The Romanian alphabet is the 31-letter alphabet of the modern Romanian language. It consists of the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, plus 5 special characters obtained by applying diacritics.
# | Letter | Name | Pronunciation | Note | Example | Phonetic pairing | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Romanian | English | |||||||
1 | А | а | a | /a/ | arbore /ˈar.bo.re/ | (tree) | Ana | |
2 | Ă | ă | ă | /ə/ | ăsta /ˈəs.ta/ | (this) | ||
3 | Â | â | â din a | /ɨ/ | same pronunciation as Î, used within words | sfânt /sfɨnt/ | (saint) | |
4 | B | b | be | /b/ | băiat /bəˈjat/ | (boy) | Barbu | |
5 | C | c | ce | /k/ | crede /ˈkre.de/ | (believe) | Constantin | |
/t͡ʃ/ | before i or e | citi /t͡ʃiˈti/ | (read) | |||||
6 | D | d | de | /d/ | dragoste /ˈdra.ɡos.te/ | (love) | Dumitru | |
7 | E | e | e | /e/ | spate /ˈspa.te/ | (back) | Elena | |
/e̯/ | in diphthongs and triphthongs | stea /ste̯a/ | (star) | |||||
/je/ | at the beginnings of a few words | este /ˈjes.te/ | (is) | |||||
/j/ | when followed by a vowel, but not preceded by a consonant | ea /ja/ | (she) | |||||
8 | F | f | fe / ef | /f/ | foc /fok/ | (flame) | Florea | |
9 | G | g | ghe / ge | /ɡ/ | greu /ɡrew/ | (heavy) | Gheorghe | |
/d͡ʒ/ | before i or e | plânge /ˈplɨn.d͡ʒe/ | (cry) | |||||
10 | H | h | ha / haș | /h/ | hotel /hoˈtel/ | (hotel) | Haralambie | |
11 | I | i | i | /i/ | ipocrit /i.poˈkrit/ | (hypocrite) | Ion | |
/j/ | in diphthongs and triphthongs | ianuarie /ja.nuˈa.ri.e/ | (January) | |||||
/ʲ/ | mostly at the ends of words | băieți /bəˈjet͡sʲ/ | (boys) | |||||
12 | Î | î | î din i | /ɨ/ | same pronunciation as Â, used at the beginnings and ends of words | înger /ˈɨn.d͡ʒer/ | (angel) | |
13 | J | j | je | /ʒ/ | jigni /ʒiɡˈni/ | (to offend) | Jean | |
14 | K | k | ka (de la kilogram) | /k/ | mostly in words of foreign derivation | kilogram /ki.loˈɡram/ | (kilogram) | K |
15 | L | l | el | /l/ | lapte /ˈlap.te/ | (milk) | Luca | |
16 | M | m | me / em | /m/ | martie /ˈmar.ti.e/ | (march) | Marin | |
17 | N | n | ne / en | /n/ | noroc /noˈrok/ | (luck) | Nicolae | |
18 | O | o | o | /o/ | octombrie /okˈtom.bri.e/ | (October) | Olga | |
/o̯/ | in diphthongs and triphthongs | lupoaică /luˈpo̯aj.kə/ | (she-wolf) | |||||
19 | P | p | pe | /p/ | pașaport /pa.ʃaˈport/ | (passport) | Petre | |
20 | Q | q | chiu | /k/ | quasar /kwaˈsar/ | (quasar) | Q | |
21 | R | r | re / er | /r/ | românește /ro.mɨˈneʃ.te/ | (in Romanian) | Radu | |
22 | S | s | se / es | /s/ | simplu /ˈsim.plu/ | (simple) | Sandu | |
23 | Ș | ș | șe | /ʃ/ | șarpe /ˈʃar.pe/ | (snake) | ||
24 | T | t | te | /t/ | timp /ˈtimp/ | (time) | Tudor | |
25 | Ț | ț | țe | /t͡s/ | țară /ˈt͡sa.rə/ | (country) | ||
26 | U | u | u | /u/ | ușă /ˈu.ʃə/ | (door) | Udrea | |
/w/ | in diphthongs and triphthongs | bou /bow/ | (ox) | |||||
/v/ | in most Latin borrowings where the cluster qu was kept | equus /ˈe.kvus/ | (Equus) | |||||
27 | V | v | ve | /v/ | vară /ˈva.rə/ | (summer) | Vasile | |
28 | W | w | dublu ve | /v/ | watt /vat/ | (watt) | dublu V | |
/w/ | in English borrowings | showbiz /ʃow.biz/ | (showbusiness) | |||||
29 | X | x | ics | /ks/ | sexos /sekˈsos/ | (sexy) | Xenopol | |
/ɡz/ | exemplu /eɡˈzem.plu/ | (example) | ||||||
30 | Y | y | i grec | /i/ | ytriu /ˈi.trju/ | (yttrium) | I grec | |
/j/ | in diphthongs | yen /jen/ | (yen) | |||||
31 | Z | z | ze / zet | /z/ | zahăr /ˈza.hər/ | (sugar) | Zamfir |