The Romanian alphabet

Romanian uses a modern Latin alphabet of 31 letters. Five are marked Romanian letters—ă, â, î, ș, and ț—so măr (apple), în (in), șase (six), and țară (country) are not written with optional decoration removed. The alphabet also includes less frequent letters such as q, w, and y, which appear mainly in foreign names, loans, and specialized vocabulary.

What are the 31 letters of the Romanian alphabet?

Learn the alphabet in the order below, with each uppercase letter paired with its lowercase form. The five marked letters occupy their own positions; they are not alternative ways to decorate a, i, s, or t.

Are ă, â, î, ș, and ț separate letters?

Yes. Ă, ă; Â, â; Î, î; Ș, ș; and Ț, ț are separate letters in the Romanian alphabet. Their marks belong to the letter: keep the breve on ă, the circumflex on â and î, and the comma below ș and ț.

• Write the comma below ș and ț, not a cedilla: șase (six), școală (school), țară (country), and față (face).
• Keep the mark in uppercase forms too: Școala începe. (The school begins.) and Țara este mare. (The country is large.)
• Do not treat ă as plain a, or ș as plain s: fată (girl) and față (face) are different words.
• The detailed spelling distribution of â and î belongs in the î and â lesson; this article only establishes that both are alphabetic letters.

Where do K, Q, W, and Y appear?

K, Q, W, and Y are part of the modern 31-letter alphabet, even though they are less frequent in traditional Romanian vocabulary. You will meet them in foreign proper names, borrowed words, technical terms, brands, and international forms; their presence does not make a Romanian text automatically incorrect.

A borrowed word can keep a foreign-looking letter while taking Romanian grammar around it. For example, the spelling and endings of a loan may need a current dictionary check rather than an automatic English plural. The lesson on borrowed and foreign words develops that choice.

How does Romanian alphabetical sorting work?

Sort Romanian words letter by letter using the Romanian order, and treat a marked letter as distinct from its plain-looking neighbor. Uppercase and lowercase forms occupy the same alphabetic position; the mark is not ignored when the list needs Romanian collation.

When you alphabetize names or vocabulary, do not silently flatten ă, â, î, ș, or ț into plain letters. A database or spreadsheet may use another locale or an accent-insensitive setting, so choose Romanian collation when the order must follow the Romanian alphabet.

What should a beginner notice when reading?

Romanian spelling often gives useful clues about reading, but letters and sounds are not always in a one-to-one relationship. A single letter can have different values in different surroundings, and a group of letters can work together to represent one consonant value. Treat the patterns below as a first reading orientation, not as a complete pronunciation course.

How do C and G change before E and I?

Before e or i, plain c and g use their special Romanian values. The spelling groups ce, ci, ge, and gi show those values; to keep the c value heard in casă or the g value heard in gară before e or i, Romanian writes che, chi, ghe, or ghi.

• In che, chi, ghe, and ghi, the h is part of the spelling pattern; it is not an extra independently pronounced consonant in the Romanian value being taught here.
• The letters e and i in these groups help establish the reading of the preceding c or g. Depending on what follows, they can also represent a vowel or function only inside the letter group, so do not count every written letter as one separate sound.
• Other combinations also need context. For example, x can represent more than one consonant sequence, and foreign words can preserve source-language spellings or values. Check a current dictionary when a new word does not fit a familiar pattern.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not remove the Romanian marks from ă, â, î, ș, or ț because they look optional on an English keyboard.
• Do not replace comma-below ș and ț with cedilla forms or with plain s and t.
• Do not claim that k, q, w, or y are absent from Romanian; they are alphabet letters, although their frequency and contexts differ.
• Do not assume that every letter has one fixed sound or that every written letter contributes a separate sound.
• Do not read che, chi, ghe, and ghi as four unrelated exceptions: in these groups, h helps preserve the intended value of c or g before e or i.