Alphabet
Consonants
Diphthongs
Basics
Tongue Twister
a [a] central, open, unrounded (cut, sun)
ac [ac] needle cacao [cacao] cocoa da [da] yes
[
er] central, half-open, unrounded (hurt, under : the r should not be
pronounced)
ia [
erya] those ru [reroo
]
bad bun [booner] good
â, î [î] central, close, unrounded (lesson, tension)
The spelling reform (1993) stipulated that the sound [î
] should be represented by the letter 'î' at the
beginning and the end of the word and by 'â' inside the word:
în [n] in român [romn] Romanian cobor [cobor] to lower
The exceptions to the rule above are the prefixes when these are added to a word beginning with î:
înclzi [nc
erlzi] (to) heat reînclzi [rencerlzi]
(to) reheat
e [e] front, half-open, unrounded (egg, bet)
At the beginning of the word 'e' is pronounced 'ye' (like in yes) when is followed by a vowel;
while at the end of the word 'e' is stressed.
eu [yeoo] I efect [efect] effect bere [bere] beer
i [i] front, close, unrounded (in, big)
in [in] flax mic [mic] small
at the end of the word 'i' is:
almost silent, softening the preceding consonant
pantofi [pantofi] shoes
ii' or 'iii' we pronounce it 'ee' (sounds like a stressed long i from 'bee')
copil [copil] child copii [copee] children copiii [copeeee] the children
o [o] back, half-open, rounded (for, from)
obelisc [obelisc]
obelisk nod [nod] knot
acolo [acolo] there
u [oo] back, close, rounded (book, soon)
ud [ood]
wet bun [boon] good
minereu [minereoo] ore
