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Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
Romanian |
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,
Q q, R r, S s, Ș ș, T t, Ț ț, U u, V v,
W w, 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. There are 31 letters in the Romanian language.
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) |
| Ș, ș | - s as in sugar |
| Ț, ț | - 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 (ii) . Three i letters (iii) are pronounced "iji." | |
| 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 |
NOTES:
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."
Also note that in Romanian the diacritical marks under Ș, ș and Ț, ț are not cedillas but rather commas (with a separation from the letters).