in girl (see Î)
E, e	- e as in let
I, i	- i as in machine
Î, î	- i as in girl
O, o	- o as in note; also o as in gone
U, u	- u as in duke

C, c	- c as in cello (ch) when before E or I, otherwise c as in cat
Ch, ch	- ch as in chaos (k)
G, g	- g as in germ (j) when before E or I, otherwise g as in go
Gh, gh	- gh as in ghost (g)
J, j	- z as in azure (zh)
Ş, ş	- s as in sugar
Ţ, ţ	- tz as in quartz (ts)

DIPTHONGS AND TRIPTHONGS:

The Romanian language has many dipthongs (and tripthongs), which are pronounced separately but in rapid succession. The weaker vowel almost becomes semiconsonantal. Examples are:

ai	- ai as in kaiser
au	- au as in sauerkraut
ău	- a as in about combined with u as in flute
ea	- ea as in bread
ei	- ei as in seine
eu	- eu as in feud
ia	- ya as in yacht
ie	- ye as in yes
io	- yo as in yoke
iu	- yu as in yule
îi	- i as in hike
îu	- similar to eu in feud
oa	- wa as in wash
oi	- oi as in spheroid
ou	- ou as in dough
uă	- wu as in wuther
eai	- yi as in yikes
eau	- yow as in yowl
ieu	- ieu as in lieu

The letter i at the end of a word is silent unless preceded by another letter i.

COMBINATIONS:

Ci, ci	- chi as in chief
Ce, ce	- che as in chess
Chi, chi	- chi as in Chianti
Ghe, ghe	- ghe as in ghetto
Ghi, ghi	- gee as in geese
Ge, ge	- ge as in genesis
Gi, gi	- gi as in giraff

NOTE:

	The -ul ending, pronounced "-oo" (colloquial) or "-ool" (more formal usage) is a form of the Romanian definite article, the equivalent of the english "the;" hence alunelu = "hazelnut," alunelul = "the hazelnut."