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Lesson 4 of 10

Counting to ten in Romanian

One to ten, for prices, platforms, rooms and how many beers. Play the ten Romanian words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.

The hills of Transylvania
Counting to ten
10 words · 20 seconds each · 8 of 10 to pass
What it meansHow to say it
Unuplusunu, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

All 10 Romanian phrases in this lesson

UnuOO-noo
One

Un (oon) before masculine nouns, o (oh) before feminine nouns, and unu on its own when counting. Romanian gender agreement trips up beginners but context always saves you.

Doidoy
Two

Doi for masculine, două (DOW-uh) for feminine. When counting aloud or giving a number alone, doi is the default.

Treitray
Three

Sounds exactly like the English word "tray". Romanian numbers from three upward do not change for gender, which is a relief after one and two.

PatruPAH-troo
Four
CinciCHEENCH
Five

The ci combination makes a ch sound in Romanian. Cinci looks baffling at first glance but is easy once you know the rule: c before i or e sounds like ch in "cheese".

ȘaseSHAH-seh
Six
ȘapteSHAHP-teh
Seven
Optopt
Eight
NouăNOH-wuh
Nine
ZeceZEH-cheh
Ten

Again c before e makes the ch sound. Twenty is douăzeci (DOW-uh-ZEH-chee), literally two-tens. Romanian numbers are built logically from these roots.

Where Romanian is spoken

Next lesson: Shops and hotels →