Pronunciation & Spelling Rules
Main notable features:
- h is not silent like in other Romance languages such as Spanish and French.
- j represents the sound spelled with s in the English words vision, pleasure, and treasure.
- There are two letters with a comma below (ş and ţ) which represent the sounds ‘sh‘ and ‘ts‘.
- A final i after a consonant often represents the palatalization of the consonant and is not pronounced like in Italian. This is an example of the slavic influence in Romanian.
- ă represents the ‘a’ sound in apple.
- î and â have a sound similar to ‘er’ in English. For example ‘runner‘.
- x represents either ‘eks‘ or ‘egs‘ (excelent and exemplu).
Further sounds:
| Group | Pronunciation | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ce, ci | ch in chest, cheek | cerc (circle), cine (who) | |
| che, chi | k in kettle, kiss | chem (I call), chimie (chemistry) | |
| ge, gi | j in jelly, jigsaw | ger (frost), gimnast (gymnast) | |
| ghe, ghi | g in get, give | gheţar (glacier), ghid (guide) |
Tags: pronunciation, spelling
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