Romanian is a romance language with around 25 million speakers living in Romania, Moldova and the Ukraine. It is in some ways closer to Latin than the other romance languages, as evidenced by the case distincion in relation to nouns.
The Romanians derive their name from the Romans who conquered their ancestors the Dacians in 105AD, as can be seen:
România 'Romania', Românii 'Romanians' and limba română 'Romanian language'.Test yourself on the Romanian Colours.
Test yourself on the Romanian Fruits.
Test yourself on the Months.
Test yourself on the Numbers 1 to 10.
Test yourself on the Numbers 11 to 20.
Test yourself on the Romanian Vegetables.
Learn Romanian and internalise the grammatical structures through sentences. Six hundred useful Romanian Sentences covering the present and past tenses.
An extract from a Romanian version of the Little Prince.
Odată, pe vremea când aveam eu şase ani, am dat peste o poză minunată, într-o carte despre pădurile virgine, numită „Întâmplări trăite”. Înfăţişa un şarpe boa care înghiţea o fiară sălbatică. Iată copia acestui desen.
A long time ago, when I was six years old, in a book about primeval forests, called 'True Stories from Nature', I saw a magnificant drawing. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.
Tatăl nostru carele eşti in ceruri,
sfinţească-se numele tău;
vie împărăţia ta,
facă-se voia ta,
precum în cer aşa şi pre pămănt.
Păinea noastră cea de toate dăne-o astăzi,
şi ne iartă nouă păcatele noastre
precum şi noi iertăm păcatoşilor noştri;
şi nu ne duce pre noi în ispită,
ci ne scapă de cel rău.
Romanian is Indo-European in origin and its syntax and way of working mean that the English speaker can make useful progress without having to enter too deeply into the complexities of grammar.
Progress is further helped firstly as Romanian and English historically derive many words from a common Latin source and secondly they both employ an expanding modern vocabulary of terms, many of which have their origin in contemporary English.
Acceptaţi carţi de credit? ‘Do you take credit cards?’ and Adresa mea de e-mail este... ‘My e-mail address is ..’ are good examples of useful phrases which illustrate the relationship between the two languages.
Some of the basic elements such as La revedere 'Goodbye', Numele meu este .. 'My name is ..' clearly show the romance influence.
This can also be seen in the numbers from one to ten.
There has also been a strong Slavonic influence on Romanian which can be seen here in the numbers eleven to twenty.
A few first words. 1, A few first words. 2, A few first words. 3, Bathroom items, Bedroom items, Buying things. General phrases, Buyings things. Useful words, Countries, Communication problems, Conversation. Introductions, Conversation. Small talk. 1, Conversation. Small talk. 2, Conversation. Filler words, Conversation. Small talk. Sport, Conversation. Small talk. The weather, Describing (masculine) things. Colours, Describing (feminine) things. Colours, Describing (masculine) things. Adjectives, Describing (feminine) things. Adjectives, Days. General, Days of the week, Directions. 1, Directions. 2, Eating phrases. 1, Eating phrases. 2, Eating items, Emergencies, Family, Food and drink. General phrases, Food and drink. At the bar or café. 1, Food and drink. At the bar or café. 2, Food and drink. At the bar or café. 3, Getting around. General phrases, Getting around. Train and bus, Getting around by taxi, Getting around by car, Health, Household items, Money, Months of the year, Numbers. 1 to 10, Numbers. 11 to 20, Numbers. 30 to 1000, Parts of the body, Places and buildings. 1, Places and buildings. 2, Question and size words, Somewhere to stay. 1, Somewhere to stay. 2, The house, Useful words to recognize, Words to do with food. General, Words to do with food. Fruit, Words to do with food. Vegetables, Words to do with food. Meat, Time.