Decimals, percentages, and quantities

Romanian uses a comma for the decimal separator and says virgulă when reading it: Prețul este de 12,5 lei (the price is 12.5 lei). The same number system uses la sută for percentages and agreement-sensitive words for quantities. The Romanian cardinal numbers article supplies the basic number forms; this lesson focuses on numbers used as measurements and amounts.

How do you write and read a decimal?

Write a comma between the whole-number part and the decimal part, then read the comma as virgulă. The number after the comma is read as a cardinal number, not with the English word “point.”

Keep the punctuation roles separate: in the learner examples here, 1.000 means one thousand, while 1,5 means one and a half. For the forms of the tens and the linker de, see numbers over twenty and the linker de.

How do you express a percentage?

One standard way to read a percentage is a cardinal number followed by la sută: douăzeci la sută means twenty percent. You can also use the noun procent: douăzeci de procente. Do not omit de in that noun-based phrase.

In a sentence, the percentage phrase can name the measured group: Douăzeci la sută dintre participanți au răspuns. (Twenty percent of the participants answered.) The numeral remains a cardinal number; la sută supplies the percentage meaning.

How do you name a fraction?

For a named fraction, use a feminine fractional noun, often formed with -ime. Use the singular after one and the plural after a larger cardinal number: o treime (one third), but două treimi (two thirds).

In mathematical speech, a fraction can also be read with pe or supra: doi pe trei or doi supra trei (two over three). These are useful alternatives when the written fraction itself is being calculated.

For one half, also learn the everyday expression o jumătate. The derived form o doime belongs to the regular fractional series and also appears in specialist terminology.

How do you ask how much or how many?

Use cât or câtă with a singular mass or uncountable noun, and câți or câte with a plural countable noun. The form follows the noun's grammatical gender and number; the cât, câtă, câți, and câte article gives the full question pattern.

How do amount words agree?

The common amount words mult (much, many) and puțin (little, few) change for gender and number when they modify a noun. Use multă and puțină with feminine singular mass nouns, mulți and puțini with masculine plural nouns, and multe and puține with feminine or neuter plural nouns.

How do you give an approximate quantity?

Put an approximation word before the numeral phrase. Aproximativ and circa are common in documents and other more formal written contexts; cam, vreo, and în jur de are especially common in conversation.

For an approximate upper or lower limit, use peste or mai mult de for more than, sub or mai puțin de for less than, and aproape for almost: peste o sută de pagini (over one hundred pages), sub trei minute (under three minutes), aproape cincizeci de persoane (almost fifty people).

Mistakes to avoid

• Use a comma for a decimal in Romanian writing: 1,5, not an English-style decimal point in the learner pattern.
• Use either douăzeci la sută or douăzeci de procente for 20%; do not say douăzeci procent without de.
• Keep quantity forms with the noun they describe: câte cărți and câți oameni, not one plural form for every noun.
• Match amount words to the noun: multă apă, mulți oameni, and multe cărți do not use one invariant form.
• Do not confuse și inside a compound number with de before a counted noun: douăzeci și trei de pagini (twenty-three pages).