Romanian numbers
Encyclopedia
The Romanian numbers are the system of number names
used in Romanian
to express counts, quantities, ranks in ordered sets, fractions, multiplication, and other information related to numbers.
In Romanian grammar
, the words expressing numbers are sometimes considered a separate part of speech
, called numeral (plural: numerale), along with nouns
, verbs
, etc. (Note that English numeral and Romanian numeral have different meanings; also, Romanian număr only partially overlaps in meaning with English number.) Nevertheless, these words play the same roles in the sentence as they do in English: adjective
, pronoun
, noun
, and adverb
. This article focuses on the mechanism of naming numbers in Romanian and the use of the number names in sentences.
The symbols for numbers in Romanian texts are the same as those used in English, with the exception of using the comma
as the decimal separator
and the period or the space (ideally a narrow space) for grouping digits by three in large numbers. For example, in Romanian 1,5 V means one and a half volts, and 1.000.000 or 1 000 000 means one million.
The general characteristics of the number formation rules in Romanian are:
is called zero. Like in English, it requires the plural
form of nouns
: zero grade "zero degrees", with grade being the plural form of grad). Unlike English, the reading of number/numeral 0 is always zero and never replaced with words like oh, naught, nil, love, etc.
. The table below gives the cardinal number
s in Romanian
and its three dialects, Aromanian
, Megleno-Romanian
and Istro-Romanian
.
Notes
1. When counting, the number names for 1 and 2 have the forms given in the table; however, when used in a sentence, they change according to the gender of the noun
they modify or replace. It is worth noting that the two adjectival forms of the cardinal number for 1 (un and o) are identical with the corresponding indefinite articles.
2. The name for number five in Aromanian, written ţinţi or tsintsi, might be responsible for nicknaming the Aromanians
tsintsar.
3. Sometimes pronounced as şepte (initially a regionalism), more common when communicating telephone numbers, in order to avoid a possible confusion between şase and şapte.
4. In Istro-Romanian, depending on the speaker, some number names are replaced with their Croatian
(slavic) equivalents.
, Romanian has a consistent way of naming the numbers from 11 to 19. These are obtained by joining three elements: the units, the word spre (derived from Latin super "over", currently meaning "towards"), and the word for "ten". For example, fifteen is cincisprezece: cinci + spre + zece, which literally means "five over ten". This is the only exception to the big-endian principle of number naming.
The table below gives the forms of all nine such number names. Each number in the series has one or more shortened variants, often used in informal speech, where the element -sprezece is replaced by -şpe. Grammarians consider the informal variants to be indicative of careless speech.
Notes
1. The number name for 12 given in the table is the masculine form; this is the only number in this range that also has a feminine form: douăsprezece (informal douăşpe). However, the masculine form is sometimes used even with feminine nouns, especially when the number follows the noun it determines, as in ora doisprezece "12 o'clock" or clasa a doisprezecea ("12th grade", see below for ordinal numbers); such use is considered incorrect.
2. Number names for 14 and 16 do not exactly follow the forming rule, possibly under the influence of the number names for 12 and 13. The forms patrusprezece and şasesprezece do exist, but are perceived as hypercorrect and very rarely used (one might hear them in telephone conversations, when the correct transmission may be a concern).
3. Instead of cincisprezece sometimes cinsprezece is used.
4. The number name for 18 is notorious for being the word in Romanian with the longest consonant
cluster (five consonants with no intervening vowel
s): ptspr, split into two syllables, opt-spre-ze-ce. For this reason, the variants opsprezece (with a missing t) and optâsprezece/optîsprezece or optisprezece (with an additional vowel to break the consonant cluster) are frequent.
Notes
1. Cincizeci is often pronounced (but not written) cinzeci. Similarly, optzeci is often pronounced obzeci.
2. Şaizeci does not follow the formation rule exactly. The expected form şasezeci does not exist.
The other numbers between 20 and 99 are named by combining three words: the number of tens, the conjunction
şi "and", and the units. For example, 42 is patruzeci şi doi.
For those numbers whose unit figure is 1 or 2 the corresponding number name has two gender-dependent forms:
. For 50 and 80 zeci only reduces to zeş. When the next word starts with a voiced consonant the same rule applies except that ş is pronounced voiced as j /ʒ/. The same rule applies if the units number is 0 and if the next word is the preposition de. Examples:
In regional speech further simplification is possible, such as cinzeci şi becoming cinş. Also, the number 48, when it refers to the revolutions of 1848
, is pronounced paşopt, which also gave words like paşoptist (meaning "participant in the Romanian 1848 Revolution" or "supporter of its ideology").
Note that the word for "hundred" is sută, and that if the number of hundreds is 2 or larger, the plural sute is required. The noun sută itself is feminine and as such the numbers 100 and 200 are o sută and două sute.
In fast utterances, the numbers 500 and 800 are usually pronounced cinsute and opsute, instead of the standard forms cinci sute and opt sute, respectively. In writing, however, the informal variants are only used for stylistic effects.
behave like masculine in the singular and like feminine in the plural.
Romanian large numbers use the a combination of the long and short scales
. In practice the scale is similar to the short scale, with the exception of "billion", which is written "miliard", and an alternate form ("triliard") for 1015, which can be confusing, because it's equivalent to both the short scale quadrillion and the long scale billiard.
To say any cardinal number larger than 1000 the number is split in groups of three digits, from right to left (into units, thousands, millions, etc.), then the groups are read from left to right as in the example below.
12,345,678 (written in Romanian 12.345.678) = douăsprezece milioane trei sute patruzeci şi cinci de mii şase sute şaptezeci şi opt
When a digit is zero, the corresponding quantity is simply not pronounced:
101,010 (written in Romanian 101.010) = o sută una mii zece
In writing, the groups of three digits are separated by dots. The comma is used as decimal separator
. This may be confusing for native English speakers, who use the two symbols the other way around.
The fractional part is read as a multi-digit number, not by saying each digit independently. For example 3.14 (written 3,14) is pronounced trei virgulă paisprezece (literally three comma fourteen). However, when the number of decimals is too large, they can be read one by one as a string of digits: trei virgulă unu patru unu cinci nouă (3.14159).
Decimal fractions whose integer part is 0 (like 0.6) are always pronounced in Romanian together with the initial zero: 0,6 is read zero virgulă şase, unlike English point six.
In some situations it is customary to say cu "with" instead of virgulă. For example, medical staff might be heard stating the body temperature in words like treizeci şi şapte cu cinci, meaning 37.5 °C.
s (%) and permillages
(‰) are read using the words la sută and la mie, like in the examples: cinci la sută (5%), nouă la mie (9‰). For percentages an alternative reading uses the neuter noun procent, meaning 1%; the previous example becomes cinci procente.
, when a cardinal number determines a noun
and when the number has certain values, the preposition de (roughly equivalent to of) is inserted between the number name and the modified noun in a way similar to English hundreds of birds. Example: şaizeci de minute "sixty minutes".
The rules governing the use of preposition de are as follows:
Another exception is for numbers whose last two digits are 01, in which case an optional de is sometimes used. Examples: o mie una de ori "1001 times", o sută unu dalmaţieni "101 Dalmatians". In the latter case the choice might be influenced by euphony
(avoidance of the alliteration
).
".
The preposition de is also used within the syntax of the number itself, for stating the number of thousands, millions, billions, etc.: douăzeci de mii "twenty thousand" (also note the plural mii, unlike the singular thousand in English). The rules for this de are the same as those described above: it is used when the last two digits of the number of thousands, millions, etc. are 00 or 20–99. Again, in technical contexts, this de may be dropped: treizeci milioane euro "thirty million euros".
and gender
.
The rule for number agreement is simple: When the number is 1, the modified noun is put in its singular form, otherwise it takes the plural form, including the case of number 0 and all non-integer numbers.
The gender agreement is somewhat complicated by the fact that the Romanian nouns
are classified into three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Specifically, the neuter gender is a combination of the other two: A neuter noun behaves like a masculine noun in the singular, and like a feminine noun in the plural. The gender has implications on the morphology of some of the grammatically connected words, including the number names.
When the units digit of a number is 1 or 2, its name has two distinct forms, masculine and feminine. The only exception is unsprezece "eleven" which has only one form used for both genders.
The gender agreement requires the choice of masculine number names for masculine nouns, and feminine number names for feminine nouns. For the neuter nouns the agreement is obtained by choosing the masculine name of the number not just for number 1, but for all other numbers whose units digit is 1, despite the fact that the noun behaves as feminine; for numbers whose last digit is 2 the feminine numeral is chosen. Examples:
Note
1. Although, as a neuter noun in the plural, scaune behaves like a feminine noun, the masculine form of the numeral douăzeci şi unu is used. This is because unu "one" also represents a number by itself; in the singular, the neuter noun requires a masculine modifier. If the noun is also modified by an adjective, the feminine form of the adjective is used: douăzeci şi unu de scaune galbene "21 yellow chairs".
:
feminine: toate trei fiicele, toate cele trei fiice "all three daughters";
genitive-dative:
tuturor celor şapte pitici "of/to all seven dwarfs";
tuturor celor trei fiice "of/to all three daughters";
genitive (another pattern, using the preposition a):
dative (another pattern, using the preposition la):
For number 1 the usual form is o dată ("once", "one time"). The construction o oară is possible, but rarely used. In the plural, the adverbial numbers are formed using the preposition de, the cardinal number in the feminine, and the noun ori "times", which is the plural of the feminine noun oară.
Sample sentences:
Approximate numbers can be used, like in the examples below.
The traditional multiplicative numbers are formed from the respective cardinal number with the prefix în- (changed into îm- when the following sound is a bilabial plosive), and the suffix
-it, the same used to form the past participle of a large category of verbs
.
In contemporary Romanian the neologisms are more frequently used.
The multiplicative number can be used as adjective and as adverb. Examples:
Often instead of the multiplicative numbers an adverbial construction is used. This can be applied for any number larger than 1.
A number like 3/5 is expressed as trei cincimi "three fifths". Since all the fractional number names behave like feminine nouns, when the numerator is 1, 2, or any other number with a distinct feminine form, that form must be used: două treimi (2/3). The preposition de is used depending also on the numerator: douăzeci de sutimi (20/100), o sută zece miimi (110/1000).
In music several other such words are frequently used for note lengths:
"; trezecişidoime "thirty-second note
" - often pronounced treijdoime (informal); şaizecişipătrime "sixty-fourth note
" - often pronounced şaişpătrime (informal).
Fractions involving larger numbers tend to become hard to read. Especially in mathematics it is common to read fractions only using cardinal numbers and the words pe or supra ("on", "over"). For example două treimi "two thirds" becomes doi pe trei or doi supra trei.
is used to express the position of an object in an ordered sequence, as shown in English by words such as first, second, third, etc. In Romanian, with the exception of number 1, all ordinal numbers are named based on the corresponding cardinal number. Two gender-dependent forms exist for each number. The masculine form (also used with neuter nouns) ends in -lea, whereas the feminine form ends in -a. Starting from 2 they are preceded by the possessive article al / a.
Examples:
When the unit digit is not 0, the cardinal number is used for the tens and the ordinal number for the units. The only exception is when the unit digit is 1; in this case, instead of primul, prima a different word is used: unulea, una. Examples:
Examples:
As seen in the last example above, the ordinal form of the plural of 100, 1000, etc. is needed for this process. These forms are:
Examples with large numbers:
For simplification, often the cardinal number replaces the ordinal number, although some grammarians criticize this practice: The form secolul douăzeci is seen as an incorrect variant of secolul al douăzecilea "20th century".
For number 1, the form of the ordinal number in this reverse-order construction is întâi (or întîi), in both genders: deceniul întâi "first decade", clasa întâi "first grade". For the feminine, sometimes întâia is used, which until recently used to be considered incorrect by normative works.
The same reverse order is used when naming historical figures:
As seen above, ordinal numbers are often written using Roman numerals
, especially in this reverse order case. The ending specific to the ordinal numbers (-lea, -a) must be preserved and connected to the Roman numeral with a hyphen. Examples:
However, in the case of ordinal numbers in the masculine form, before -lea the nonsylabic i becomes a full syllabic i in words like douăzecilea "20th" /dowəˈzet͡ʃile̯a/ and in cincilea "5th" /ˈt͡ʃint͡ʃile̯a/.
Semivocalic
i does not change its quality: trei /ˈtrej/, treilea /ˈtrejle̯a/, treia /ˈtreja/.
Numbers in the series 20, 30, ..., 90 have the normal stress on the element -zeci. However, a stress shift to the first element often occurs, probably because that element carries more information:
Centuries. Centuries are named using ordinal numbers in reverse order: "14th century" is secolul al paisprezecelea (normally written secolul al XIV-lea). Cardinal numbers are often used although considered incorrect: secolul paisprezece. See above for details.
Royal titles. Ordinal numbers (in reverse word order) are used for naming ruling members of a monarchy
and the Pope
s. For example: Carol al II-lea
, Papa Benedict al XVI-lea
. See above for details.
Number names
In linguistics, number names are specific words in a natural language that represent numbers.In writing, numerals are symbols also representing numbers...
used in Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
to express counts, quantities, ranks in ordered sets, fractions, multiplication, and other information related to numbers.
In Romanian grammar
Romanian grammar
Standard Romanian shares largely the same grammar and most of the vocabulary and phonological processes with the other three surviving varieties of Eastern Romance, viz...
, the words expressing numbers are sometimes considered a separate part of speech
Lexical category
In grammar, a part of speech is a linguistic category of words , which is generally defined by the syntactic or morphological behaviour of the lexical item in question. Common linguistic categories include noun and verb, among others...
, called numeral (plural: numerale), along with nouns
Romanian nouns
This article on Romanian nouns is related to the Romanian grammar and belongs to a series of articles on the Romanian language. It describes the morphology of the noun in this language, and includes details about its declension according to number, case, and application of the definite article, all...
, verbs
Romanian verbs
This article on Romanian verbs is related to the Romanian grammar and belongs to a series of articles on the Romanian language.Unlike English but similar to other Indo-European languages, verbs in Romanian are highly inflective. They conjugate according to mood, tense, voice, person and number....
, etc. (Note that English numeral and Romanian numeral have different meanings; also, Romanian număr only partially overlaps in meaning with English number.) Nevertheless, these words play the same roles in the sentence as they do in English: adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
, pronoun
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
, noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
, and adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
. This article focuses on the mechanism of naming numbers in Romanian and the use of the number names in sentences.
The symbols for numbers in Romanian texts are the same as those used in English, with the exception of using the comma
Comma
A comma is a type of punctuation mark . The word comes from the Greek komma , which means something cut off or a short clause.Comma may also refer to:* Comma , a type of interval in music theory...
as the decimal separator
Decimal separator
Different symbols have been and are used for the decimal mark. The choice of symbol for the decimal mark affects the choice of symbol for the thousands separator used in digit grouping. Consequently the latter is treated in this article as well....
and the period or the space (ideally a narrow space) for grouping digits by three in large numbers. For example, in Romanian 1,5 V means one and a half volts, and 1.000.000 or 1 000 000 means one million.
General characteristics
As in other numeral systems, the Romanian number names use a limited set of words and combining rules, which can be applied to generate the name of any number within sufficiently large limits.The general characteristics of the number formation rules in Romanian are:
- The numeration base used is decimalDecimalThe decimal numeral system has ten as its base. It is the numerical base most widely used by modern civilizations....
. - Word order is big-endian with the exception of numbers from 11 to 19.
- Large numbers use a combined form of the long and short scalesLong and short scalesThe long and short scales are two of several different large-number naming systems used throughout the world for integer powers of ten. Many countries, including most in continental Europe, use the long scale whereas most English-speaking countries use the short scale...
. - Connection words are used in certain situations.
- Some number names have two gender-specific forms.
Cardinal numbers
Cardinal numbers are the words we use for counting objects or expressing quantity.Number name for 0
The number 00 (number)
0 is both a numberand the numerical digit used to represent that number in numerals.It fulfills a central role in mathematics as the additive identity of the integers, real numbers, and many other algebraic structures. As a digit, 0 is used as a placeholder in place value systems...
is called zero. Like in English, it requires the plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
form of nouns
Romanian nouns
This article on Romanian nouns is related to the Romanian grammar and belongs to a series of articles on the Romanian language. It describes the morphology of the noun in this language, and includes details about its declension according to number, case, and application of the definite article, all...
: zero grade "zero degrees", with grade being the plural form of grad). Unlike English, the reading of number/numeral 0 is always zero and never replaced with words like oh, naught, nil, love, etc.
Numbers from 1 to 10
The number names from 1 to 10 derive from LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. The table below gives the cardinal number
Cardinal number
In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality of sets. The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number – the number of elements in the set. The transfinite cardinal numbers describe the sizes of infinite...
s in Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
and its three dialects, Aromanian
Aromanian language
Aromanian , also known as Macedo-Romanian, Arumanian or Vlach is an Eastern Romance language spoken in Southeastern Europe...
, Megleno-Romanian
Megleno-Romanian language
Megleno-Romanian is a Romance language, similar to Aromanian and Romanian, or a dialect of the Romanian language...
and Istro-Romanian
Istro-Romanian language
Istro-Romanian is an Eastern Romance language that is still spoken today in a few villages and hamlets in the peninsula of Istria, on the northern part of the Adriatic Sea, in what is now Croatia as well as in other countries around the world where the Istro-Romanian people settled after the two...
.
| Number | Romanian | Aromanian | Megleno-Romanian | Istro-Romanian | Latin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | unu1 | unu1 | unu1 | ur1 | unus |
| 2 | doi1 | doi1 | doi1 | doi1 | duo |
| 3 | trei | trei | trei | trei | tres |
| 4 | patru | patru | patru | påtru | quattuor |
| 5 | cinci | ţinţi2 | ţinţi | ţinţ | quinque |
| 6 | şase | şase | şasi | şåse | sex |
| 7 | şapte3 | şapte | şapti | şåpte | septem |
| 8 | opt | optu | uopt | opt | octo |
| 9 | nouă | noauă | nou | devet4 | novem |
| 10 | zece | ḑaţe | zeţi | deset4 | decem |
Notes
1. When counting, the number names for 1 and 2 have the forms given in the table; however, when used in a sentence, they change according to the gender of the noun
Romanian nouns
This article on Romanian nouns is related to the Romanian grammar and belongs to a series of articles on the Romanian language. It describes the morphology of the noun in this language, and includes details about its declension according to number, case, and application of the definite article, all...
they modify or replace. It is worth noting that the two adjectival forms of the cardinal number for 1 (un and o) are identical with the corresponding indefinite articles.
- un băiat "one boy, a boy",
- unul dintre băieţi "one of the boys",
- o fată "one girl, a girl",
- una dintre fete "one of the girls",
- doi băieţi "two boys",
- două fete "two girls".
2. The name for number five in Aromanian, written ţinţi or tsintsi, might be responsible for nicknaming the Aromanians
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
tsintsar.
3. Sometimes pronounced as şepte (initially a regionalism), more common when communicating telephone numbers, in order to avoid a possible confusion between şase and şapte.
4. In Istro-Romanian, depending on the speaker, some number names are replaced with their Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
(slavic) equivalents.
Numbers from 11 to 19
Unlike all other Romance languagesRomance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
, Romanian has a consistent way of naming the numbers from 11 to 19. These are obtained by joining three elements: the units, the word spre (derived from Latin super "over", currently meaning "towards"), and the word for "ten". For example, fifteen is cincisprezece: cinci + spre + zece, which literally means "five over ten". This is the only exception to the big-endian principle of number naming.
The table below gives the forms of all nine such number names. Each number in the series has one or more shortened variants, often used in informal speech, where the element -sprezece is replaced by -şpe. Grammarians consider the informal variants to be indicative of careless speech.
| Number | Formal Romanian | Informal Romanian | Aromanian |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | unsprezece | unşpe | unsprădzatse |
| 12 | doisprezece1 | doişpe | doisprădzatse |
| 13 | treisprezece | treişpe | treisprădzatse |
| 14 | paisprezece2 | paişpe | pasprădzatse |
| 15 | cincisprezece3 | cinşpe (not cincişpe) | tsisprădzatse |
| 16 | şaisprezece2 | şaişpe | şasprădzatse |
| 17 | şaptesprezece | şapteşpe, şaptişpe | şaptesprădzatse |
| 18 | optsprezece4 | optişpe, optâşpe/optîşpe, opşpe | optusprădzatse |
| 19 | nouăsprezece | nouăşpe | naosprădzatse |
Notes
1. The number name for 12 given in the table is the masculine form; this is the only number in this range that also has a feminine form: douăsprezece (informal douăşpe). However, the masculine form is sometimes used even with feminine nouns, especially when the number follows the noun it determines, as in ora doisprezece "12 o'clock" or clasa a doisprezecea ("12th grade", see below for ordinal numbers); such use is considered incorrect.
2. Number names for 14 and 16 do not exactly follow the forming rule, possibly under the influence of the number names for 12 and 13. The forms patrusprezece and şasesprezece do exist, but are perceived as hypercorrect and very rarely used (one might hear them in telephone conversations, when the correct transmission may be a concern).
3. Instead of cincisprezece sometimes cinsprezece is used.
4. The number name for 18 is notorious for being the word in Romanian with the longest consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
cluster (five consonants with no intervening vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s): ptspr, split into two syllables, opt-spre-ze-ce. For this reason, the variants opsprezece (with a missing t) and optâsprezece/optîsprezece or optisprezece (with an additional vowel to break the consonant cluster) are frequent.
Numbers from 20 to 99
The numbers in this range that are multiple of 10 (that is, 20, 30, ..., 90) are named by joining the number of tens with the word zeci (the plural of zece), as shown in the table below. Note that they are spelled as a single word.| Number | Romanian | Aromanian |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | douăzeci | ying'its |
| 30 | treizeci | treidzîtsi |
| 40 | patruzeci | patrudzîtsi |
| 50 | cincizeci1 | tsindzîtsi |
| 60 | şaizeci2 | şaidzîtsi |
| 70 | şaptezeci | şaptidzîtsi |
| 80 | optzeci1 | opdzîtsi |
| 90 | nouăzeci | naudzîtsi |
Notes
1. Cincizeci is often pronounced (but not written) cinzeci. Similarly, optzeci is often pronounced obzeci.
2. Şaizeci does not follow the formation rule exactly. The expected form şasezeci does not exist.
The other numbers between 20 and 99 are named by combining three words: the number of tens, the conjunction
Grammatical conjunction
In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each...
şi "and", and the units. For example, 42 is patruzeci şi doi.
For those numbers whose unit figure is 1 or 2 the corresponding number name has two gender-dependent forms:
- masculine: treizeci şi unu de bărbaţi "31 men"; treizeci şi doi de bărbaţi "32 men";
- feminine: treizeci şi una de femei "31 women"; treizeci şi două de femei "32 women";
- neuter: treizeci şi unu de grade "31 degrees"; treizeci şi două de grade "32 degrees".
Short versions
The numbers from 20 to 99 also have an informal, simplified pronunciation: The part zeci shortens to ş /ʃ/ when the units name starts with an unvoiced consonant or a vowelVowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
. For 50 and 80 zeci only reduces to zeş. When the next word starts with a voiced consonant the same rule applies except that ş is pronounced voiced as j /ʒ/. The same rule applies if the units number is 0 and if the next word is the preposition de. Examples:
- şaptezeci şi cinci → şapteşcinci ("75");
- cincizeci şi unu → cinzeşunu ("51");
- optzeci şi opt → obzeşopt ("88");
- treizeci şi doi → treijdoi ("32");
- douăzeci de ori → douăjde ori ("20 times").
In regional speech further simplification is possible, such as cinzeci şi becoming cinş. Also, the number 48, when it refers to the revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
, is pronounced paşopt, which also gave words like paşoptist (meaning "participant in the Romanian 1848 Revolution" or "supporter of its ideology").
Numbers from 100 to 999
Any given number from 100 to 999 can be named by first saying the hundreds and then, without any connecting word, the two-digit number of tens and units; for example, 365 is trei sute şaizeci şi cinci.Note that the word for "hundred" is sută, and that if the number of hundreds is 2 or larger, the plural sute is required. The noun sută itself is feminine and as such the numbers 100 and 200 are o sută and două sute.
In fast utterances, the numbers 500 and 800 are usually pronounced cinsute and opsute, instead of the standard forms cinci sute and opt sute, respectively. In writing, however, the informal variants are only used for stylistic effects.
Large numbers
The table below lists the numbers representing powers of 10 larger than 100, that have a corresponding single-word name. The word for 1000 is feminine, all the others are neuter; this is important in the number naming. In Romanian, neuter nounsRomanian nouns
This article on Romanian nouns is related to the Romanian grammar and belongs to a series of articles on the Romanian language. It describes the morphology of the noun in this language, and includes details about its declension according to number, case, and application of the definite article, all...
behave like masculine in the singular and like feminine in the plural.
Romanian large numbers use the a combination of the long and short scales
Long and short scales
The long and short scales are two of several different large-number naming systems used throughout the world for integer powers of ten. Many countries, including most in continental Europe, use the long scale whereas most English-speaking countries use the short scale...
. In practice the scale is similar to the short scale, with the exception of "billion", which is written "miliard", and an alternate form ("triliard") for 1015, which can be confusing, because it's equivalent to both the short scale quadrillion and the long scale billiard.
| Number | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 100 = 102 | o sută | (două) sute |
| 103 | o mie | (două) mii |
| 106 | un milion | (două) milioane |
| 109 | un miliard | (două) miliarde |
| 1012 | un trilion | (două) trilioane |
| 1015 | un cvadrilion (occasionally triliard) | (două) cvadrilioane (occasionally triliarde) |
| 1018 | un cvintilion | (două) cvintilioane |
| 1021 | un sextilion | (două) sextilioane |
| ... | ... | ... |
To say any cardinal number larger than 1000 the number is split in groups of three digits, from right to left (into units, thousands, millions, etc.), then the groups are read from left to right as in the example below.
12,345,678 (written in Romanian 12.345.678) = douăsprezece milioane trei sute patruzeci şi cinci de mii şase sute şaptezeci şi opt
When a digit is zero, the corresponding quantity is simply not pronounced:
101,010 (written in Romanian 101.010) = o sută una mii zece
In writing, the groups of three digits are separated by dots. The comma is used as decimal separator
Decimal separator
Different symbols have been and are used for the decimal mark. The choice of symbol for the decimal mark affects the choice of symbol for the thousands separator used in digit grouping. Consequently the latter is treated in this article as well....
. This may be confusing for native English speakers, who use the two symbols the other way around.
Decimal fractions
Numbers represented as decimal fractions (for example 1.62) are expressed by reading in order the integer part, the decimal separator, and the fractional part. This is the same as in English, with the following exceptions:- The decimal separatorDecimal separatorDifferent symbols have been and are used for the decimal mark. The choice of symbol for the decimal mark affects the choice of symbol for the thousands separator used in digit grouping. Consequently the latter is treated in this article as well....
is the commaCommaA comma is a type of punctuation mark . The word comes from the Greek komma , which means something cut off or a short clause.Comma may also refer to:* Comma , a type of interval in music theory...
, in Romanian
In some situations it is customary to say cu "with" instead of virgulă. For example, medical staff might be heard stating the body temperature in words like treizeci şi şapte cu cinci, meaning 37.5 °C.
Percents
PercentagePercentage
In mathematics, a percentage is a way of expressing a number as a fraction of 100 . It is often denoted using the percent sign, “%”, or the abbreviation “pct”. For example, 45% is equal to 45/100, or 0.45.Percentages are used to express how large/small one quantity is, relative to another quantity...
s (%) and permillages
Permille
A per mil or per mille is a tenth of a percent or one part per thousand. It is written with the sign ‰ , which looks like a percent sign with an extra zero at the end...
(‰) are read using the words la sută and la mie, like in the examples: cinci la sută (5%), nouă la mie (9‰). For percentages an alternative reading uses the neuter noun procent, meaning 1%; the previous example becomes cinci procente.
Negative numbers
Negative numbers are named just like in English, by placing the word minus, pronounced ˈminus, at the beginning: −10 m is minus zece metri.Preposition
de SyntacticallySyntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
, when a cardinal number determines a noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
and when the number has certain values, the preposition de (roughly equivalent to of) is inserted between the number name and the modified noun in a way similar to English hundreds of birds. Example: şaizeci de minute "sixty minutes".
The rules governing the use of preposition de are as follows:
- For numbers from 0 to 19
- An exception to this rule is when the objects that are counted are symbols (letters, numbers). In this case, for better understanding the meaning,
Euphony
Phonaesthetics is the claim or study of inherent pleasantness or beauty or unpleasantness of the sound of certain words and sentences. Poetry is considered euphonic, as is well-crafted literary prose...
(avoidance of the alliteration
Alliteration
In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...
).
- For integer numbers from 20 to 100, preposition
- In technical contexts, to save space, the preposition
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
".
- For non-integer decimalDecimalThe decimal numeral system has ten as its base. It is the numerical base most widely used by modern civilizations....
numbers
- For negative numbers all the rules and exceptions above apply unchanged:
The preposition de is also used within the syntax of the number itself, for stating the number of thousands, millions, billions, etc.: douăzeci de mii "twenty thousand" (also note the plural mii, unlike the singular thousand in English). The rules for this de are the same as those described above: it is used when the last two digits of the number of thousands, millions, etc. are 00 or 20–99. Again, in technical contexts, this de may be dropped: treizeci milioane euro "thirty million euros".
Agreement between number name and modified noun
The number name and the noun it modifies must agree in numberGrammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
and gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
.
The rule for number agreement is simple: When the number is 1, the modified noun is put in its singular form, otherwise it takes the plural form, including the case of number 0 and all non-integer numbers.
The gender agreement is somewhat complicated by the fact that the Romanian nouns
Romanian nouns
This article on Romanian nouns is related to the Romanian grammar and belongs to a series of articles on the Romanian language. It describes the morphology of the noun in this language, and includes details about its declension according to number, case, and application of the definite article, all...
are classified into three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Specifically, the neuter gender is a combination of the other two: A neuter noun behaves like a masculine noun in the singular, and like a feminine noun in the plural. The gender has implications on the morphology of some of the grammatically connected words, including the number names.
When the units digit of a number is 1 or 2, its name has two distinct forms, masculine and feminine. The only exception is unsprezece "eleven" which has only one form used for both genders.
The gender agreement requires the choice of masculine number names for masculine nouns, and feminine number names for feminine nouns. For the neuter nouns the agreement is obtained by choosing the masculine name of the number not just for number 1, but for all other numbers whose units digit is 1, despite the fact that the noun behaves as feminine; for numbers whose last digit is 2 the feminine numeral is chosen. Examples:
| Number | Masculine noun | Neuter noun | Feminine noun |
|---|---|---|---|
| copil "child" | scaun "chair" | oră "hour" | |
| 1 | un copil | un scaun | o oră |
| 2 | doi copii | două scaune | două ore |
| 11 | unsprezece copii | unsprezece scaune | unsprezece ore |
| 12 | doisprezece copii | douăsprezece scaune | douăsprezece ore |
| 21 | douăzeci şi unu de copii | douăzeci şi unu de scaune1 | douăzeci şi una de ore |
| 22 | douăzeci şi doi de copii | douăzeci şi două de scaune | douăzeci şi două de ore |
Note
1. Although, as a neuter noun in the plural, scaune behaves like a feminine noun, the masculine form of the numeral douăzeci şi unu is used. This is because unu "one" also represents a number by itself; in the singular, the neuter noun requires a masculine modifier. If the noun is also modified by an adjective, the feminine form of the adjective is used: douăzeci şi unu de scaune galbene "21 yellow chairs".
Distributive numbers
The distributive number is used to show how a larger quantity is divided into smaller, equal portions. These numbers are named using the cardinal number names and the word câte (or cîte, depending on the spelling convention), roughly meaning "each", but requiring a different word order. The following examples show some distributive numbers in various casesDeclension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
:
Collective numbers
Collective numbers are used when all members of a group are referred to by their number, like English all four wheels. Generally, for sets of more than a few elements, the word toţi / toate ("all", masculine / feminine) is used together with the cardinal number. The use of the demonstrative cei / cele is optional in the nominative-accusative, but required in the genitive-dative. The genitive-dative form is tuturor celor for both genders. In the following examples note that the modified noun always has the nominative form, and that the definite article goes to the demonstrative where it is used:- nominative-accusative:
- masculine:
Special words
When the number is 2 or sometimes 3 or 4, special words are used instead of toţi, just as the word both replaces *all two in English. The most frequent of these words are:Adverbial numbers
The adverbial number is the number used to show the repetition of a certain event, in constructions such as de cinci ori "five times". The table below shows a few examples of adverbial numbers.| Number | Adverbial number | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | o dată | once |
| 2 | de două ori | twice |
| 3 | de trei ori | three times |
| 12 | de douăsprezece ori | twelve times |
| 21 | de douăzeci şi una de ori | twenty-one times |
| 22 | de douăzeci şi două de ori | twenty-two times |
For number 1 the usual form is o dată ("once", "one time"). The construction o oară is possible, but rarely used. In the plural, the adverbial numbers are formed using the preposition de, the cardinal number in the feminine, and the noun ori "times", which is the plural of the feminine noun oară.
Sample sentences:
Approximate numbers can be used, like in the examples below.
Multiplicative numbers
For some numbers, special words are used to show multiplication of size, number, etc. The table below gives the most frequent such words, with their English equivalents.| Number | | Multiplicative number | | Adverbial equivalent | | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| traditional | neologism | |||
| 2 | îndoit | dublu | de două ori mai (mult) | double, twice as (much) |
| 3 | întreit | triplu | de trei ori mai (mult) | triple, three times as (much) |
| 4 | împătrit | cvadruplu | de patru ori mai (mult) | quadruple, four times as (much) |
| 5 | încincit | cvintuplu | de cinci ori mai (mult) | quintuple, five times as (much) |
| 10 | înzecit | – | de zece ori mai (mult) | ten times as (much) |
| 100 | însutit | – | de o sută de ori mai (mult) | a hundred times as (much) |
| 1000 | înmiit | – | de o mie de ori mai (mult) | a thousand times as (much) |
The traditional multiplicative numbers are formed from the respective cardinal number with the prefix în- (changed into îm- when the following sound is a bilabial plosive), and the suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
-it, the same used to form the past participle of a large category of verbs
Romanian verbs
This article on Romanian verbs is related to the Romanian grammar and belongs to a series of articles on the Romanian language.Unlike English but similar to other Indo-European languages, verbs in Romanian are highly inflective. They conjugate according to mood, tense, voice, person and number....
.
In contemporary Romanian the neologisms are more frequently used.
The multiplicative number can be used as adjective and as adverb. Examples:
- Adjective (note the gender agreement):
- Adverb (no agreement required):
Often instead of the multiplicative numbers an adverbial construction is used. This can be applied for any number larger than 1.
Fractional numbers
Numbers expressed as parts of a unit (such as "two thirds") are named using the cardinal number, in its masculine form, with the suffix -ime. Other morphological changes take place, as shown below.| Number | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | (o) doime | Also: o jumătate |
| 1/3 | (o) treime | |
| 1/4 | (o) pătrime | Also: un sfert |
| 1/5 | (o) cincime | |
| 1/6 | (o) şesime | |
| 1/7 | (o) şeptime | |
| 1/8 | (o) optime | |
| 1/9 | (o) noime | |
| 1/10 | (o) zecime | |
| 1/100 | (o) sutime | |
| 1/1000 | (o) miime | |
| 1/1,000,000 | (o) milionime |
A number like 3/5 is expressed as trei cincimi "three fifths". Since all the fractional number names behave like feminine nouns, when the numerator is 1, 2, or any other number with a distinct feminine form, that form must be used: două treimi (2/3). The preposition de is used depending also on the numerator: douăzeci de sutimi (20/100), o sută zece miimi (110/1000).
In music several other such words are frequently used for note lengths:
Sixteenth note
thumb|right|Figure 1. A sixteenth note with stem facing up, a sixteenth note with stem facing down, and a sixteenth rest.thumb|right|Figure 2. Four sixteenth notes beamed together....
"; trezecişidoime "thirty-second note
Thirty-second note
In music, a thirty-second note or demisemiquaver is a note played for 1/32 of the duration of a whole note...
" - often pronounced treijdoime (informal); şaizecişipătrime "sixty-fourth note
Sixty-fourth note
In music notation, a sixty-fourth note or hemidemisemiquaver is a note played for 1/64 of the duration of a whole note . It lasts half as long as a thirty-second note ....
" - often pronounced şaişpătrime (informal).
Fractions involving larger numbers tend to become hard to read. Especially in mathematics it is common to read fractions only using cardinal numbers and the words pe or supra ("on", "over"). For example două treimi "two thirds" becomes doi pe trei or doi supra trei.
Ordinal numbers
The ordinal numberOrdinal number
In set theory, an ordinal number, or just ordinal, is the order type of a well-ordered set. They are usually identified with hereditarily transitive sets. Ordinals are an extension of the natural numbers different from integers and from cardinals...
is used to express the position of an object in an ordered sequence, as shown in English by words such as first, second, third, etc. In Romanian, with the exception of number 1, all ordinal numbers are named based on the corresponding cardinal number. Two gender-dependent forms exist for each number. The masculine form (also used with neuter nouns) ends in -lea, whereas the feminine form ends in -a. Starting from 2 they are preceded by the possessive article al / a.
Examples:
Basic forms
The basic forms of the ordinal number are given in the table below. All other forms are made using them.| Number | | Ordinal number | | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | ||
| 1 | primul (întâiul/întîiul) | prima (întâia/întîia) | "the first" |
| 2 | al doilea | a doua | "the second" |
| 3 | al treilea | a treia | "the third" |
| 4 | al patrulea | a patra | "the fourth" |
| 5 | al cincilea | a cincea | "the fifth" |
| 6 | al şaselea | a şasea | "the sixth" |
| 7 | al şaptelea | a şaptea | "the seventh" |
| 8 | al optulea | a opta | "the eighth" |
| 9 | al nouălea | a noua | "the ninth" |
| 10 | al zecelea | a zecea | "the tenth |
| 100 | al o sutălea | a o suta | "the one hundredth" |
| 1000 | al o mielea | a o mia | "the one thousandth" |
| 106 | al un milionulea | a o milioana | "the one millionth" |
| 109 | al un miliardulea | a o miliarda | "the one billionth" |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |
11-19
Ordinal numbers in this range can be formed by modifying the corresponding cardinal number: the ending -zece is transformed into -zecelea and -zecea for the masculine and feminine ordinal number. Examples:- al unsprezecelea, a unsprezecea "the 11th";
- al doisprezecelea, a douăsprezecea "the 12th", note the gender difference doi-, două-;
- al treisprezecelea, a treisprezecea "the 13th", and so on.
20-99
Ordinal numbers in this range that have the unit digit 0 are formed by replacing the ending -zeci of the corresponding cardinal number with -zecilea and -zecea (masculine and feminine):- al douăzecilea, a douăzecea "the 20th";
- al treizecilea, a treizecea "the 30th", and so on.
When the unit digit is not 0, the cardinal number is used for the tens and the ordinal number for the units. The only exception is when the unit digit is 1; in this case, instead of primul, prima a different word is used: unulea, una. Examples:
- al douăzeci şi unulea, a douăzeci şi una "the 21st";
- al douăzeci şi doilea, a douăzeci şi doua "the 22nd";
- al douăzeci şi treilea, a douăzeci şi treia "the 23rd", and so on.
All other numbers
The general rule for ordinal number formation is to combine the following elements:- the possessive article al, a;
- the cardinal number without the last pronounced digit;
- the ordinal number corresponding to the last pronounced digit.
Examples:
- 101st: al o sută unulea, a o sută una;
- 210th: al două sute zecelea, a două sute zecea;
- 700th: al şapte sutelea, a şapte suta;
As seen in the last example above, the ordinal form of the plural of 100, 1000, etc. is needed for this process. These forms are:
| Number | | Ordinal number | |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | |
| n * 100 | sutelea | suta |
| n * 1000 | miilea | mia |
| n * 106 | milioanelea | milioana |
| n * 109 | miliardelea | miliarda |
| ... | ... | ... |
Examples with large numbers:
- 1500th: al o mie cinci sutelea, a o mie cinci suta;
- 2000th: al două miilea, a două mia;
- 17,017th: al şaptesprezece mii şaptesprezecilea, a şaptesprezece mii şaptesprezecea
- 20,000th: al douăzeci de miilea, a douăzeci de mia;
- 2,000,000th: al două milioanelea, a două milioana;
- 2,000,000,000th: al două miliardelea, a două miliarda;
- 5,500,000,000th: al cinci miliarde cinci sute de miloanelea, a cinci miliarde cinci sute de miloana
- 8,621,457,098th: al opt miliarde, şase sute douăzeci şi unu de milioane, patru sute cincizeci şi şapte de mii, nouăzeci şi optulea; a opt miliarde, şase sute douăzeci şi una de milioane, patru sute cincizeci şi şapte de mii, nouăzeci şi opta
Reverse order
In certain situations the word order in expressing the ordinal number is reversed. This occurs when the object is not necessarily perceived as an element in a sequence but rather as an indexed object. For example, instead of al treilea secol the expression secolul al treilea "third century" is used. Note that the noun must have the definite article appended. Other examples:- etajul al cincilea "fifth floor";
- partea a doua "second part, part two";
- volumul al treilea "third volume, volume three";
- grupa a patra "fourth group".
For simplification, often the cardinal number replaces the ordinal number, although some grammarians criticize this practice: The form secolul douăzeci is seen as an incorrect variant of secolul al douăzecilea "20th century".
For number 1, the form of the ordinal number in this reverse-order construction is întâi (or întîi), in both genders: deceniul întâi "first decade", clasa întâi "first grade". For the feminine, sometimes întâia is used, which until recently used to be considered incorrect by normative works.
The same reverse order is used when naming historical figures:
- Carol ICarol I of RomaniaCarol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
(read Carol Întâi); - Carol al II-leaCarol II of RomaniaCarol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
(read Carol al Doilea).
As seen above, ordinal numbers are often written using Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
, especially in this reverse order case. The ending specific to the ordinal numbers (-lea, -a) must be preserved and connected to the Roman numeral with a hyphen. Examples:
- secolul al XIX-lea "19th century";
- clasa a V-a "5th grade";
- volumul I, volumul al II-lea "volume I, II".
Pronunciation
In the morphological processes described above, some pronunciation changes occur that are usually marked in writing. This section gives a few details about those pronunciation aspects not "visible" in the written form.- See also: Romanian phonologyRomanian phonologyThis article discusses the phonology of the Romanian language. For other details on this language the reader is referred to that article....
.
Non-syllabic "i"
The letter i in the word zeci (both as a separate word and in compounds), although thought by native speakers to indicate an independent sound, is only pronounced as a palatalization of the previous consonant. It does not form a syllable by itself: patruzeci "forty" is pronounced /patruˈzet͡ʃʲ/. The same applies to the last i in cinci: /ˈt͡ʃint͡ʃʲ/, including compounds: 15 is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃint͡ʃʲ.sprezet͡ʃe/ and 50 is /t͡ʃint͡ʃʲˈzet͡ʃʲ/.However, in the case of ordinal numbers in the masculine form, before -lea the nonsylabic i becomes a full syllabic i in words like douăzecilea "20th" /dowəˈzet͡ʃile̯a/ and in cincilea "5th" /ˈt͡ʃint͡ʃile̯a/.
Semivocalic
Semivowel
In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel is a sound, such as English or , that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.-Classification:...
i does not change its quality: trei /ˈtrej/, treilea /ˈtrejle̯a/, treia /ˈtreja/.
Stress
The stress in numbers from 11 to 19 is on the units number, that is, the first element of the compound. Since in all nine cases that element has the stress on its first syllable, the compound itself will also have the stress on the first syllable. The same is valid for the informal short versions:- unsprezece /ˈunsprezet͡ʃe/, unşpe /ˈunʃpe/ (11);
- şaptesprezece /ˈʃaptesprezet͡ʃe/, şapteşpe /ˈʃapteʃpe/ (17);
Numbers in the series 20, 30, ..., 90 have the normal stress on the element -zeci. However, a stress shift to the first element often occurs, probably because that element carries more information:
- treizeci /trejˈzet͡ʃʲ/ (30);
- „Şaizeci? – Nu, şaptezeci!” /ˈʃaptezet͡ʃʲ/ "Sixty? – No, seventy!"
Usage
Dates. Calendar dates in Romanian are expressed using cardinal numbers, unlike English. For example, "the 21st of April" is 21 aprilie (read douăzeci şi unu aprilie). For the first day of a month the ordinal number întâi is often used: 1 Decembrie (read Întâi Decembrie; upper case is used for names of national or international holidays). Normally the masculine form of the number is used everywhere, but when the units digit is 2, the feminine is also frequent: 2 ianuarie can be read both doi ianuarie and două ianuarie; the same applies for days 12 and 22.Centuries. Centuries are named using ordinal numbers in reverse order: "14th century" is secolul al paisprezecelea (normally written secolul al XIV-lea). Cardinal numbers are often used although considered incorrect: secolul paisprezece. See above for details.
Royal titles. Ordinal numbers (in reverse word order) are used for naming ruling members of a monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
and the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
s. For example: Carol al II-lea
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
, Papa Benedict al XVI-lea
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
. See above for details.
Particularities
- In Romanian, a number like 1500 is never read in a way similar to English fifteen hundred, but always o mie cinci sute "one thousand five hundred".
- Sometimes, the numbers 100 and 1000 are spelled out as una sută and una mie, instead of the usual o sută, o mie. This is to ensure that the number of hundreds or thousands is understood correctly, for example when writing out numbers as words, mostly in contexts dealing with money amounts, in forms, telegrams, etc. For example, the 100 leiRomanian leuThe leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
note is marked with the text "UNA SUTĂ LEI". Such a spelling is very formal and used almost exclusively in writing. - In poor translationsFalse friendFalse friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages or dialects that look or sound similar, but differ in meaning....
from English to Romanian it is possible to find the word billion translated as bilion instead of miliard, although the term does not mean anything in modern Romanian. The reverse (Romanian miliard translated into milliard) also occurs. - The title of the book Arabian Nights is translated into Romanian as O mie şi una de nopţi (textually One thousand and one nights), using the conjunction şi although not required by the number naming rules.