Romanian Alphabet: 31 Letters, Pronunciation & Examples

TL;DR

The Romanian alphabet has 31 letters:

A, Ă, Â, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, Î, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, Ș, T, Ț, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

It is based on the Latin alphabet and includes five letters that English does not have:

Ă, Â, Î, Ș, Ț

For beginners, these are the most important sounds and patterns to remember:

• Ă ă → /ə/, similar to the unstressed a in English about
• Â â and Î î → /ɨ/, the same Romanian vowel sound with no exact English equivalent
• Ș ș → /ʃ/, like sh in shoe
• Ț ț → /t͡s/, like ts in cats
• C before e/i → usually like ch in chair
• G before e/i → usually like j in jam
• Romanian R is normally tapped or rolled

Romanian spelling is relatively regular. Once you understand the alphabet and a few important letter combinations, you can read many unfamiliar Romanian words aloud.

Practice Romanian alphabet pronunciation

Want more listening practice? Hear Romanian sounds, repeat them aloud, and work through common pronunciation patterns.

Practice Romanian pronunciation →

What Is the Romanian Alphabet?

The Romanian alphabet is the writing system used for modern Romanian, a Romance language primarily spoken in Romania and Moldova.

It uses the Latin script and contains 31 letters. Five of them are especially distinctive:

Ă, Â, Î, Ș, Ț

These are full letters of the Romanian alphabet, not optional decorations. They represent sounds or spelling distinctions that are important for reading and writing Romanian correctly.

Romanian was historically written using forms of the Cyrillic alphabet. During the 19th century, Romanian gradually transitioned to Latin script, and the Latin alphabet became the basis of the modern writing system.

The letters Q, W, and Y occur mainly in loanwords, foreign names, and international terms, which is why beginners encounter them less often than letters such as A, C, E, M, R, or S.

One reason Romanian can be approachable for beginners is that its spelling is considerably more regular than English spelling. It is not perfectly phonetic, but letter-to-sound relationships are relatively consistent once you learn several key rules.

Romanian Alphabet: All 31 Letters A–Z

Here is the complete Romanian alphabet from A to Z, including each letter’s Romanian name, typical pronunciation, an example word, and its English meaning.

The IPA notation shows the approximate sound represented by the letter in the example. Use the audio and 3D pronunciation controls in the table to hear and visualize the individual sounds.

Note: K, Q, W, and Y are used mainly in loanwords, international terms, and proper names. Their pronunciation can therefore vary according to the word’s origin.

The Five Special Romanian Letters

If you already know the English alphabet, Ă, Â, Î, Ș, and Ț are the five Romanian letters that deserve the most attention.

Ă ă — /ə/

Ă represents /ə/, called a schwa.

It is similar to the unstressed a at the beginning of English about.

Examples:

• măr — apple
• fată — girl
• casă — house

Do not pronounce ă like Romanian a. They are different letters representing different vowel sounds.

Compare:

• măr — apple
• mare — big or sea, depending on context

The ă in măr represents /ə/, while the a in mare represents /a/.

 â and Î î — /ɨ/

 and Î look different but normally represent the same Romanian vowel sound: /ɨ/.

This sound has no exact equivalent in standard English. The best way to learn it is to hear the /ɨ/ pronunciation in the alphabet table above and then notice the same sound in real Romanian words.

Examples:

• român — Romanian
• pâine — bread
• în — in
• înger — angel

Why does Romanian have two letters for the same sound?

As a useful beginner rule:

• â normally appears inside words: român, pâine, câine
• î normally appears at the beginning or end of words: în, înger, a coborî

Compound and prefixed words create some exceptions, but this distinction is enough to get started.

Ș ș — /ʃ/

Ș sounds like English sh in shoe.

Examples:

• școală — school
• șapte — seven
• ușă — door

The correct modern Romanian character is ș, with a comma below.

Older digital text may sometimes show ş, which uses a cedilla. Modern Romanian orthography uses ș.

Ț ț — /t͡s/

Ț represents /t͡s/.

An English speaker can approximate it with the ts sound at the end of cats.

Examples:

• țară — country
• viață — life
• față — face

Like ș, standard Romanian ț has a comma below.

The Most Important Romanian Pronunciation Rules

Knowing the 31 letters is only the beginning.

Romanian has several important letter combinations that determine how C and G are pronounced. Learning these patterns will make unfamiliar Romanian words much easier to read.

C Before A, O, or U

Before a, o, u, Romanian c normally represents /k/.

Examples:

• casă — house
• copil — child

CE and CI

Before e or i, c normally represents /t͡ʃ/, similar to English ch in chair.

Examples:

• cer — sky
• cină — dinner

CHE and CHI

When Romanian needs the hard /k/ sound before e or i, it normally uses ch.

Examples:

• cheie — key
• chitară — guitar

The h is not pronounced separately in this combination.

G Before A, O, or U

Before a, o, u, Romanian g normally represents the hard /ɡ/ sound.

Example:

• gata — ready

GE and GI

Before e or i, g normally represents /d͡ʒ/, similar to English j in jam.

Examples:

• ger — frost
• girafă — giraffe

GHE and GHI

When Romanian needs the hard /ɡ/ sound before e or i, it uses gh.

Examples:

• gheață — ice
• ghid — guide

For quick reference:

These four patterns are among the most useful Romanian reading rules a beginner can memorize.

Romanian Vowels

Romanian has seven basic vowel sounds commonly represented by:

A, Ă, Â/Î, E, I, O, U

Although  and Î are different letters, they normally represent the same /ɨ/ vowel.

Here the audio controls play the individual vowel sounds, while the Example column shows how those letters appear in real Romanian words.

Romanian also uses diphthongs and combinations involving vowels and semivowels.

For example:

noapte — night

contains the common oa sequence.

One Important Exception: E Can Begin With a “Y” Sound

Romanian spelling is relatively regular, but it is not perfectly one-letter-one-sound.

One useful exception involves e at the beginning of certain very common words.

In standard pronunciation, some personal pronouns and forms of the verb a fi (“to be”) begin with a /j/ glide, similar to English y.

Examples include:

• eu — I
• el — he
• ea — she
• este — is
• ești — you are

Do not apply this rule automatically to every Romanian word beginning with e.

For example:

erou — hero

does not follow the same pattern.

How to Pronounce Romanian R

Romanian R is different from the usual English R.

It is normally pronounced as an alveolar tap or trill, produced near the ridge just behind the upper front teeth.

Examples include:

• român — Romanian
• roșu — red
• rece — cold

You can hear the Romanian /r/ sound using the pronunciation control for R in the alphabet table above.

If you are an English speaker, don’t force an exaggerated long roll.

Start by practicing a short tongue tap. A natural Romanian R is more important than making the sound as dramatic as possible.

Romanian Word Stress

Romanian stress is variable.

That means you should not rely on a rule such as “always stress the second-to-last syllable.” While certain stress patterns are common, Romanian word stress is not reliably predictable from ordinary spelling alone.

Stress is also generally not marked in everyday Romanian writing.

For learners, a better method is:

1. Learn the written word.
2. Check its pronunciation using a reliable Romanian audio source or dictionary.
3. Identify the stressed syllable.
4. Repeat the word with the same rhythm.
5. Learn pronunciation together with vocabulary.

The alphabet table above is useful for learning individual Romanian sounds, while complete-word pronunciation is best practiced with vocabulary audio and native speech.

Ș and Ț Use a Comma Below, Not a Cedilla

This small detail matters when writing Romanian digitally.

The correct modern Romanian letters are:

Ș ș

Ț ț

Both have a comma below.

You may encounter these forms in older digital texts:

Ş ş

Ţ ţ

Those use a cedilla instead.

The cedilla forms became widespread because older computer standards and fonts did not always support the correct Romanian comma-below characters.

For modern Romanian writing, use:

ș and ț

rather than:

ş and ţ

How to Type Romanian Letters

The easiest and most reliable way to type Romanian is to enable a Romanian keyboard layout on your device.

This is better than memorizing numeric character codes because shortcuts can differ between operating systems, keyboard layouts, and regional settings.

Windows

Open:

Settings → Time & language → Language & region

Add Romanian and select an available Romanian keyboard layout.

Romanian (Programmers) can be particularly convenient if you regularly switch between Romanian and English-style keyboard input.

macOS

Open:

System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input → Edit

Click +, find Romanian, and add a Romanian input source.

You can then switch keyboard layouts when you need:

ă â î ș ț

iPhone and iPad

Open:

Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard

Select Romanian.

Android

Add Romanian through your keyboard application’s language settings.

For example, Gboard allows you to add Romanian from its Languages settings.

Using the correct Romanian keyboard makes it much easier to develop the habit of writing diacritics correctly.

Common Romanian Alphabet Mistakes

Knowing the Romanian letters is only part of learning to read the language. These are some of the most common pronunciation and spelling mistakes beginners make.

1. Pronouncing Ă Like A

Romanian ă and a represent different vowel sounds.

• a → /a/, similar to the vowel in father
• ă → /ə/, similar to the unstressed vowel in about

For example:

• măr — apple
• mare — big or sea, depending on context

In măr, the letter ă should not be pronounced like a regular a.

2. Pronouncing  and ΠDifferently

The letters â and î look different, but they normally represent the same sound: /ɨ/.

The difference between them is mainly a matter of Romanian spelling.

As a useful beginner rule:

• â normally appears inside a word: român, pâine, câine
• î normally appears at the beginning or end of a word: în, înger, a coborî

So don’t try to give â and î two different pronunciations.

3. Confusing CE/CI With CHE/CHI

The letter c changes pronunciation before e and i.

Remember:

• ce / ci → /t͡ʃ/, similar to ch in English chair
• che / chi → /k/

Examples:

• cer — sky
• cină — dinner
• cheie — key
• chitară — guitar

The added h keeps the hard /k/ sound before e or i.

4. Confusing GE/GI With GHE/GHI

The same type of change happens with g.

Remember:

• ge / gi → /d͡ʒ/, similar to j in English jam
• ghe / ghi → /ɡ/, as in English go

Examples:

• ger — frost
• girafă — giraffe
• gheață — ice
• ghid — guide

The h in ghe and ghi keeps the hard /ɡ/ sound.

5. Reading Romanian J Like the English J

Romanian j does not have the usual English j sound /d͡ʒ/.

Instead, Romanian j represents /ʒ/, similar to the sound in English measure or vision.

For example:

• jurnal — journal
• jos — down
• joi — Thursday

So jurnal begins with /ʒ/, not the English /d͡ʒ/ sound.

6. Replacing Ș and Ț With S and T

Ș and Ț are separate letters of the Romanian alphabet, not decorated versions of S and T that can simply be ignored.

Compare:

• s → /s/
• ș → /ʃ/, like sh in shoe
• t → /t/
• ț → /t͡s/, like ts in cats

When writing Romanian, use the correct letters ș and ț whenever they are required.

7. Assuming Romanian Stress Is Always Predictable

Romanian word stress is variable and usually isn’t marked in normal writing.

There is no reliable beginner rule such as “always stress the second-to-last syllable.”

Instead, learn the pronunciation of the whole word when you learn new vocabulary. Pay attention to which syllable receives the stress and imitate the rhythm you hear.

Quick Reminder

The most useful distinctions to memorize are:

If you remember these distinctions, you’ll avoid many of the pronunciation mistakes beginners make when first learning to read Romanian.

Practice Reading Romanian Words

Now apply the alphabet rules to real Romanian words.

Try reading each word aloud before checking its pronunciation with a Romanian dictionary, native recording, or our interactive pronunciation resources.

A simple practice routine is:

1. Look at the Romanian word.
2. Use the rules you’ve learned to predict its pronunciation.
3. Check the pronunciation with a reliable Romanian audio source.
4. Compare what you said with what you hear.
5. Repeat the word two or three times.
6. Focus on one difficult sound at a time.

For additional listening and visual practice, try our interactive Romanian pronunciation tool.

What Should You Learn After the Romanian Alphabet?

Once the alphabet and basic pronunciation patterns feel familiar, start applying them to everyday Romanian.

A useful learning sequence is:

1. Start with How to Say Hello in Romanian.
2. Learn polite expressions with Thank You in Romanian.
3. Practice How to Say Good Morning in Romanian.
4. Learn personal expressions with I Love You in Romanian.
5. Continue with Learn Romanian Grammar: A Complete Guide.

The goal is not to memorize the alphabet indefinitely. Use it immediately to read and pronounce real Romanian words.

FAQ

How many letters are in the Romanian alphabet?

The Romanian alphabet has 31 letters:

A, Ă, Â, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, Î, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, Ș, T, Ț, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

What are the five special Romanian letters?

The five distinctive Romanian letters are:

Ă, Â, Î, Ș, Ț

Their main sounds are:

• Ă → /ə/
• Â → /ɨ/
• Î → /ɨ/
• Ș → /ʃ/
• Ț → /t͡s/

Is the Romanian alphabet the same as the English alphabet?

No.

Both use the Latin script, but Romanian has 31 letters and includes Ă, Â, Î, Ș, and Ț.

Many shared letters are also pronounced differently from their English equivalents.

Is Romanian written in Cyrillic or Latin?

Modern Romanian is written with the Latin alphabet.

Romanian was historically written using Cyrillic scripts before transitioning to a Latin-based writing system during the 19th century.

Is Romanian a phonetic language?

Romanian spelling is relatively phonemic, meaning written letters correspond to sounds much more consistently than they do in English.

However, Romanian is not perfectly phonetic. Learners still need to understand patterns such as ce/ci, che/chi, ge/gi, ghe/ghi, the behavior of i, and several pronunciation exceptions.

Do  and Πsound different?

No.

 and Î normally represent the same vowel sound: /ɨ/.

The difference is mainly where they are used in Romanian spelling.

How is Ă pronounced in Romanian?

Ă represents /ə/, similar to the unstressed vowel at the beginning of English about.

For example:

măr — apple

You can hear the /ə/ sound using the Ă pronunciation control in the alphabet table above.

How is Ș pronounced?

Romanian ș is pronounced /ʃ/, like English sh in shoe.

For example:

școală — school

You can hear /ʃ/ using the Ș pronunciation control in the alphabet table above.

How is Ț pronounced?

Romanian ț represents /t͡s/, similar to the ts sound at the end of English cats.

For example:

țară — country

You can hear /t͡s/ using the Ț pronunciation control in the alphabet table above.

How do you pronounce C in Romanian?

Before e or i, Romanian c normally sounds like /t͡ʃ/, similar to English ch:

cer, cină

Before a, o, or u, it normally represents /k/:

casă, copil

To keep /k/ before e or i, Romanian uses ch, as in:

cheie, chitară

How do you pronounce G in Romanian?

Before e or i, Romanian g normally represents /d͡ʒ/, similar to English j in jam:

ger, girafă

Before a, o, or u, it normally represents hard /ɡ/:

gata

Romanian uses gh to keep /ɡ/ before e or i:

gheață, ghid

Is Romanian pronunciation difficult for English speakers?

Romanian has several unfamiliar sounds, especially ă, â/î, the Romanian r, ș, and ț.

However, Romanian spelling is relatively regular. Once you learn the major pronunciation patterns, reading unfamiliar Romanian words becomes much easier than reading unfamiliar English words.

Final Thoughts

The Romanian alphabet has 31 letters, but English-speaking beginners do not need to learn 31 completely unfamiliar symbols.

Start with the five distinctive letters:

Ă, Â, Î, Ș, Ț

Then remember these four high-value pronunciation patterns:

ce / ci → /t͡ʃ/

che / chi → /k/

ge / gi → /d͡ʒ/

ghe / ghi → /ɡ/

Once these become familiar, Romanian becomes much easier to read aloud because its spelling is relatively regular.

Most importantly, don’t practice letters only in isolation. Apply the sounds to complete Romanian words so that the alphabet becomes a practical reading skill rather than something you simply memorize.

For additional listening practice, use our Romanian alphabet pronunciation guide or the interactive Romanian pronunciation tool.

References

1. Romanian Academy
2. DOOM – Dicționarul ortografic, ortoepic și morfologic al limbii române
3. DEX Online