Romanian language dictionary. Rules for reading in Romanian

Romanian(aka Daco-Romanian, Moldavian, Wallachian) formally belongs to the Romance languages, that is, it is a “relative” of Italian, French and Spanish. But we must understand that since the times of Dacia and Trajan, the Huns, Goths, and Bulgars also swept through these lands... So, in reality, modern Romanian is a most enchanting mishmash of Dacian (in particular, many Dacian geographical names have been preserved, for example the same Argesh), Latin, Slavic languages ​​and later borrowings from Western European languages. As a result, the vocabulary differs very much from Western European languages; there are very few familiar roots in Romanian, but there are a fair number of Slavic ones.

Of course, we won’t be able to learn the language seriously, but perhaps it’s worth making some efforts to give our speech some recognizable flavor - especially since the same Poles or Serbs have already done this a hundred pounds. Perhaps for the Romanians this has also been done before on XC, so if someone comes up with some smart ideas, it will be very cool. For now, I propose to focus on two things - phonetics and a small phrasebook.

Phonetics

The Romanian language uses the Latin alphabet. “Cyrillizations” of Romanian words in a number of cases are not quite phonetically accurate - they sound logical to a Russian person, but do not fully reflect the Romanian flavor (for example, it is more correct to pronounce Drakulesti and Danesti). We can change this for ourselves. So, how to read Romanian Latin?

Most of the letters are read quite familiarly, like in Latin or German.
- Unstressed vowels are reduced much weaker than we are used to; we should try to pronounce all vowels as if they were stressed.
- In electronic texts and in writing, diacritics are often omitted, but with a little practice you can guess where they should be and read correctly.
- Non-obvious readings of letters: ă /uh(actually something between A And uh), î /s, â /s, With/To, g/G, j/and, ș /w, ţ /ts.
- Unobvious combinations of letters: ci/whose(in Russian they often write chi), ce/what, chi/ky(in Russian they often write ki), che/ke, gi/ji, ge/je, ghi/gi, ghe/ge.
- Voiced consonants b/b, d/d, g/G, j/and, v/V, z/h are not deafened and are not replaced by paired deaf ones.
- Sounds ţ /ts, ș /w, j/and softened by subsequent vowels i/And, e/e, that is, they turn into “ts”, “sh”, “zh”.

Phrasebook

In my phrasebook for travelers, there are very few words that are useful to us. But Google Translate does an excellent job of translating both into and from Romanian (although its robotic-Romanian pronunciation is only good for the trash). There is also a very useful Romanian-Dacian-English dictionary (and here’s a little more). If anyone can figure out what words might be useful to us and add it, that would be great.

Pronunciation modifications

I don’t know yet what to do with ordinary Russian words to form a characteristic accent. You can, for example, With on w change will be quite typical. Durmstrang and Stefan, for example. And also Romania, Romanian. Offer.

The Romanian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet with diacritics ( ă , î , ş , ţ ). Letters q, w, x, y found only in names and titles of foreign origin.

2. Transliteration

Some Romanian letters are transmitted unambiguously into Russian:

3. C, G, H

Before front vowels ( i And e) c → h, g → j. Often i And e serve solely to show softening c And g. In particular, cea (cia) → cha, cio → wow, ciu → chu, gea (gia) → ja, geo (gio) → Joe, giu → ju. At the end of the word ci → h.

Mitigation does not occur if after g And c should h: ch → To, gh → G, th → T.

In other cases c → To, g → G, h → X.

So, Tecuci → Fluid, Gheorghe → Gheorghe.

4. X, Y

Letter x occurs only in names and titles of foreign origin and can be transmitted as ks or how gz, depending on the pronunciation in the respective language: Alexandru → Alexandru.

Letter y also found only in borrowings and can be rendered as And or th, depending on pronunciation.

"Transcriptor" always translates x → ks, y → And.

5. Vowels and their combinations

Diphthong ea in transcription corresponds to I(excluding combinations cea, gea).

Diphthongs of the form i + vowel are transmitted as follows:

At the end of a word ia → and I, ie → no, iu → Iyu;

At the beginning of a word and after vowels ia → I, ie → e, io → yo, iu → yu;

In the middle of a word after consonants ia → ya, ie → ye, io → yo, iu → yu.

In diphthongs of the form vowel + i the rule works i → th: Băicoi → Baykoy.

Doubled ii at the end of words is conveyed by one letter i.

At the beginning of the word î → And, in other positions î → s.

In names of foreign origin at the beginning of the word and after vowels it is possible e → uh, in Romanian words proper, always e → e.

6. Indirect forms

In the Romanian language there is a definite postpositive article, which is written together with the word it refers to. During transcription, it remains in its place.

If a word in a Romanian text is in an indirect form, for transcription it needs to be translated into its original form, that is, put the definite article in the nominative case.

"Transcriptor" does not inflect Romanian names.

7. Pre-reform spelling

In the 1950s, a reform of Romanian spelling was carried out. In particular, the letter â replaced everywhere by î and instead s before voiced consonants b, d, g, m now it's written z. In addition, the silent u at the end of words. These changes are not always reflected in the spelling of proper names.

For beginners learning Romanian, in this chapter we will look at:

1) Alphabet;

2) Reading rules;

3) Placement of stress

Alphabet

The Romanian alphabet is a Latin alphabet that has several special letters with diacritics (Ăă, Ââ, Îî, Șș, Țț)

The Romanian alphabet has 31 letters (7 vowels, 4 semivowels and 35 consonants). The letters K, Q, Y, W are used to write words of foreign origin (kilogram, quasar, week-end).

We suggest watching the video for better understanding.

Rules for reading in Romanian

In Romanian, all words are pronounced clearly and heavily, so sometimes it can seem like there are many accents in one word. Although Romanian speech sounds fast, but all the words sound clearly.

At the beginning of learning, you should not chase speed or the “seemingly correct” Romanian accent! It is very important to learn to pronounce all words clearly! Otherwise, you simply will not be understood.

The Romanian language uses the Latin alphabet. Knowing at least a little English, we can say that you already know how to read Romanian! Since reading is based on the basic principle - “As we see it, we pronounce all the letters without gaps!”*

*This is the basic principle. Minor nuances will be discussed below.

Now let's take the words from the video above and look at the reading rules in detail!

A Autobuz Apă Avion

The letter “a” is read like the Russian “a”, the letter “z” sounds loudly like “z” (not like “s”). All voiced consonants in Romanian are pronounced as written, and the vowel “o” is always pronounced “o” (not “a”).

The special Romanian letter “ă” is pronounced between “a” and “e”, the sound is formed not on the teeth, but in the larynx. There is something similar in English at the end of words, for example – better

B Baloane Bebe Bomboane

The letter “v” corresponds to the Russian “b”, a diphthong (a combination of 2 vowels) “oa” is pronounced like “oa” (not shortened), “e” sounds like a soft “e”

C Căţel Cană Cocoş

The letter “s” is read as “k”. This letter is read as “ch” in combination: “ce, ci”, in other cases – as “k”. The combination of “she” and “shi” is read as “ke” and “ki”, respectively. (Cheie-keye, China-kina).

The letter “ţ” corresponds to the Russian “ts”.

D Delfin Doi Dinosaur

The letter “d” corresponds to the Russian “d”, “i” is read as a soft sign. If “i” is at the end of a word and if there is no emphasis on it, it is read as “b” or “th”. For example, pisici-pisich, poliţişti-policy, maşini-car.

In the indefinite form of the verb, the stress falls on the last syllable (except for verbs ending in “e”) and “i” is read as “and”: a locui - a lokui, a citi - a chiti, a şti - a shti.

Often in the middle of a word before the vowel “i” we read it as “b”, for example, câine, pâăne, situaţie, piaţă.

The letter “z” is always read as “z”

E Elefant Evantai Elicopter

Corresponds to the Russian softened “e”, at the end of a word it is always read as “e”. At the beginning in words Eu, Ești, El, Este, Ei, Ele reads like Russian “e”.

The letter “t” is “t”, and “n” is “n”, “v” is “v”

F Flori Furnică Fluturi

The letter “f” corresponds to the Russian “f”. The letter “u” always sounds like “y”. The diphthong “iu” is pronounced “yu”. For example, iubire- yubire

G Girafă Gărgăriţă Găină

The letter “g” in combination “ge” and “gi” is read as “je” and “ji” respectively. In other cases it is the letter “g”. The combination of “ghe” and “ghi” is read as “ge” and “gi” respectively, that is, the letter “h” is not pronounced. For example, ghiozdan- giozdan, îngheţată- yngetsate.

H Harpă Hamac Robe

The letter “n” is read like the Russian “x”, the letter “r” sounds like “r”, but more expressive and tense.

I iepuraş inel iaurt

The letter “ş” corresponds to the Russian “sh”, “iau” is pronounced “yau”

Î înger îngheţată împărat

The letters “â” and “î” stand for the same sound – “s”. The only difference is the place of writing! At the beginning and at the end of a word you should write “î”, as well as after prefixes, and in the middle of the word you should write “â”.

J joben jeleu jucării

The letter “j” is always read as the Russian “zh”, for example, wife, groom.

K kiwi koala kilogram

This is the letter “k”, but it is used quite rarely, only in borrowed words.

L leu lapte leagăn

The letter “l” always sounds soft. For example, to pronounce La piaţă, for “l” the tongue must rest its tip on the front teeth, forming a noble sound precisely on the front teeth, in contrast to the Russian “la”, which is formed by the middle part of the tongue.

The letters K, Q, W, Y are used only in words borrowed from other languages. For example, kilometru, week-end, Quebec, hobby.

The letter “x” in the combination “ex” is pronounced as “gz”, in other cases - as “ks”.
For example, examen - exam, ехerciţiu - egzerchitsiu or piх - pix.

The combination “ea” is heard in fast speech as the Russian “ya”, but you should try to pronounce from these 2 vowels the short “e” and the longer “a”, so that the sound “a” is heard at the end. For example, Cafea

Accent in Romanian

As a rule, the stress in Romanian falls on last syllable , if the word ends in consonant or U or on penultimate syllable , if the word ends in vowel.

For example,

Băi a t,cai e t, tabl o u, bir o u, calculat o r, telef o n, crei o n, televiz o r, or aş, stră i n

(emphasis is underlined)

F a tă, fem e ie,c a rte, stud e nţi, pis i că, pis i ci,so a re….

In words ending in A (words with an indefinite article), the stress falls on the end of the word:

Pijamas a,perde a(curtain!!!), ste a, cafe a.. .

The stress in the indefinite form of the verb, except for the group of verbs ending in “e”, also falls on the last syllable:

Af i,a cit i, a cânt a, a locu i, a lucr a…..

In addition to all this, deviations from these norms are very common:

Fl u tură, dr a goste, a isberg, p a gină, mec a nic, c a ngur

Conclusion: the stress in Romanian falls towards the end of the word in most cases!