View source for Romanian language

{{Short description|Eastern Romance language}}
{{distinguish|text = the [[Romani language|Romani]], [[Romansh language|Romansh]], or [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]] languages}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Romanian
| altname          = Daco-Romanian
| nativename       = {{lang|ro|limba română}}, {{lang|ro|românește}}, {{lang|ro|română}}{{efn|ромынэ in [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet|Moldovan Cyrillic]], uniquely used in [[Transnistria]].}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|ro|roˈmɨnə|}}
| states           = [[Romania]], [[Moldova]]
| region           = [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]]<br>[[Eastern Europe]]<br>[[Central Europe]]
| ethnicity        = {{ubl|[[Romanians]]<br />{{small|(including [[Moldovans]] and [[Vlachs of Serbia|Timok Valley Vlachs]])}}}}
| speakers         = {{sigfig|22.209690|2}} million
| date             = 2020
| ref              = e27
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Italic languages|Italic]]
| fam3             = [[Latino-Faliscan languages|Latino-Faliscan]]
| fam4             = [[Latin]]
| fam5             = [[Romance languages|Romance]]
| fam6             = [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern]]
| fam7             = [[Eastern Romance languages|Northern Romanian]]?{{efn|name=a|The internal classification of the Eastern Romance languages presented in Petrucci (1999) proposes a bipartite split into Northern and Southern branches, with the Northern branch splitting into Istro-Romanian and Daco-Romanian.{{sfn|Petrucci|1999|p=4}} By contrast, the classification presented within [[Glottolog]] v4.8 proposes a bipartite split between Aromanian and Northern Romanian, the latter of which is further split into Istro-Romanian and Eastern Romanian, from which Daco-Romanian and Megleno-Romanian are hypothesized to have split.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/east2714 |title=Glottolog 4.8 – Eastern Romance |date=2023-07-10 |access-date=2023-11-20 |website=[[Glottolog]] |last1=Hammarström |first1=Harald |publisher=[[Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology]] |author-link=Harald Hammarström |last2=Forkel |first2=Robert |publication-place=[[Leipzig]] |doi=10.5281/zenodo.7398962 |last3=Haspelmath |first3=Martin |author-link3=Martin Haspelmath |last4=Bank |first4=Sebastian |doi-access=free |archive-date=21 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121043919/https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/east2714 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
| fam8             = [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romanian]]?{{efn|name=a}}
| dia1             = [[Transylvanian varieties of Romanian|Transylvanian]]
| dia2             = [[Crișana dialect|Crișana]]
| dia3             = [[Moldavian dialect|Moldavian]] (Including [[Moldovan language]])
| dia4             = [[Banat Romanian dialect|Banat]]
| dia5             = [[Wallachian dialect|Wallachian]]
| dia6             = [[Maramureș dialect|Maramureș]]
| dia7             = [[Bukovinian Romanian dialect|Bukovinian]]
| dia8             = [[Oltenian dialect|Oltenian]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2        = [[Proto-Italic language|Proto-Italic]]
| ancestor3        = [[Old Latin]]
| ancestor4        = [[Vulgar Latin]]
| ancestor5        = [[Proto-Romance language|Proto-Romance]]
| ancestor6        = [[Common Romanian]]
| script           = *[[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Romanian alphabet]])
* [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]]
** [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet]] ([[Transnistria]] only)
** [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet]] (historical)
* [[Romanian Braille]]
| nation           = {{ubl|[[Romania]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?den=act2_1&par1=1 |title=ARTICOLUL 13 – Constitutia României |website=Cdep.ro |access-date=2016-01-28 |archive-date=7 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907004110/http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?den=act2_1&par1=1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>|[[Moldova]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://protv.md/actualitate/modificat-si-in-constitutie-limba-de-stat-a-republicii-moldova-este-limba-romana-foto---2648619.html|title=Modificat și în Constituție: "Limba de stat a Republicii Moldova este limba română" – FOTO|publisher=[[ProTV Chișinău]]|date=30 March 2023|language=ro|access-date=2 April 2023|archive-date=31 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331075620/https://protv.md/actualitate/modificat-si-in-constitutie-limba-de-stat-a-republicii-moldova-este-limba-romana-foto---2648619.html|url-status=live}}</ref>|''[[Transnistria]]'' ({{small|as "[[Moldovan language|Moldovan]]"}})<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newsmaker.md/ro/cat-exista-transnistria-va-exista-limba-moldoveneasca-krasnoselski-despre-posibile-divergente-cu-chisinaul/|title="Cât există Transnistria, va exista "limba moldovenească". Krasnoselski, despre posibile divergențe cu Chișinăul|first=Stela|last=Untila|newspaper=NewsMaker|date=14 July 2021|language=ro|access-date=2 April 2023|archive-date=2 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402182649/https://newsmaker.md/ro/cat-exista-transnistria-va-exista-limba-moldoveneasca-krasnoselski-despre-posibile-divergente-cu-chisinaul/|url-status=live}}</ref>|[[Vojvodina]] ([[Serbia]])<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.puma.vojvodina.gov.rs/etext.php?ID_mat=207 | title = Official use of languages and scripts in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina | publisher = Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Minorities | accessdate = 18 October 2010 | archive-date = 25 October 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201025083851/http://www.puma.vojvodina.gov.rs/etext.php?ID_mat=207 | url-status = live }}</ref>|[[European Union]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://commission.europa.eu/about-european-commission/service-standards-and-principles/commissions-use-languages_en |title=The Commission's use of languages |access-date=2 April 2023 |archive-date=3 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403205756/https://commission.europa.eu/about-european-commission/service-standards-and-principles/commissions-use-languages_en |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
| minority         = {{ubl|[[Hungary]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-charter-regional-or-minority-languages/home/-/asset_publisher/VzXuex45jmKt/content/hungary-needs-to-strengthen-use-of-and-access-to-minority-languages?_101_INSTANCE_VzXuex45jmKt_viewMode=view/ |title=Hungary needs to strengthen use of and access to minority languages |publisher=[[Council of Europe]] |access-date=16 January 2019 |archive-date=27 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190827104838/https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-charter-regional-or-minority-languages/home/-/asset_publisher/VzXuex45jmKt/content/hungary-needs-to-strengthen-use-of-and-access-to-minority-languages?_101_INSTANCE_VzXuex45jmKt_viewMode=view/ |url-status=live }}</ref>|[[Serbia]] ({{small|both as Romanian and "[[Romanian language in Serbia|Vlach]]"}})<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npld.eu/news/latest-news/60/latest-council-of-europe-report-on-regional-or-minority-languages-in-serbia-published-/|title=Latest Council of Europe report on regional or minority Languages in Serbia published|publisher=The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity|access-date=25 June 2015|archive-date=26 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626134700/http://www.npld.eu/news/latest-news/60/latest-council-of-europe-report-on-regional-or-minority-languages-in-serbia-published-/|url-status=dead}}</ref>|[[Ukraine]] ({{small|both as Romanian and "Moldovan"}})<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.libertatea.ro/opinii/romanii-din-odesa-cernauti-si-chisinau-unirea-neasteptata-prin-limba-cum-ii-ajuta-pe-romanii-din-ucraina-inlocuirea-limbii-moldovenesti-cu-limba-romana-4472846|title=Cum îi ajută pe românii din Ucraina înlocuirea limbii "moldovenești" cu limba română|first=Marin|last=Gherman|newspaper=[[Libertatea]]|date=13 March 2023|language=ro|access-date=2 April 2023|archive-date=2 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402175637/https://www.libertatea.ro/opinii/romanii-din-odesa-cernauti-si-chisinau-unirea-neasteptata-prin-limba-cum-ii-ajuta-pe-romanii-din-ucraina-inlocuirea-limbii-moldovenesti-cu-limba-romana-4472846|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
| agency           = [[Romanian Academy]]
| iso1             = ro
| iso2b            = rum
| iso2t            = ron
| iso3             = ron
| lingua           = 51-AAD-c (varieties: 51-AAD-ca to -ck)
| map              = Map Roumanophone World.png
| mapcaption       = Blue: region where Romanian is the dominant language. Cyan: areas with a notable minority of Romanian speakers.
| map2             = Idioma rumano.PNG
| mapcaption2      = Distribution of the Romanian language in Romania, Moldova and surroundings
| notice           = IPA
| glotto           = roma1327
| glottorefname    = Romanian
}}
[[File:Native from Bucharest, Romania speaking Romanian.webm|thumb|Native from [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]], speaking Romanian. The Romanian dialect from Bucharest is standard Romanian (from the region of [[Muntenia]], part of the historical [[Wallachia]]).]]

'''Romanian''' (obsolete spelling: '''Roumanian'''; {{langx|ro|label=[[endonym]]|limba română}} {{IPA|ro|ˈlimba roˈmɨnə||Ro-Limba_Română.ogg}}, or {{lang|ro|românește}} {{IPA|ro|romɨˈneʃte|}}, {{literal translation|in Romanian}}) is the official and main language of [[Romania]] and [[Moldova]]. Romanian is part of the [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance]] sub-branch of [[Romance languages]], a linguistic group that evolved from several dialects of [[Vulgar Latin]] which separated from the [[Italo-Western languages|Western Romance]] languages in the course of the period from the 5th to the 8th centuries.<ref>"Istoria limbii române" ("History of the Romanian Language"), II, Academia Română, Bucharest, 1969</ref> To distinguish it within the Eastern Romance languages, in comparative linguistics it is called ''[[#Dialects|Daco-Romanian]]'' as opposed to its closest relatives, [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]], [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]], and [[Istro-Romanian language|Istro-Romanian]]. It is also spoken as a [[minority language]] by stable communities in the countries surrounding Romania ([[Romanians in Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], [[Romanians in Hungary|Hungary]], [[Romanians in Serbia|Serbia]] and [[Romanians in Ukraine|Ukraine]]), and by the large [[Romanian diaspora]]. In total, it is spoken by 25 million people as a [[first language]].<ref name=e27/>

Romanian was also known as ''[[Moldovan language|Moldovan]]'' in Moldova, although the [[Constitutional Court of Moldova]] ruled in 2013 that "the official language of Moldova is Romanian".{{efn|The constitution of the Republic of Moldova referred to the country's language as ''Moldovan'', whilst the 1991 [[Moldovan Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] named the official language ''Romanian''. In December 2013, an official decision of the [[Constitutional Court of Moldova]] ruled that the Declaration of Independence takes precedence over the Constitution and that the state language is therefore Romanian, not 'Moldovan'. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131209102718/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/05/moldovan-court-rules-official-language-is-romanian-replacing-soviet-flavored/ "Moldovan court rules official language is 'Romanian,' replacing Soviet-flavored 'Moldovan'"].}} On 16 March 2023, the [[Moldovan Parliament]] approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution. On 22 March, the president of Moldova, [[Maia Sandu]], [[Promulgation|promulgated]] the law.<ref name="romanian-law-prom">{{cite news |title=Președinta Maia Sandu a promulgat Legea care confirmă că limba de stat a Republicii Moldova este cea română |language=ro |publisher=Presidency of the Republic of Moldova |url=https://presedinte.md/rom/comunicate-de-presa/presedinta-maia-sandu-a-promulgat-legea-care-confirma-ca-limba-de-stat-a-republicii-moldova-este-cea-romna |quote=Astăzi am promulgat Legea care confirmă un adevăr istoric și incontestabil: limba de stat a Republicii Moldova este cea română. |trans-quote=Today I have promulgated the law that confirms a historical and indisputable truth: the state language of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian. }}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

== Overview ==
The history of the Romanian language started in the [[Roman province]]s north of the [[Jireček Line]] in [[Classical antiquity]] but there are 3 main hypotheses about its exact territory: the autochthony thesis (it developed in left-Danube Dacia only), the discontinuation thesis (it developed in right-Danube provinces only), and the "as-well-as" thesis that supports the language development on both sides of the Danube.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Breu |first=Walter |date=23 March 2022 |title=Romance in Contact with Slavic in Southern and South-Eastern Europe |url=https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-449 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedias |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.449 |isbn=978-0-19-938465-5 |access-date=8 August 2023 |archive-date=26 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926064340/https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-449 |url-status=live }}</ref> Between the 6th and 8th century, following the accumulated tendencies inherited from the vernacular spoken in this large area and, to a much smaller degree, the influences from [[Substrate in Romanian|native dialects]], and in the context of a lessened power of the Roman central authority the language evolved into [[Common Romanian]]. This [[proto-language]] then came into close contact with the [[Slavic languages]] and subsequently divided into [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]], [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]], [[Istro-Romanian language|Istro-Romanian]], and Daco-Romanian.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sala |first=Marius |trans-title=From Latin to Romanian |title=De la Latină la Română] |publisher=Editura Pro Universitaria |year=2012 |isbn=978-606-647-435-1 |page=13 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Brâncuș |first=Grigore |trans-title=Introduction to the History of Romanian Language |title=Introducere în istoria limbii române] |publisher=Editura Fundației România de Mâine |year=2005 |isbn=973-725-219-5  |page=16 }}</ref> Due to limited attestation between the 6th and 16th century, entire stages from its history are re-constructed by researchers, often with proposed relative chronologies and loose limits.<ref>[[Gabriela Pană Dindelegan|Pană Dindelegan, Gabriela]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=DlrPPUCQmk4C ''The Grammar of Romanian''], Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-964492-6, pages 3 and 4</ref>

From the 12th or 13th century, official documents and religious texts were written in [[Old Church Slavonic]], a language that had a similar role to [[Medieval Latin]] in Western Europe. The oldest dated text in Romanian is [[Neacșu's letter|a letter]] written in 1521 with [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic letters]], and until late 18th century, including during the development of printing, the same alphabet was used. The period after 1780, starting with the writing of its first grammar books, represents the modern age of the language, during which time the [[Latin script|Latin alphabet]] became official, the literary language was standardized, and a large number of words from [[Neo-Latin|Modern Latin]] and other [[Romance languages]] entered the lexis.

In the process of language evolution from fewer than 2500 attested words from [[Late antiquity|Late Antiquity]] to a [[Romanian lexis|lexicon]] of over 150,000 words in its contemporary form,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sala |first=Marius |trans-title=From Latin to Romanian |title=De la Latină la Română] |publisher=Editura Pro Universitaria |year=2012 |isbn=978-606-647-435-1 |page=44 }}</ref> Romanian showed a high degree of lexical permeability, reflecting contact with [[Thraco-Dacian]], [[Slavic languages]] (including [[Old Church Slavonic|Old Slavic]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], and [[Russian language|Russian]]), [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[German language|German]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], and to languages that served as cultural models during and after the [[Age of Enlightenment]], in particular [[French language|French]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Schulte |first=Kim |editor1-last=Haspelmath |editor1-first=Martin |editor2-last=Tadmor |editor2-first=Uri |title=Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |year=2009 |pages=231–250 |chapter=Loanwords in Romanian |isbn=978-3-11-021843-5}}</ref> This lexical permeability is continuing today with the introduction of [[English language|English]] words.<ref name="The Grammar of Romanian">Pană Dindelegan, Gabriela, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DlrPPUCQmk4C ''The Grammar of Romanian''], Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-964492-6, page 5</ref>

Yet while the overall lexis was enriched with foreign words and internal constructs, in accordance with the history and development of the society and the diversification in semantic fields, the fundamental lexicon—the core [[vocabulary]] used in everyday conversation—remains governed by inherited elements from the [[Latin]] spoken in the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] provinces bordering [[Danube]], without which no coherent sentence can be made.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sala |first=Marius |title=De la Latină la Română |publisher=Editura Pro Universitaria |year=2012 |isbn=978-606-647-435-1 |pages=63–64 |language=ro |trans-title=From Latin to Romanian}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Romanian language}}

=== Common Romanian ===
{{Main|Proto-Romanian language}}
{{See also|Slavic superstratum in Romanian|Substrate in Romanian}}
Romanian descended from the [[Latin]] spoken in the [[Roman province]]s of [[Southeastern Europe]]{{sfn|Petrucci|1999|p=4}} north of the [[Jireček Line]] (a hypothetical boundary between the dominance of Latin and Greek influences).

Most scholars agree that two major dialects had developed from Common Romanian by the 10th century.{{sfn|Petrucci|1999|p=4}} Daco-Romanian (the official language of Romania and Moldova) and [[Istro-Romanian language|Istro-Romanian]] (a language spoken today by no more than 2,000 people in [[Istria]]) descended from the northern dialect.{{sfn|Petrucci|1999|p=4}} Two other languages, [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]] and [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]], developed from the southern version of Common Romanian.{{sfn|Petrucci|1999|p=4}} These two languages are now spoken in lands to the south of the [[Jireček Line]].{{sfn|Andreose|Renzi|2013|p=287}}

Of the features that individualize Common Romanian, inherited from Latin or subsequently developed, of particular importance are:<ref name="books.google.ro">Pană Dindelegan, Gabriela, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DlrPPUCQmk4C ''The Grammar of Romanian''], Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-964492-6, page 4</ref>
* appearance of [[Mid central vowel|schwa]] (written as ''ă'' in Romanian) vowel;
* growth of the plural inflectional ending -uri for the neuter gender;
* analytic present conditional (ex: Daco-Romanian {{lang|ro|aș cânta}});
* analytic future with an auxiliary derived from Latin volo (ex: Aromanian {{lang|rup|va s-cântu}});
* [[enclisis]] of the definite article (ex. Istro-Romanian {{lang|ruo|câre}} – {{lang|ruo|cârele}});
* nominal declension with two case forms in the singular feminine.

=== Old Romanian ===
{{Main|Old Romanian}}

The use of the denomination ''Romanian'' ({{lang|ro|română}}) for the language and use of the demonym ''Romanians'' ({{lang|ro|Români}}) for speakers of this language predate the foundation of the modern Romanian state. Romanians always used the general term {{lang|ro|rumân}}/{{lang|ro|român}} or regional terms such as {{lang|ro|ardeleni}} (or {{lang|ro|ungureni}}), {{lang|ro|moldoveni}} or {{lang|ro|munteni}} to designate themselves. Both the name of {{lang|ro|rumână}} or {{lang|ro|rumâniască}} for the Romanian language and the self-designation {{lang|ro|rumân/român}} are attested as early as the 16th century, by various foreign travelers into the Carpathian Romance-speaking space,<ref>Ștefan Pascu, ''Documente străine despre români'', ed. Arhivelor statului, București 1992, {{ISBN|973-95711-2-3}}</ref> as well as in other historical documents written in Romanian at that time such as {{lang|ro|{{ill|Letopisețul Țării Moldovei|ro|lt=Cronicile Țării Moldovei}}}} (''The Chronicles of the land of Moldova'') by [[Grigore Ureche]].

The few allusions to the use of Romanian in writing as well as common words, anthroponyms and toponyms preserved in the Old Church Slavonic religious writings and chancellery documents, attested prior to the 16th century, along with the analysis of graphemes show that the writing of Romanian with the Cyrillic alphabet started in the second half of the 15th century.<ref name="Dindelegan(ed.)">{{Cite web |last1=Timotin |first1=Emanuela |last2=Stan |first2=Camelia |last3=Maiden |first3=Martin |date=3 March 2016 |editor-last=Pană Dindelegan |editor-first=Gabriela |title=The Syntax of Old Romanian – Introduction |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198712350.003.0001 |access-date=3 September 2023 |website=Oxford Academic|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198712350.003.0001 }}</ref>  
[[Image:Neacşu's letter.jpg|thumb|left|[[Neacșu's letter]] is the oldest surviving document written in [[Old Romanian]] that can be precisely dated]]
The [[Hurmuzaki Psalter]] (''Psaltirea Hurmuzaki'') is the oldest writing in Romanian, dated on the basis of watermarks between 1491–1504.<ref>{{cite book|first=Iosif|last=Camară|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/128007318|chapter=Data alcătuirii celui mai vechi text românesc. Filigranul de tip corabie din Psaltirea Hurmuzaki|trans-chapter=The Date When the Oldest Romanian Text Was Written. The ship Watermark of the Hurmuzaki Psalter|title=Zamfirei Mihail: Omagiu|editor-last4=Academia Română. Institutul de Studii Sud-est Europene|publisher=Scriptor & Mega|editor-first1=Lia|editor-last1=Brad Chisacof|editor-first2=Simona|editor-last2=Nicolae|editor-first3=Cătălina|editor-last3=Vătășescu|location=Cluj-Napoca|year=2024|pages=151–165|isbn=978-606-8539-58-4}}</ref> It is a copy of an older, fifteenth-century translation of the Psalter,<ref name="Dindelegan(ed.)" /><ref name="Ledgeway">{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199677108.001.0001 |title=The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages |date=2016-06-30 |publisher=Oxford University PressOxford |isbn=978-0-19-967710-8 |editor-last=Ledgeway |editor-first=Adam |page=95 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199677108.001.0001 |editor-last2=Maiden |editor-first2=Martin}}</ref> which was bilingual (written in Church Slavonic, with Romanian translation after each verse).<ref name="auto">{{cite journal | last=Camară | first=Iosif | title=Originea celui mai vechi text românesc | trans-title=The origin of the oldest Romanian text | journal=Receptarea Sfintei Scripturi: între filologie, hermeneutică şi traductologie | volume=12 | date=2024 | issn=2285-5580 | doi=10.47743/rss.2023.12-9 | doi-access=free | pages=111–140 | url=https://mld.uaic.ro/RSS/RSS12_Camara.pdf}}</ref> The oldest Romanian document precisely dated is [[Neacșu's letter]] (1521) and was written using the [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet]], which was used until the late 19th century. The letter is the oldest testimony of Romanian epistolary style and uses a prevalent lexis of Latin origin.<ref name="e616">{{cite journal | last1=Milică | first1=Ioan | last2=Morcov | first2=Gabriela-Iuliana | title=Romanian letter-writing: a cultural-rhetorical perspective (I) | journal=Diacronia | issue=3 | date=12 February 2016 | doi=10.17684/i3A39en | doi-access=free | url=https://www.diacronia.ro/en/journal/issue/3/A39/en/pdf | access-date=7 April 2025 | article-number=A39/en | archive-date=21 July 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721160600/http://www.diacronia.ro/en/journal/issue/3/A39/en/pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> The slow process of Romanian establishing itself as an official language, used in the public sphere, in literature and ecclesiastically, began in the late 15th century and ended in the early decades of the 18th century, by which time Romanian had begun to be regularly used by the Church. The oldest Romanian texts of a literary nature are liturgical texts of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]: Psalter ([[Hurmuzaki Psalter]], Scheian Psalter, Psalter of Voroneț) and [[Apostolos (Eastern Orthodox liturgy)|Apostolos]] lectionary (Bratu's Codex, Codex of Voroneț). Their origins go back to the 15th century. The fact that they are bilingual writings or descend from bilingual writings shows that the initiative to translate them was prompted by the need to facilitate access to the Church Slavonic liturgical text.<ref name="auto"/>

The language spoken during this period had a phonological system of seven vowels and twenty-nine consonants. Particular to [[Old Romanian]] are the distribution of /z/, as the allophone of /dz/ from [[Common Romanian]], in the Wallachian and south-east Transylvanian varieties, the presence of palatal sonorants /ʎ/ and /ɲ/, nowadays preserved only regionally in [[Banat]] and [[Oltenia]], and the beginning of devoicing of asyllabic [u] after consonants.<ref name="Dindelegan(ed.)"/> Text analysis revealed words that are now lost from modern vocabulary or used only in local varieties. These words were of various provenience for example: Latin (''cure'' – to run, ''mâneca''- to leave), Old Church Slavonic (''drăghicame'' – gem, precious stone, ''prilăsti'' – to trick, to cheat), Hungarian (''bizăntui'' – to bear witness).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vîrban |first=Floarea |date=2015 |title=Aspecte privind structura vocabularului în cel mai vechi octoih în limba română |url=http://dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/static/web/viewer.html?file=http%3A%2F%2Fdspace.bcu-iasi.ro%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F123456789%2F30667%2FVirban%2C%20Floarea%2C%20Aspecte%20privind%20structura%20vocabularului%20in%20cel%20mai%20vechi%20octoih%20in%20limba%20romana%20%28I%29%2C%20LR%2C%202015%2C%20An.%2064%2C%20Nr.%201%2C%20p.%2099-110.pdf.pdf%3Fsequence%3D1&isAllowed=y |access-date=5 September 2023 |website=dspace.bcu-iasi.ro |language=ro |archive-date=5 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230905194900/http://dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/static/web/viewer.html?file=http%3A%2F%2Fdspace.bcu-iasi.ro%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F123456789%2F30667%2FVirban%2C%20Floarea%2C%20Aspecte%20privind%20structura%20vocabularului%20in%20cel%20mai%20vechi%20octoih%20in%20limba%20romana%20%28I%29%2C%20LR%2C%202015%2C%20An.%2064%2C%20Nr.%201%2C%20p.%2099-110.pdf.pdf%3Fsequence%3D1&isAllowed=y |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Modern Romanian ===
{{Main|Modern Romanian}}
[[File:Samuil Micu.jpg|thumb|right|[[Samuil Micu-Klein]]]]
The modern age of Romanian starts in 1780 with the printing in Vienna of a very important grammar book<ref name="books.google.ro"/> titled ''[[Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae]]''. The author of the book, [[Samuil Micu-Klein]], and the revisor, [[Gheorghe Șincai]], both members of the [[Transylvanian School]], chose to use [[Latin]] as the language of the text and presented the [[Romanian phonology|phonetical]] and [[Romanian grammar|grammatical]] features of Romanian in comparison to its ancestor.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.limbaromana.md/index.php?go=articole&n=3889 |title=N. Felecan – Considerations on the First Books of Romanian Grammar |access-date=24 October 2022 |archive-date=24 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024212115/https://www.limbaromana.md/index.php?go=articole&n=3889 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Modern age of Romanian language can be further divided into three phases: pre-modern or modernizing between 1780 and 1830, modern phase between 1831 and 1880, and contemporary from 1880 onwards.

==== Pre-modern period ====
Beginning with the printing in 1780 of ''Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae'', the pre-modern phase was characterized by the publishing of school textbooks, appearance of first normative works in Romanian, numerous translations, and the beginning of a conscious stage of [[Re-latinization of Romanian|re-latinization]] of the language.<ref name="books.google.ro"/> Notable contributions, besides that of the [[Transylvanian School]], are the activities of [[Gheorghe Lazăr]], founder of the first Romanian school, and [[Ion Heliade Rădulescu]]. The end of this period is marked by the first printing of magazines and newspapers in Romanian, in particular [[Curierul Românesc]] and [[Albina Românească]].<ref name="SuarezWoudhuysen2013">{{cite book|author1=Michael J. F. Suarez|author2=H. R. Woudhuysen|title=The Book: A Global History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odDYAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT753|accessdate=30 June 2016|date=24 October 2013|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-166875-3|pages=753–}}</ref>

[[Image:Rosenthal Rosetti Phrygian.jpeg|thumb|right|upright=1.27|[[Lithograph]] of a group portrait by [[Constantin Daniel Rosenthal]], showing Paris-based revolutionaries during the early 1840s. From left: Rosenthal (wearing a [[Phrygian cap]]), [[C. A. Rosetti]], {{interlanguage link|Vasile Mălinescu|ro}}]]

==== Modern period ====
Starting from 1831 and lasting until 1880 the modern phase is characterized by the development of literary styles: scientific, administrative, and [[belletristic]]. It quickly reached a high point with the printing of [[Dacia Literară]], a journal founded by [[Mihail Kogălniceanu]] and representing a literary society, which together with other publications like {{lang|ro|Propășirea}} and {{lang|ro|[[Gazeta de Transilvania]]}} spread the ideas of [[Romantic nationalism]] and later contributed to the formation of other societies that took part in the [[Revolutions of 1848]]. Their members and those that shared their views are collectively known in Romania as "of '48"({{lang|ro|pașoptiști}}), a name that was extended to the literature and writers around this time such as [[Vasile Alecsandri]], [[Grigore Alexandrescu]], [[Nicolae Bălcescu]], [[Timotei Cipariu]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sala |first=Marius |trans-title=From Latin to Romanian |title=De la Latină la Română] |publisher=Editura Pro Universitaria |year=2012 |isbn=978-606-647-435-1 |page=159 }}</ref>

Between 1830 and 1860 "transitional alphabets" were used, adding Latin letters to the [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet]]. The Latin alphabet became official at different dates in Wallachia and Transylvania{{snd}}1860, and Moldova{{snd}}1862.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199677108.001.0001 |title=The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages |date=2016-06-30 |page=95 |publisher=Oxford University PressOxford |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199677108.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-967710-8 |editor-last=Ledgeway |editor-first=Adam |editor-last2=Maiden |editor-first2=Martin |access-date=29 August 2023 }}</ref>

Following the [[unification of Moldavia and Wallachia]] further studies on the language were made, culminating with the founding of {{lang|ro|italic=no|Societatea Literară Română}}<!-- no interlanguage link, it redirects to the article on the Romanian Academy --> on 1 April 1866 on the initiative of [[C. A. Rosetti]], an academic society that had the purpose of standardizing the orthography, formalizing the grammar and (via a dictionary) vocabulary of the language, and promoting literary and scientific publications. This institution later became the [[Romanian Academy]].<ref>{{lang|ro|[https://acad.ro/institutia/istoric.html History of Romanian Academy]}}</ref>

[[File:Ion Creanga-Foto03.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ion Creangă]]]]

==== Contemporary period ====
The third phase of the modern age of Romanian language, starting from 1880 and continuing to this day, is characterized by the prevalence of the supradialectal form of the language, standardized with the express contribution of the school system and Romanian Academy, bringing a close to the process of literary language modernization and development of literary styles.<ref name="The Grammar of Romanian"/> It is distinguished by the activity of Romanian literature classics in its early decades: [[Mihai Eminescu]], [[Ion Luca Caragiale]], [[Ion Creangă (writer)|Ion Creangă]], [[Ioan Slavici]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sala |first=Marius |trans-title=From Latin to Romanian |title=De la Latină la Română] |publisher=Editura Pro Universitaria |year=2012 |isbn=978-606-647-435-1 |page=160 }}</ref>

The current orthography, with minor reforms to this day and using Latin letters, was fully implemented in 1881, regulated by the Romanian Academy on a fundamentally phonological principle, with few morpho-syntactic exceptions.<ref>Pană Dindelegan, Gabriela, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DlrPPUCQmk4C ''The Grammar of Romanian''], Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-964492-6, page 5</ref>

==== Modern history of Romanian in Bessarabia ====
The first [[Romanian grammar]] was published in Vienna in 1780.<ref name="Elementa" /> Following the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1812)|annexation of Bessarabia by Russia]] in 1812, Moldavian was established as an official language in the governmental institutions of [[Bessarabia]], used along with Russian,<ref>{{in lang|ru}}''Charter for the organization of the Bessarabian Oblast'', 29 April 1818, in "Печатается по изданию: Полное собрание законов Российской империи. Собрание первое.", Vol 35. ''1818'', [[Sankt Petersburg]], 1830, pg. 222–227. Available online at [http://www.hrono.info/dokum/moldav1818.html hrono.info] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924141759/http://www.hrono.info/dokum/moldav1818.html |date=24 September 2012 }}</ref>
The publishing works established by Archbishop [[Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni]] were able to produce books and liturgical works in Moldavian between 1815 and 1820.<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Charles |title=The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture |date=2000 |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |isbn=08-1799-792-X |location=Stanford, CA |pages=21–22 |language=en}}</ref>

Bessarabia during the 1812–1918 era witnessed the gradual development of [[bilingualism]]. Russian continued to develop as the official language of privilege, whereas Romanian remained the principal vernacular.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

The period from 1905 to 1917 was one of increasing linguistic conflict spurred by an increase in Romanian nationalism.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} In 1905 and 1906, the Bessarabian {{lang|ru|[[zemstvo|zemstva]]}} asked for the re-introduction of Romanian in schools as a "compulsory language", and the "liberty to teach in the mother language (Romanian language)". At the same time, Romanian-language newspapers and journals began to appear, such as {{lang|ro|Basarabia}} (1906), {{lang|ro|Viața Basarabiei}} (1907), {{lang|ro|Moldovanul}} (1907), {{lang|ro|Luminătorul}} (1908), {{lang|ro|Cuvînt moldovenesc}} (1913), {{lang|ro|Glasul Basarabiei}} (1913). From 1913, the synod permitted that "the churches in [[Bessarabia]] use the Romanian language".<!--<ref name="lidia" />--> Romanian finally became the official language with the [[1923 Constitution of Romania|Constitution of 1923]].

=== Historical grammar ===
Romanian has preserved a part of the Latin [[declension]]. However, while [[Latin]] had six [[Grammatical case|case]]s, from a morphological viewpoint, Romanian has only three: the [[nominative]]/[[accusative]], [[genitive]]/[[dative case|dative]], and marginally the [[vocative]]. Romanian nouns also preserve the neuter [[Grammatical gender|gender]], although instead of functioning as a separate gender with its own forms in adjectives, the Romanian neuter became a mixture of masculine and feminine. The [[verb]] morphology of Romanian has shown the same move towards a compound [[perfect (grammar)|perfect]] and [[future tense]] as the other Romance languages. Compared with the other [[Romance languages]], during its evolution, Romanian simplified the original Latin [[Grammatical tense|tense]] system.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=D’hulst |first1=Yves |title=Balkan Syntax and Semantics |last2=Coene |first2=Martine |last3=Avram |first3=Larisa |date=2004 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=978-90-272-2790-4 |editor-last=Mišeska Tomić |editor-first=Olga |location=Amsterdam |page=355 |language=en |chapter=Syncretic and Analytic Tenses in Romanian: The Balkan Setting of Romance |doi=10.1075/la.67.18dhu |quote=general absence of consecutio temporum.}}</ref>

== Geographic distribution ==

{{See also|List of countries and territories where Romanian is an official language|Romanian Americans}}

Romanian is spoken mostly in [[Central Europe|Central]], [[Southeast Europe|South-Eastern]], and [[Eastern Europe]], although speakers of the language can be found all over the world, mostly due to emigration of Romanian nationals and the return of immigrants to Romania back to their original countries. Romanian speakers account for 0.5% of the world's population,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Latin Union – Languages and cultures online 2005 |url=http://dtil.unilat.org/LI/2005/ro/rezultatele_detaliate.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128011831/http://dtil.unilat.org/LI/2005/ro/rezultatele_detaliate.htm |archive-date=28 January 2011 |access-date=23 May 2010 |publisher=Dtil.unilat.org}}</ref> and 4% of the Romance-speaking population of the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People |url=http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500404/Languages_Spoken_by_More_Than_10_Million_People.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029104855/http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500404/Languages_Spoken_by_More_Than_10_Million_People.html |archive-date=29 October 2009 |website=MSN Encarta |language=en}}</ref>

Romanian is the single official and national language in Romania and Moldova, although it shares the official status at regional level with other languages in the Moldovan autonomies of [[Gagauzia]] and [[Transnistria]]. Romanian is also an official language of the [[Vojvodina|Autonomous Province of Vojvodina]] in Serbia along with five other languages. Romanian minorities are encountered in Serbia ([[Timok Valley]]), Ukraine ([[Chernivtsi Oblast|Chernivtsi]] and [[Odesa Oblast|Odesa]] [[oblast]]s), and Hungary ([[Gyula, Hungary|Gyula]]). Large immigrant communities are found in Italy, Spain, France, and Portugal.

In 1995, the largest Romanian-speaking community in the Middle East was found in Israel, where Romanian was spoken by 5% of the population.<ref>According to the 1993 ''Statistical Abstract of Israel'' there were 250,000 Romanian speakers in Israel, of a population of 5,548,523 in 1995 (census).</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Reports of about 300,000 Jews that left the country after WW2 |url=http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=110 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831192934/http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=110 |archive-date=31 August 2006 |access-date=23 May 2010 |publisher=Eurojewcong.org |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Romanian is also spoken as a second language by people from Arabic-speaking countries who have studied in Romania. It is estimated that almost half a million Middle Eastern Arabs studied in Romania during the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Laslau |first=Andi |date=27 April 2005 |title=Arabii din Romania, radiografie completa |url=http://www.evz.ro/article.php?artid=185041 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224113558/http://www.evz.ro/article.php?artid=185041 |archive-date=24 December 2007 |access-date=23 May 2010 |website=Evz.ro |language=ro}}</ref> Small Romanian-speaking communities are to be found in Kazakhstan and Russia. Romanian is also spoken within communities of Romanian and Moldovan immigrants in the United States, Canada and Australia, although they do not make up a large homogeneous community statewide.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Geographic distribution of Romanian
|-
! Country
! Speakers <br /> (%)
! Speakers <br />(native)
! Country Population
|-
! colspan="4" |World
|-
|World
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.33%
| style="text-align:right;"| '''23,623,890'''
| style="text-align:right;"| 7,035,000,000
|-
! colspan="4" |Countries where Romanian is an [[official language]]
|-
|[[Demographics of Romania|Romania]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 90.65%
| style="text-align:right;"| 17,263,561<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tab5. Populatia stabila dupa principalele limbi materne la recensamantul din anul 2011 – rezultate preliminar |url=http://www.recensamantromania.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/TS5.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225050749/http://www.recensamantromania.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/TS5.pdf |archive-date=25 February 2021 |access-date=26 August 2012}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 19,043,767
|-
|[[Demographics of Moldova|Moldova]] <sup>2</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 82.1%
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,184,065
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,681,735
|-
|[[Demographics of Transnistria|Transnistria]] (Moldova)<sup>3</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 33.0%
| style="text-align:right;"| 156,600
| style="text-align:right;"| 475,665
|-
|[[Romanians in Serbia|Vojvodina]] ([[Romanian language in Serbia|Serbia]])
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.04%
| style="text-align:right;"| 18,038<ref name="Dissemination database search">{{Cite web |title=Dissemination database search |url=https://data.stat.gov.rs/Home/Result/3104020302?languageCode=en-US |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=data.stat.gov.rs}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,740,230<ref name="Dissemination database search"/>
|-
|[[Romanians in Ukraine|Ukraine]] <sup>5</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.8%
| style="text-align:right;"| 327,703
| style="text-align:right;"| 48,457,000
|-
! colspan="4" |Other neighboring European states (except for [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] countries where Romanian is not official)
|-
|[[Demographics of Hungary|Hungary]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.14%
| style="text-align:right;"| 13,886<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hungarian Census 2011 |url=http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/idoszaki/nepsz2011/nepsz_orsz_2011.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717211318/http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/idoszaki/nepsz2011/nepsz_orsz_2011.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2019 |access-date=2 April 2013}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 9,937,628
|-
|[[Vlachs of Serbia|Timok Valley (Serbia)]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.39%
| style="text-align:right;"| 25,702<ref>{{Cite web |title=Матерњи језик, вероисповест и национална припадност {{!}} О ПОПИСУ СТАНОВНИШТВА |url=https://popis2022.stat.gov.rs/5-vestisaopstenja/news-events/20230616-st/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=popis2022.stat.gov.rs |archive-date=22 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822150240/https://popis2022.stat.gov.rs/5-vestisaopstenja/news-events/20230616-st/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,664,007
|-
|[[Romanians in Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.06%
| style="text-align:right;"| 4,575<ref>Ethnologue.com</ref>{{full citation needed|date=August 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 7,364,570
|-
! colspan="4" |[[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] countries where Romanian is not official
|-
|[[Demographics of Russia|Russia]] <sup>1</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.06%
| style="text-align:right;"| 92,675<ref>[https://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/Documents/Vol4/pub-04-08.pdf 2010 Russia Census] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422191553/https://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/Documents/Vol4/pub-04-08.pdf |date=22 April 2021 }} Perepis 2010</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 142,856,536
|-
|[[Demographics of Kazakhstan|Kazakhstan]] <sup>1</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.1%
| style="text-align:right;"| 14,666
| style="text-align:right;"| 14,953,126
|-
! colspan="4"|Asia (excluding [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] countries)
|-
|[[Demographics of Israel|Israel]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.11%
| style="text-align:right;"| ~82,300<ref>{{cite web |title=Jews, by Country of Origin(1) and Age |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_08x&CYear=2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050107/http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_08x&CYear=2013 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |work=CBS, Statistical Abstract of Israel 2013 |publisher=[[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]] |format=PDF}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 7,412,200
|-
|[[Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates|UAE]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.1%
| style="text-align:right;"| 5,000{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 4,106,427
|-
|Singapore
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.02%
| style="text-align:right;"|1,400{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"|5,535,000
|-
|[[Demographics of Japan|Japan]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.002%
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,185{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 126,659,683
|-
|South Korea
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0006%
| style="text-align:right;"|   300{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 50,004,441
|-
|China
| style="text-align:right;"|0.0008%
| style="text-align:right;"| 12,000{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,376,049,000
|-
! colspan="4" |The Americas
|-
|[[Romanian American|United States]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.049%
| style="text-align:right;"| 154,625<ref>{{Cite web |title=Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over: 2009–2013 |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2013/demo/2009-2013-lang-tables.html |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=Census.gov |archive-date=17 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417223557/https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2013/demo/2009-2013-lang-tables.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 315,091,138
|-
|[[Romanian Canadian|Canada]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.289%
| style="text-align:right;"| 100,610<ref>{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2017-08-02 |title=Mother Tongue (263), Single and Multiple Mother Tongue Responses (3), Age (7) and Sex (3) for the Population Excluding Institutional Residents of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Divisions and Census Subdivisions, 2016 Census – 100% Data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=110180&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2016&THEME=118&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca |archive-date=12 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512141910/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=110180&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2016&THEME=118&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |url-status=live }}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 34,767,250
|-
|Argentina
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.03%
| style="text-align:right;"|  13,000{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 40,117,096
|-
|Venezuela
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.036%
| style="text-align:right;"|  10,000{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 27,150,095
|-
|[[Immigration to Brazil|Brazil]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.002%
| style="text-align:right;"|  4,000{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 190,732,694
|-
! colspan="4" |Oceania
|-
|[[Romanian Australian|Australia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.046%
| style="text-align:right;"| 12,251<ref>{{Cite web |title=Redirect to Census data page |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/cowsredirect |website=www.abs.gov.au |access-date=15 November 2019 |archive-date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726024303/https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/cowsredirect |url-status=live }} c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=Australian Bureau of Statistics.</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 26,482,413
|-
|New Zealand
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.08%
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,100{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 4,027,947
|-
! colspan="4" |Africa
|-
|South Africa
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.007%
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,000{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
| style="text-align:right;"| 44,819,778
|-
| colspan="4" style="text-align:left;"|
<sup>1</sup> Many are Moldavians who were deported<br />
<sup>2</sup> Data only for the districts on the right bank of Dniester (without Transnistria and the city of Tighina). In Moldova, it is sometimes referred to as the "[[Moldovan language]]"<br />
<sup>3</sup> In Transnistria, it is officially called "[[Moldovan language]]" and is written in [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet]].<br />
<sup>4</sup> Officially divided into Vlachs and Romanians<br />
<sup>5</sup> Most in Northern Bukovina and Southern Bessarabia; according to a ''Moldova Noastră'' study (based on the latest Ukrainian census).<ref>[http://noinu.rdscj.ro/article.php?articleID=146&document=4 RDSCJ.ro] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322113510/http://noinu.rdscj.ro/article.php?articleID=146&document=4 |date=22 March 2008 }}</ref>
|}

=== Legal status ===
==== In Romania ====
According to the [[Constitution of Romania]] of 1991, as revised in 2003, Romanian is the official language of the Republic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitution of Romania |url=http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?den=act2_1&par1=1 |access-date=23 May 2010 |publisher=Cdep.ro |archive-date=7 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907004110/http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?den=act2_1&par1=1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Romania mandates the use of Romanian in official government publications, public education and legal contracts. Advertisements as well as other public messages must bear a translation of foreign words,<ref>Legea "[[George Pruteanu|Pruteanu]]": [http://www.cdep.ro/proiecte/2001/500/80/5/leg_pl585_01.pdf 500/2004 – Law on the Protection of the Romanian Language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112160042/http://www.cdep.ro/proiecte/2001/500/80/5/leg_pl585_01.pdf |date=12 November 2011 }}</ref> while trade signs and logos shall be written predominantly in Romanian.<ref>Art. 27 (3), Legea nr. 26/1990 privind Registrul Comerțului</ref>

The Romanian Language Institute (Institutul Limbii Române), established by the Ministry of Education of Romania, promotes Romanian and supports people willing to study the language, working together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department for Romanians Abroad.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ministry of Education of Romania |url=http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/c262/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060629192930/http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/c262/ |archive-date=29 June 2006 |access-date=19 April 2006 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Since 2013, the [[Romanian Language Day]] is celebrated on every [[31 August]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 August 2020 |title=31 august – Ziua Limbii Române |language=ro |work=[[Agerpres]] |url=https://www.agerpres.ro/documentare/2020/08/31/31-august-ziua-limbii-romane--563779 |access-date=26 November 2020 |archive-date=25 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025003653/https://www.agerpres.ro/documentare/2020/08/31/31-august-ziua-limbii-romane--563779 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=31 August 2020 |title=De ce este sărbătorită Ziua Limbii Române la 31 august |language=ro |work=Historia |url=https://www.historia.ro/sectiune/general/articol/de-ce-este-sarbatorita-ziua-limbii-romane-la-31-august |access-date=26 November 2020 |archive-date=19 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319083523/https://www.historia.ro/sectiune/general/articol/de-ce-este-sarbatorita-ziua-limbii-romane-la-31-august |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== In Moldova ====
{{Main|Moldovan language}}
Romanian is the official language of the Republic of Moldova. The 1991 [[Moldovan Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] named the official language Romanian,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Declarația de independența a Republicii Moldova, Moldova Suverană |url=http://www.moldova-suverana.md/index.php?start_from=&ucat=7&subaction=showfull&id=1156426235&archive=1156767681& |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205095219/http://www.moldova-suverana.md/index.php?start_from=&ucat=7&subaction=showfull&id=1156426235&archive=1156767681& |archive-date=5 February 2008 |access-date=9 October 2013 |publisher=Moldova-suverana.md |language=ro}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Field Guide to the Main Languages of Europe – Spot that language and how to tell them apart |url=http://ec.europa.eu/translation/language_aids/recognition/field_guide_main_languages_of_europe_en.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224120109/http://ec.europa.eu/translation/language_aids/recognition/field_guide_main_languages_of_europe_en.pdf |archive-date=24 February 2007 |access-date=9 October 2013 |publisher=European Commission |df=dmy-all}}</ref> and the [[Constitution of Moldova]] as originally adopted in 1994 named the state language of the country [[Moldovan language|Moldovan]]. In December 2013, a decision of the [[Constitutional Court of Moldova]] ruled that the Declaration of Independence took precedence over the Constitution and the state language should be called Romanian.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2015-03-25 |title=Moldovan Court Rules Official Language is 'Romanian', Replacing Soviet-Flavored 'Moldovan' |language=en |work=Fox News |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/05/moldovan-court-rules-official-language-is-romanian-replacing-soviet-flavored/ |access-date=7 December 2013 |archive-date=9 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209102718/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/05/moldovan-court-rules-official-language-is-romanian-replacing-soviet-flavored |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2023, the Moldovan parliament passed a law officially adopting the designation "Romanian" in all legal instruments, implementing the 2013 court decision.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Moldovan president promulgates law replacing name of state language in country's constitution with 'Romanian' |url=https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/88948/ |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Interfax |archive-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406205842/https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/88948/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Scholars agree that Moldovan and Romanian are the same language, with the [[-onym|glottonym]] "Moldovan" used in certain political contexts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marian Lupu: Româna și moldoveneasca sunt aceeași limbă |url=http://www.realitatea.net/marian-lupu--romana-si-moldoveneasca-sunt-aceeasi-limba_288666.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511204743/http://www.realitatea.net/marian-lupu--romana-si-moldoveneasca-sunt-aceeasi-limba_288666.html |archive-date=11 May 2011 |access-date=7 October 2009 |publisher=Realitatea .NET |df=dmy-all}}</ref> It has been the sole official language since the adoption of the Law on State Language of the [[Moldavian SSR]] in 1989.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dalby |first=Andrew |title=Dictionary of Languages |date=1998 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=07-4753-117-X |page=518 |author-link=Andrew Dalby}}</ref> This law mandates the use of Moldovan in all the political, economic, cultural and social spheres, as well as asserting the existence of a "linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity".<ref>[http://www.iatp.md/ladom/downloads/M3.doc Legea cu privire la functionarea limbilor vorbite pe teritoriul RSS Moldovenesti Nr.3465-XI din 01.09.89 Vestile nr.9/217, 1989] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060219024839/http://www.iatp.md/ladom/downloads/M3.doc |date=19 February 2006 }} (Law regarding the usage of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova): "Moldavian RSS supports the desire of the Moldavian that live across the borders of the Republic, and – considering the existing Moldo-Romanian linguistic identity – of the Romanians that live on the territory of the USSR, of doing their studies and satisfying their cultural needs in their maternal language."</ref> It is also used in schools, mass media, education and in the colloquial speech and writing. Outside the political arena the language is most often called "Romanian". In the breakaway territory of Transnistria, it is co-official with [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] and Russian.

In the [[2014 Moldovan Census|2014 census]], out of the 2,804,801 people living in Moldova, 24% (652,394) stated Romanian as their most common language, whereas 56% stated Moldovan. While in the urban centers speakers are split evenly between the two names (with the capital [[Chișinău]] showing a strong preference for the name "Romanian", i.e. 3:2), in the countryside hardly a quarter of Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated Romanian as their native language.<ref>National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova: [http://www.statistica.md/pageview.php?l=ro&idc=479 Census 2014] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171030171529/http://www.statistica.md/pageview.php?l=ro&idc=479 |date=30 October 2017 }}</ref> Unofficial results of this census first showed a stronger preference for the name Romanian, however the initial reports were later dismissed by the Institute for Statistics, which led to speculations in the media regarding the forgery of the census results.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017-03-29 |title=Biroul Național de Statistică, acuzat că a falsificat rezultatele recensământului |language=ro |work=Independent |url=https://independent.md/biroul-national-de-statistica-acuzat-ca-falsificat-rezultatele-recensamantului/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |archive-date=27 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227183027/https://independent.md/biroul-national-de-statistica-acuzat-ca-falsificat-rezultatele-recensamantului/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== In Serbia ====
{{Main|Romanian language in Serbia}}

===== Vojvodina =====
[[File:Vojvodina romanian map.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Official usage of Romanian language in [[Vojvodina]], Serbia]]
[[File:Romanian and Vlach language in Serbia.png|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Romanian language in entire Serbia (see also [[Romanians in Serbia]]), census 2002
{| style="width:100%;"
|-
| style="vertical-align:top" |
{{legend|#DFB5F7|1–5%}}
{{legend|#D094EE|5–10%}}
{{legend|#B366FF|10–15%}}
| style="vertical-align:top" |
{{legend|#903CC4|15–25%}}
{{legend|#6B0194|25–35%}}
{{legend|#490165|over 35%}}
|}]]
The [[Constitution of the Republic of Serbia]] determines that in the regions of the Republic of Serbia inhabited by national minorities, their own languages and scripts shall be officially used as well, in the manner established by law.<ref>Official Gazette of Republic of Serbia, No.1/90</ref>

The Statute of the Autonomous Province of [[Vojvodina]] determines that, together with the [[Serbian language]] and the Cyrillic script, and the Latin script as stipulated by the law, the [[Croatian language|Croat]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], Romanian and [[Rusyn language]]s and their scripts, as well as languages and scripts of other nationalities, shall simultaneously be officially used in the work of the bodies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in the manner established by the law.<ref>Article 24, [http://www.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/Strana.aspx?s=statut&j=EN "The Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019112141/http://www.skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs/Strana.aspx?s=statut&j=EN |date=19 October 2017 }}, published in the ''Official Gazette of AP Vojvodina'' No.20/2014</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Official Use of Languages and Scripts in the AP Vojvodina |url=http://www.puma.vojvodina.gov.rs/etext.php?ID_mat=207%3Flang%3D7 |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=Provincial Secretariat for Education, Regulations, Administration and National Minorities – National Communities |archive-date=27 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227183017/http://www.puma.vojvodina.gov.rs/etext.php?ID_mat=207%3Flang%3D7 |url-status=live }}</ref> The bodies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina are: the Assembly, the Executive Council and the provincial administrative bodies.

The Romanian language and script are officially used in eight municipalities: [[Alibunar]], [[Bela Crkva, Banat|Bela Crkva]] (''Biserica Albă''), [[Žitište]] (''Sângeorgiu de Bega''), [[Zrenjanin]] (''Becicherecu Mare''), [[Kovačica]] (''Covăcița''), [[Kovin]] (''Cuvin''), [[Plandište]] (''Plandiște'') and [[Sečanj]] (''Seceani''). In the municipality of [[Vršac]] (''Vârșeț''), Romanian is official only in the villages of [[Vojvodinci]] (''Voivodinț''), [[Markovac (Vršac)|Markovac]] (''Marcovăț''), [[Straža, Vršac|Straža]] (''Straja''), [[Mali Žam]] (''Jamu Mic''), [[Malo Središte]] (''Srediștea Mică''), [[Mesić (Vršac)|Mesić]] (''Mesici''), [[Jablanka]] (''Iablanca''), [[Sočica]] (''Sălcița''), [[Ritiševo]] (''Râtișor''), [[Orešac (Vršac)|Orešac]] (''Oreșaț'') and [[Kuštilj]] (''Coștei'').<ref>Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Minorities: [http://www.puma.vojvodina.gov.rs/dokumenti/sljezik.xls "Official use of the Romanian language in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (APV)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111201426/http://www.puma.vojvodina.gov.rs/dokumenti/sljezik.xls |date=11 November 2011 }}</ref>

In the 2002 Census, the last carried out in Serbia, 1.5% of Vojvodinians stated Romanian as their native language.

===== Timok Valley =====
The [[Vlachs of Serbia]] are considered to speak Romanian as well.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sorescu-Marinković |first1=Annemarie |title=Pluricentric Languages and Non-Dominant Varieties Worldwide: New Pluricentric Languages – Old Problems |last2=Huțanu |first2=Monica |date=2018 |publisher=Peter Lang Verlag |editor-last=Muhr |editor-first=Rudolf |location=Frankfurt |pages=233–246 |chapter=Non-Dominant Varieties of Romanian in Serbia: Between Pluricentricity and Division |hdl=21.15107/rcub_dais_5795 |editor-last2=Meisnitzer |editor-first2=Benjamin |chapter-url=https://dais.sanu.ac.rs/123456789/5795 |via=DAIS – Digital Archive of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

==== Regional language status in Ukraine ====
In parts of Ukraine where [[Romanians in Ukraine|Romanians]] constitute a significant share of the local population (districts in [[Chernivtsi Oblast|Chernivtsi]], [[Odesa Oblast|Odesa]] and [[Zakarpattia Oblast|Zakarpattia]] [[oblast]]s) Romanian is taught in schools as a primary language and there are Romanian-language newspapers, TV, and radio broadcasting.<ref>
* {{Cite web |title=Регіональний портрет України. 2003 р. Чернівецька область |publisher=Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research |url=http://www.ucipr.kiev.ua/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3384&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930202020/http://www.ucipr.kiev.ua/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3384&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 |archive-date=30 September 2011 |access-date=2006-01-23 |df=dmy-all}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.ucipr.kiev.ua/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3377&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-01-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427132707/http://www.ucipr.kiev.ua/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3377&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 |archive-date=27 April 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Internetový časopis človek a spoločnosť |url=http://www.clovekaspolocnost.sk/sk/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514084325/http://www.saske.sk/cas/1-2000/gulpa-petrisce.html |archive-date=14 May 2009 |website=www.clovekaspolocnost.sk}}</ref>
The [[University of Chernivtsi]] in western Ukraine trains teachers for Romanian schools in the fields of Romanian philology, mathematics and physics.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kramar Andriy |title=University of Chernivtsi |url=http://www.chnu.cv.ua/index.php?page=ua/gradinf/rules/02bac_d |access-date=23 May 2010 |publisher=Chnu.cv.ua |archive-date=23 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723195813/http://www.chnu.cv.ua/index.php?page=ua/gradinf/rules/02bac_d |url-status=live }}</ref>

In [[Hertsa Raion]] of Ukraine as well as in other villages of [[Chernivtsi Oblast]] and [[Zakarpattia Oblast]], Romanian has been declared a "regional language" alongside Ukrainian as per the 2012 [[legislation on languages in Ukraine]].

==== In other countries and organizations ====
{{See also|Romanian diaspora}}

Romanian is an official or administrative language in various communities and organisations, such as the [[Latin Union]] and the [[European Union]]. Romanian is also one of the five languages in which religious services are performed in the autonomous monastic state of [[Mount Athos]], spoken in the monastic communities of [[Prodromos (Mount Athos)|Prodromos]] and [[Lakkoskiti]]. In the unrecognised state of [[Transnistria]], Moldovan is one of the official languages. However, unlike all other dialects of Romanian, [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet|this variety of Moldovan is written in Cyrillic script]].
[[File:DiagramăLimbaRomână.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Distribution of first-language native Romanian speakers by country. [[Vojvodina|Voivodina]] is an autonomous province of northern [[Serbia]] bordering Romania, while ''Altele'' means "Other"]]

=== As a second and foreign language ===
Romanian is taught in some areas that have Romanian minority communities, such as [[Vojvodina]] in Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Hungary. The [[Romanian Cultural Institute]] (ICR) has since 1992 organised summer courses in Romanian for language teachers.<ref>[http://www.ziua.net/display.php?id=183071&data=2005-08-19&ziua=f08bdeacd2583ee59a42d5f08d1fba7e "Cursuri de perfecționare"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225040246/http://www.ziua.net/display.php?id=183071&data=2005-08-19&ziua=f08bdeacd2583ee59a42d5f08d1fba7e |date=25 February 2007 }}, ''[[Ziua]]'', 19 August 2005</ref> There are also non-Romanians who study Romanian as a foreign language, for example the Nicolae Bălcescu High-school in [[Gyula, Hungary|Gyula]], Hungary.

Romanian is taught as a [[foreign language]] in tertiary institutions, mostly in European countries such as Germany, France and Italy, and the Netherlands, as well as in the United States. Overall, it is taught as a foreign language in 43 countries around the world.<ref>[http://ilr.ro/plr.php?lmb=1 "Data concerning the teaching of the Romanian language abroad"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207173432/http://www.ilr.ro/plr.php?lmb=1 |date=7 December 2010 }}, Romanian Language Institute.</ref>

[[File:Knowledge Romanian Eastern EU.png|thumb|Romanian as secondary or foreign language in Central and Eastern Europe
{{legend|#00005B|Native}} {{legend|#1111FF|Above 3%}} {{legend|#6C6CFF|1–3%}} {{legend|#B0B0FF|Under 1%}} {{legend|#CDC3CC|N/A}}
]]

=== Popular culture ===
Romanian has become popular in other countries through movies and songs performed in the Romanian language. Examples of Romanian acts that had a great success in non-Romanophone countries are the bands [[O-Zone]] (with their No. 1 single [[Dragostea Din Tei]], also known as ''[[Numa Numa (video)|Numa Numa]],'' across the world in 2003–2004), [[Akcent]] (popular in the Netherlands, Poland and other European countries), [[Activ (band)|Activ]] (successful in some Eastern European countries), [[DJ Project]] (popular as clubbing music) [[SunStroke Project]] (known by viral video "[[Run Away (SunStroke Project and Olia Tira song)|Epic Sax Guy]]") and [[Alexandra Stan]] (worldwide no.1 hit with "[[Mr. Saxobeat]]") and [[Inna (singer)|Inna]] as well as high-rated movies like ''[[4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days]]'', ''[[The Death of Mr. Lazarescu]]'', ''[[12:08 East of Bucharest]]'' or ''[[California Dreamin' (film)|California Dreamin']]'' (all of them with awards at the [[Cannes Film Festival]]).

Also some artists wrote songs dedicated to the Romanian language. The multi-platinum pop trio [[O-Zone]] (originally from Moldova) released a song called {{lang|ro|italic=no|"Nu mă las de limba noastră"}} ("I won't forsake our language"). The final verse of this song, {{lang|ro|italic=no|"Eu nu mă las de limba noastră, de limba noastră cea română"}}, is translated in English as "I won't forsake our language, our Romanian language". Also, the Moldovan musicians [[Doina and Ion Aldea Teodorovici]] performed a song called "The Romanian language".

=== Dialects ===
{{Main|Romanian dialects}}

Romanian is also called Daco-Romanian in comparative linguistics to distinguish from the other dialects of [[Common Romanian]]: [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]], [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]], and [[Istro-Romanian language|Istro-Romanian]]. The origin of the term "Daco-Romanian" can be traced back to the first printed book of Romanian grammar in 1780,<ref name="Elementa">{{Cite book |last1=Micu |first1=Samuil |title=Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae |last2=Șincai |first2=Gheorghe |date=1780 |location=Vienna |language=la}}</ref> by [[Samuil Micu]] and [[Gheorghe Șincai]]. There, the Romanian dialect spoken north of the [[Danube]] is called {{lang|la|lingua Daco-Romana}} to emphasize its origin and its area of use, which includes the former [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] province of [[Dacia]], although it is spoken also south of the Danube, in [[Dobruja]], the [[Timok Valley]] and northern Bulgaria.

This article deals with the Romanian (i.e. Daco-Romanian) language, and thus only its dialectal variations are discussed here. The differences between the regional varieties are small, limited to regular phonetic changes, few grammar aspects, and lexical particularities. There is a single written and spoken standard (literary) Romanian language used by all speakers, regardless of region. Like most natural languages, Romanian dialects are part of a [[dialect continuum]]. The dialects of Romanian are also referred to as 'sub-dialects' and are distinguished primarily by phonetic differences. Romanians themselves speak of the differences as 'accents' or 'speeches' (in Romanian: {{lang|ro|accent}} or {{lang|ro|grai}}).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Delyusto |first=Maryna |date=2016 |title=Mul'tilingval'nyy atlas mezhdurech'ya Dnestra i Dunaya: Istochniki i priyemy sozdaniya |script-title=ru:Мультилингвальный атлас междуречья Днестра и Дуная:источники и приемы создания |trans-title=Multi-Lingual Atlas of Dialects Spread Between the Danube and the Dniester Rivers: Sources and Tools of Creation |url=http://journals.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/research/article/view/3523 |journal=Journal of Danubian Studies and Research |language=ru |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=362–369 |access-date=28 December 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040837/http://journals.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/research/article/view/3523 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Depending on the criteria used for classifying these dialects, fewer or more are found, ranging from 2 to 20, although the most widespread approaches give a number of five dialects. These are grouped into two main types, southern and northern, further divided as follows:
* The southern type has only one member:
** the [[Wallachian dialect]], spoken in the southern part of Romania, in the historical regions of [[Muntenia]], [[Oltenia]] and the southern part of [[Northern Dobruja]], but also extending in the southern parts of [[Transylvania]].
* The northern type consists of several dialects:
** the [[Moldavian dialect]], spoken in the historical region of [[Moldavia]], now split among Romania, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine ([[Bukovina]] and [[Bessarabia]]), as well as northern part of [[Northern Dobruja]];
** the [[Banat Romanian dialect|Banat dialect]], spoken in the historical region of [[Banat]], including parts of Serbia;
** a group of finely divided and transition-like [[Transylvanian varieties of Romanian|Transylvanian varieties]], among which two are most often distinguished, those of [[Crișana dialect|Crișana]] and [[Maramureș dialect|Maramureș]].

Over the last century, however, regional accents have been weakened due to mass communication and greater mobility.

Some [[argot]]s and speech forms have also arisen from the Romanian language. Examples are the [[Gumuțeasca]], spoken in [[Mărgău]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Arjocu |first=Florin |date=29 June 2020 |title=Satul din România unde se vorbește o limbă secretă. Tălăuzești gumuțeasca? |language=ro |work=Știri România |url=https://stiriromania.ro/locul-din-romania-unde-se-vorbeste-o-limba-secreta-talauzesti-gumuteasca/ |access-date=11 April 2021 |archive-date=11 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411143023/https://stiriromania.ro/locul-din-romania-unde-se-vorbeste-o-limba-secreta-talauzesti-gumuteasca/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Florea |first=Sorin |date=1 June 2020 |title=Care este satul din România unde se vorbește o limbă secretă? |language=ro |work=Shtiu |url=https://www.shtiu.ro/care-este-satul-din-romania-unde-se-vorbeste-o-limba-secreta-17934.html |access-date=11 April 2021 |archive-date=11 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411143023/https://www.shtiu.ro/care-este-satul-din-romania-unde-se-vorbeste-o-limba-secreta-17934.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[Totoiana]], an inverted "version" of Romanian spoken in [[Totoi]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 January 2009 |title=În localitatea Totoi, județul Alba, se vorbește o limbă specifică locului |language=ro |work=[[Realitatea TV]] |url=https://www.realitatea.net/stiri/ultimele-stiri/in-localitatea-totoi-judetul-alba-se-vorbeste-o-limba-specifica-locului_5dcc919c406af85273c9bb5e |access-date=12 April 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412124024/https://www.realitatea.net/stiri/ultimele-stiri/in-localitatea-totoi-judetul-alba-se-vorbeste-o-limba-specifica-locului_5dcc919c406af85273c9bb5e |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Arsenie |first=Dan |date=9 December 2011 |title=Totoiana – messengerul de pe uliță. Povestea unei limbi inventate de români |language=ro |work=GreatNews.ro |url=https://greatnews.ro/totoiana-messengerul-de-pe-ulita-o-limba-inventata-de-romani/ |access-date=12 April 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412124028/https://greatnews.ro/totoiana-messengerul-de-pe-ulita-o-limba-inventata-de-romani/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2 November 2009 |title='Limba intoarsă' vorbită în Totoi |language=ro |work=Ziare.com |url=https://ziare.com/alba-iulia/stiri-actualitate/limba-intoarsa-vorbita-in-totoi-1036814 |access-date=12 April 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412124025/https://ziare.com/alba-iulia/stiri-actualitate/limba-intoarsa-vorbita-in-totoi-1036814 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Classification ==
=== Romance language ===
{{See also|Romance languages}}
[[File:Romance languages diagram en.svg|500px|thumb|Romanian language, as part of the [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance]] sub-branch of Romance languages, alongside and related to [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]], [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]], and [[Istro-Romanian language|Istro-Romanian]]. All of these Eastern Romance languages are spoken in [[Central Europe|Central]], [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]], and [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]].]]
Romanian is a Romance language, belonging to the [[Italic languages|Italic branch]] of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]], having much in common with languages such as Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese.<ref name="Stoica1">{{Cite book |last=Stoica |first=Vasile |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/50/ |title=The Roumanian Question: The Roumanians and their Lands |publisher=Pittsburgh Printing Company |year=1919 |location=Pittsburgh |page=50 |access-date=8 October 2013 |archive-date=29 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229112601/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/50/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The closest relative of Romanian among the Romance languages is Italian.<ref name=Stoica1/> The [[lexical similarity]] of Romanian with Italian has been estimated at 77%, followed by French at 75%, Sardinian 74%, Catalan 73%, Portuguese and [[Rhaeto-Romance languages|Rhaeto-Romance]] 72%, Spanish 71%.<ref>Ethnologue, [http://www.ethnologue.com/language/ron Romanian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525155837/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ron |date=25 May 2020 }}</ref>

Compered to some other Romance languages such as Italian, Romanian reflects greater foreign influence in areas such as vocabulary. The Romanian vocabulary became predominantly influenced by French and, to a lesser extent, Italian in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sandiuc |first=Corina |date=1 November 2014 |title=Languages and cultures in contact: The French language and the maritime terminology |url=https://doaj.org/article/6eb325ddd1ea4f5eb41f3119f6ea3485 |journal=Diversitate Si Identitate Culturala in Europa |language=en |volume=11 |issue=2 |issn=2067-0931 |access-date=21 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040644/https://doaj.org/article/6eb325ddd1ea4f5eb41f3119f6ea3485 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A 1949 study by the Italian-American linguist [[Mario Pei]], analyzing the degree to which seven Romance languages diverged from Vulgar Latin with respect to their accent vocalization, yielded the following measurements of divergence (with higher percentages indicating greater divergence from the stressed vowels of Vulgar Latin): 

* [[Logudorese Sardinian]]: 8%
* Italian: 12%
* Spanish: 20%
* Romanian: 23.5%
* [[Occitan language|Occitan]]: 25%
* Portuguese: 31%
* French: 44%

The study emphasized, however, that it represented only "a very elementary, incomplete and tentative demonstration" of how statistical methods could measure linguistic change, assigned "frankly arbitrary" point values to various types of change, and did not compare languages in the sample with respect to any characteristics or forms of divergence other than stressed vowels, among other caveats.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pei |first=Mario |author-link=Mario Pei |date=1949 |title=A New Methodology for Romance Classification |journal=WORD |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=135–146 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1949.11659494 |doi-access=free }}</ref> 

=== Balkan language area ===
{{see also|Balkan sprachbund|Albanian–Eastern Romance linguistic parallels}}

While most of Romanian grammar and morphology are based on Latin, there are some features that are shared only with other languages of the [[Balkans]] and not found in other Romance languages. The shared features of Romanian and the other languages of the [[balkan sprachbund|Balkan language area]] ([[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]], Greek, and [[Serbo-Croatian]]) include a suffixed [[Article (grammar)|definite article]], the [[syncretism (linguistics)|syncretism]] of genitive and dative case and the formation of the future and the alternation of infinitive with subjunctive constructions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mišeska Tomić |first=Olga |url=https://archive.org/details/balkansprachbund00tomi |title=Balkan Sprachbund Morpho-Syntactic Features |publisher=Springer |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4020-4487-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/balkansprachbund00tomi/page/n45 27] |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schulte |first=Kim |title=Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |year=2009 |isbn=978-3-11-021843-5 |editor-last=Haspelmath |editor-first=Martin |pages=230–259 |chapter=Loanwords in Romanian |editor-last2=Tadmor |editor-first2=Uri}}</ref> According to a well-established scholarly theory, most Balkanisms could be traced back to the development of the Balkan Romance languages; these features were adopted by other languages due to [[language shift]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lindstedt |first=J. |title=Languages in Contact |publisher=Rodopi |year=2000 |isbn=90-4201-322-2 |editor-last=D. G. Gilbers |series=Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics, 28 |location=Amsterdam & Atlanta, GA |pages=235 |chapter=Linguistic Balkanization: Contact-induced change by mutual reinforcement |display-editors=etal}}</ref>

=== Slavic influence ===
{{Main|Slavic influence on Romanian}}
Slavic influence on Romanian is especially noticeable in its vocabulary, with words of Slavic origin constituting about 10–15% of modern Romanian lexicon,<ref name="VRLR" /><ref>{{citation |mode=cs1 |last1=Schulte |first1=Kim |title=Loanwords in Romanian }}{{dead link|date=October 2019}}, published in {{Cite book |last1=Martin Haspelmath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnKeVbwTwyYC&pg=PA243 |title=Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |last2=Uri Tadmor |date=22 December 2009 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-021844-2 |page=243}}</ref> and with further influences in its phonetics, morphology and syntax. The greater part of its Slavic vocabulary comes from [[Old Church Slavonic]],<ref name="Macrea">{{Cite book |last=Macrea |first=Dimitrie |title=Probleme de lingvistică română |publisher=Editura Științifică |year=1961 |location=Bucharest |page=32 |language=ro |chapter=Originea și structura limbii române (7–45)}}</ref><ref name="Dindelegan">{{Cite book |title=The Grammar of Romanian |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780199644926 |editor-last=Pană Dindelegan |editor-first=Gabriela |edition=1st |pages=3}}</ref> which was the official written language of [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldavia]] from the 14th to the 18th century (although not understood by most people), as well as the [[Sacred language|liturgical language]] of the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]].<ref name="Hitchins2014" /><ref name="HillAlboiu2016">{{Cite book |last1=Virginia Hill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VU0CwAAQBAJ&pg=PR15 |title=Verb Movement and Clause Structure in Old Romanian |last2=Gabriela Alboiu |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-873650-9 |page=xv}}</ref> As a result, much Romanian vocabulary dealing with religion, ritual, and hierarchy is Slavic.<ref name="Comrie2009">{{Cite book |last=Bernard Comrie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DR-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA266 |title=The World's Major Languages |date=13 January 2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-26156-7 |page=266}}</ref><ref name="Hitchins2014">{{Cite book |last=Keith Hitchins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j1ytAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |title=A Concise History of Romania |date=20 February 2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-87238-6 |page=19 |author-link=Keith Hitchins}}</ref> The number of high-frequency Slavic-derived words is also believed to indicate contact or cohabitation with [[South Slavs|South Slavic]] tribes from around the 6th century, though it is disputed where this took place (see [[Origin of the Romanians]]).<ref name="Hitchins2014" /> Words borrowed in this way tend to be more vernacular (compare ''[[wikt:sfârși|sfârși]]'', "to end", with ''[[wikt:săvârși|săvârși]]'', "to commit").<ref name="Comrie2009" /> It has also been argued that Slavic borrowing was a key factor in the development of {{IPAblink|ɨ}} (''î'' and ''â'') as a separate [[phoneme]].<ref name="Renwick2014">{{Cite book |last=Margaret E. L. Renwick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDToBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |title=The Phonetics and Phonology of Contrast: The Case of the Romanian Vowel System |date=2014 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-036277-0 |pages=44–5}}</ref>

=== Other influences ===
Even before the 19th century, Romanian came in contact with several other languages. Notable examples of lexical borrowings include:
* [[German language|German]]: ''cartof'' < ''Kartoffel'' "potato", ''bere'' < ''Bier'' "beer", ''șurub'' < ''Schraube'' "screw", ''turn'' < ''Turm'' "tower", ''ramă'' < ''Rahmen'' "frame", ''muștiuc'' < ''Mundstück'' "mouth piece", ''bormașină'' < ''Bohrmaschine'' "drilling machine", ''cremșnit'' < ''Kremschnitte'' "cream slice", ''șvaițer'' < ''Schweizer'' "Swiss cheese", ''șlep'' < ''Schleppkahn'' "barge", ''șpriț'' < ''Spritzer'' "wine with soda water", ''abțibild'' < ''Abziehbild'' "decal picture", ''șnițel'' < ''(Wiener) Schnitzel'' "a battered cutlet", ''șmecher'' < ''Schmecker'' "taster (not interested in buying)",'' șuncă'' < dialectal ''Schunke'' (''Schinken'') "ham", ''punct'' < ''Punkt'' "point", ''maistru'' < ''Meister'' "master", ''rundă'' < ''Runde'' "round".
Furthermore, during the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg]] and, later on, [[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] rule of [[Banat]], [[Transylvania]], and [[Bukovina]], a large number of words were borrowed from [[Austrian German|Austrian High German]], in particular in fields such as the military, administration, social welfare, economy, etc.<ref name="Dama 2006">{{Cite journal |last=Dama |first=Hans |date=2006 |title=Lexikale Einflüsse im Rumänischen aus dem österreichischen Deutsch |trans-title=Lexical influences of 'Austrian'-German on the Romanian language |url=https://www.philologica-jassyensia.ro/upload/II_1_Dama.pdf |journal=Philologica Jassyensia |language=de |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=105–110 |access-date=27 February 2022 |archive-date=22 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322012715/https://www.philologica-jassyensia.ro/upload/II_1_Dama.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Subsequently, German terms have been taken out of science and technics, like: ''șină'' < ''Schiene'' "rail", ''știft'' < ''Stift'' "peg", ''liță'' < ''Litze'' "braid", ''șindrilă'' < ''Schindel'' "shingle", ''ștanță'' < ''Stanze'' "punch", ''șaibă'' < ''Scheibe'' "washer", ''ștangă'' < ''Stange'' "crossbar", ''țiglă'' < ''Ziegel'' "tile", ''șmirghel'' < ''Schmirgelpapier'' "emery paper";
* [[Greek language|Greek]]: ''folos'' < ''ófelos'' "use", ''buzunar'' < ''buzunára'' "pocket", ''proaspăt'' < ''prósfatos'' "fresh", ''cutie'' < ''cution'' "box", ''portocale'' < ''portokalia'' "oranges". While Latin borrowed words of Greek origin, Romanian obtained Greek loanwords on its own. Greek entered Romanian through the ''[[Greek colonisation|apoikia]]i'' (colonies) and ''[[Emporium (antiquity)|emporia]]'' (trade stations) founded in and around [[Dobruja]], through the presence of [[Byzantine Empire]] in north of the [[Danube]], through [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] during Bulgarian Empires that converted Romanians to Orthodox Christianity, and after the Greek Civil War, when thousands of Greeks fled Greece.
* [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]: ''a cheltui'' < ''költeni'' "to spend", ''a făgădui'' < ''fogadni'' "to promise", ''a mântui'' < ''menteni'' "to save", ''oraș'' < ''város'' "city";
* [[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''papuc'' < ''pabuç'' "slipper", ''ciorbă'' < ''çorba'' "wholemeal soup, sour soup", ''bacșiș'' < ''bahşiş'' "tip" (ultimately from Persian ''[[baksheesh]]'');
* Additionally, the [[Romani language]] has provided a series of slang words to Romanian such as: ''mișto'' "good, beautiful, cool" < ''mišto'',<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Zafiu |first=Rodica |date=2009 |title=Mișto și legenda bastonului |url=http://www.romlit.ro/index.pl/mito_i_legenda_bastonului |url-status=dead |magazine=România literară |language=ro |issue=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921115041/http://www.romlit.ro/index.pl/mito_i_legenda_bastonului |archive-date=21 September 2018 |access-date=21 September 2018 |quote=There is no doubt among linguists about the Romany etymology of the Romanian word ''mișto'', but a fairly widespread folk etymology and urban legend maintains that the German phrase ''mit Stock'' 'with stick' would be its true origin.}}</ref> ''gagică'' "girlie, girlfriend" < ''[[Gadjo (non-Romani)|gadji]]'', ''a hali'' "to devour" < ''halo'', ''mandea'' "yours truly" < ''mande'', ''a mangli'' "to pilfer" < ''manglo''.

=== French, Italian, and English loanwords ===

{{further|Re-latinization of Romanian}}

Since the 19th century, many literary or learned words were borrowed from the other Romance languages, especially from French and Italian (for example: {{lang|ro|birou}} "desk, office", {{lang|ro|avion}} "airplane", {{lang|ro|exploata}} "exploit"). It was estimated that about 38% of words in Romanian are of French and/or Italian origin (in many cases both languages); and adding this to Romanian's native stock, about 75%–85% of Romanian words can be traced to Latin. The use of these Romanianized French and Italian learned loans has tended to increase at the expense of previous loanwords, many of which have become rare or fallen out of use. As second or third languages, French and Italian themselves are better known in Romania than in Romania's neighbors. Along with the switch to the Latin alphabet in Moldova, the re-latinization of the vocabulary has tended to reinforce the Latin character of the language.

In the process of lexical modernization, much of the native Latin stock have acquired doublets from other [[Romance languages]], thus forming a further and more modern and literary lexical layer. Typically, the native word is a noun and the learned loan is an adjective. Some examples of doublets:

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Latin and native doublets in Romanian
|-
!scope="col"|Latin
!scope="col"|Native stock
!scope="col"|Learned loan
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|agilis}} 'quick’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|ager}} 'astute’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|agil}} 'agile' (< French, Italian {{lang|fr|agile}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|aqua}}
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|apă}} 'water’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|acvatic}} 'aquatic' (< Fr {{lang|fr|aquatique}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|dens}}, {{Wikt-lang|la|dentem}}
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|dinte}} 'tooth’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|dentist}} 'dentist' (< Fr {{lang|fr|dentiste}}, It {{lang|it|dentista}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|directus}}
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|drept}} 'straight; right’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|direct}} 'direct' (< Fr {{lang|fr|direct}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|frigidus}} 'cold' (adj.)
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|frig}} 'cold' (noun)
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|frigid}} 'frigid' (< Fr {{lang|fr|frigide}})
|-
!scope="row"|{{Wikt-lang|la|rapidus}}
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|repede}} 'quick’
|{{Wikt-lang|ro|rapid}} 'quick' (< Fr {{lang|fr|rapide}}, It {{lang|it|rapido}})
|}

In the 20th century, an increasing number of English words have been borrowed (such as: {{lang|ro|gem}} < jam; {{lang|ro|interviu}} < interview; {{lang|ro|meci}} < match; {{lang|ro|manager}} < manager; {{lang|ro|fotbal}} < football; {{lang|ro|sandvici}}/{{lang|ro|sendviș}} < sandwich; {{lang|ro|bișniță}} < business; {{lang|ro|chec}} < cake; {{lang|ro|veceu}} < WC; {{lang|ro|tramvai}} < tramway). These words are assigned grammatical gender in Romanian and handled according to Romanian rules; thus "the manager" is {{lang|ro|managerul}}. Some borrowings, for example in the computer field, appear to have awkward (perhaps contrived and ludicrous) 'Romanisation,' such as {{lang|ro|cookie-uri}} which is the plural of the Internet term ''cookie''; normally, the hyphen isn't used for plural endings and definite articles.

In some cases, there are multiple variants of loanwords, such as {{lang|ro|maus}}/{{lang|ro|mauși}} (masculine) and {{lang|ro|mouse}}/{{lang|ro|mouse-uri}} (neuter).

=== Lexis ===

[[File:CuvinteleLimbiiRomane.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|right|Romanian's core lexicon (2,581 words); Marius Sala, ''VRLR'' (1988)]]
{{Main|Romanian lexis}}

A 1988 statistic by Marius Sala is based on 2,581 words chosen on the criteria of frequency, semantic richness and productivity, which also contain words formed on the territory of the Romanian language. This statistic gives the percentages below:<ref name="VRLR" />

* 30.33% – words inherited from [[Classical Latin|Latin]];
* 15.26% – academic [[loanwords]] from [[Classical Latin|Latin]];
* 22.12% – [[French language|French]] loans;
* 9.18% – loans from [[Old Church Slavonic]];
* 3.95% – loans from [[Italian language|Italian]];
* 3.91% – words formed in Romanian;
* 2.71% – words of uncertain origin;
* 2.6% – loans from [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]];
* 2.47% – loans from [[German language|German]] (including [[Austrian German|Austrian High German]]);
* 1.7% – loans from [[Greek language|Greek]];
* 1.43% – loans from [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]];
* 1.12% – loans from [[Russian language|Russian]];
* 0.96% – words inherited from the [[Classification of Thracian|Thraco-Dacian]] substratum;
* 0.85% – loans from [[Serbian language|Serbian]];
* 0.73% – loans from [[Turkish language|Turkish]]

If the analysis is restricted to a core vocabulary of 2,500 frequent, semantically rich and productive words, then the Latin inheritance comes first, followed by Romance and classical Latin neologisms, whereas the Slavic borrowings come third.

{{bar box
| float= right
| width =
| title = Romanian according to word origin<ref name="VRLR">Marius Sala (coord), Mihaela Bîrlădeanu, Maria Iliescu, Liliana Macarie, Ioana Nichita, Mariana Ploae-Hanganu, Maria Theban, Ioana Vintilă-Rădulescu, ''Vocabularul reprezentativ al limbilor romanice'' (VRLR) (Bucharest: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, 1988).</ref><ref>Vocabularul reprezentativ diferă de vocabularul fundamental (VF) și de fondul principal lexical (FP). Cf. SCL (Studii și cercetări lingvistice), an XXVII (1976), nr. 1, p. 61-66 și SCL (1974) nr. 3, p. 247. Cf. Theodor Hristea, "Structura generală a lexicului românesc", ''Sinteze de limba română'', eds., Theodor Hristea (coord.), Mioara Avram, Grigore Brâncuș, Gheorghe Bulgăr, Georgeta Ciompec, Ion Diaconescu, Rodica Bogza-Irimie & Flora Șuteu (Bucharest: 1984), 13.</ref>
| titlebar = #ddd
| bars =
{{bar percent|[[Romance languages|Romance]] and Latin|red|78}}
{{bar percent|[[Slavic languages|Slavic]]|lightgreen|14}}
{{bar percent|[[Germanic languages|Germanic]]{{efn|German-based influence and English loanwords}}|gold|2.54}}
{{bar percent|[[Modern Greek|Greek]]|darkgreen|1.7}}
{{bar percent|Others|black|5.49}}
}}

Although they are rarely used nowadays, the [[Romanian calendar]] used to have the traditional Romanian month names, unique to the language.<ref>*''[[Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române]]'', [[Romanian Academy|Academia Română]], Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan", Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998</ref>

The [[longest word in Romanian]] is {{lang|ro|pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioză}}, with 44 letters,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bălhuc |first=Paul |date=15 January 2017 |title=Câte litere are cel mai lung cuvânt din limba română și care este singurul termen ce conține toate vocalele |language=ro |work=[[Adevărul]] |url=https://adevarul.ro/locale/iasi/cate-litere-mai-lung-cuvant-limba-romana-singurul-termen-contine-vocalele-1_587a0aa75ab6550cb86dda62/index.html |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417211225/https://adevarul.ro/locale/iasi/cate-litere-mai-lung-cuvant-limba-romana-singurul-termen-contine-vocalele-1_587a0aa75ab6550cb86dda62/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but the longest one admitted by the ''[[Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române]]'' ("Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language", DEX) is {{lang|ro|electroglotospectrografie}}, with 25 letters.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Electroglotospectrografie |encyclopedia=[[Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române]] |url=https://www.webdex.ro/online/dictionarul_explicativ_al_limbii_romane_dex98/51078/electroglotospectrografie |access-date=10 February 2021 |language=ro |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417203237/https://www.webdex.ro/online/dictionarul_explicativ_al_limbii_romane_dex98/51078/electroglotospectrografie |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Curiozități lingvistice: cele mai lungi cuvinte din limba română |url=https://www.dictie.ro/curiozitati-lingvistice-cele-mai-lungi-cuvinte-din-limba-romana |access-date=10 February 2021 |website=Dicție.ro |date=2 December 2020 |language=ro |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210080655/https://www.dictie.ro/curiozitati-lingvistice-cele-mai-lungi-cuvinte-din-limba-romana |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Grammar ==
{{Main|Romanian grammar}}

Romanian nouns are characterized by gender (feminine, masculine, and neuter), and [[Declension|declined]] by number (singular and plural) and case ([[nominative case|nominative]]/[[accusative case|accusative]], [[dative case|dative]]/[[genitive case|genitive]] and [[vocative case|vocative]]). The articles, as well as most adjectives and pronouns, [[agreement (linguistics)|agree]] in gender, number and case with the noun they modify.

Romanian is the only major Romance language where [[Article (grammar)|definite articles]] are [[enclitic]]: that is, attached to the end of the noun (as in the [[North Germanic languages|Scandinavian Languages]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and [[Albanian language|Albanian]]), instead of in front ([[proclitic]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Săvescu |first=Oana |date=2012 |title=When Syncretism Meets Word Order. On Clitic Order in Romanian |journal=Probus |language=en |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=233–256 |doi=10.1515/probus-2012-0010 |s2cid=194568315}}</ref> They were formed, as in other Romance languages, from the Latin demonstrative pronouns.

As in all Romance languages, [[Romanian verbs]] are highly inflected for person, number, tense, mood, and voice. The usual word order in sentences is [[subject–verb–object]] (SVO). Romanian has four verbal [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugations]] which further split into ten conjugation patterns. Romanian verbs are conjugated for five [[mood (linguistics)|moods]] ([[indicative mood|indicative]], [[conditional mood|conditional]]/[[optative mood|optative]], [[imperative mood|imperative]], [[subjunctive mood|subjunctive]], and [[presumptive mood|presumptive]]) and four non-finite forms ([[infinitive]], [[gerund]], [[supine]], and [[participle]]).

== Phonology ==
{{Main|Romanian phonology}}

Romanian has seven [[vowel]]s: {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/ɨ/}}, {{IPA|/u/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/ə/}}, {{IPA|/o/}} and {{IPA|/a/}}. Additionally, {{IPA|/ø/}} and {{IPA|/y/}} may appear in some [[Loanword|borrowed words]]. Arguably, the diphthongs {{IPA|/e̯a/}} and {{IPA|/o̯a/}} are also part of the phoneme set. There are twenty-two consonants. The two [[Approximant consonant|approximant]]s {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/w/}} can appear before or after any vowel, creating a large number of glide-vowel sequences which are, strictly speaking, not [[diphthong]]s.

In final positions after consonants, a short {{IPA|/i/}} can be deleted, surfacing only as the [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]] of the preceding consonant (e.g., {{IPA|[mʲ]}}). Similarly, a deleted {{IPA|/u/}} may prompt [[labialization]] of a preceding consonant, though this has ceased to carry any morphological meaning.

=== Phonetic changes ===
{{Main|Latin-to-Romanian sound changes}}

Owing to its isolation from the other Romance languages, the phonetic evolution of Romanian was quite different, but the language does share a few changes with Italian, such as {{IPA|[kl]}} → {{IPA|[kj]}} (Lat. '''cl'''arus → Rom. '''chià'''r, Ital. '''chi'''aro, Lat. clamare → Rom. '''che'''mare, Ital. '''chia'''mare) and {{IPA|[ɡl]}} → {{IPA|[ɡj]}} (Lat. *'''gl'''acia ('''gl'''acies) → Rom. '''ghé'''ață, Ital. '''ghi'''accia, '''ghi'''accio, Lat. *un'''gl'''a (ungula) → Rom. un'''ghi'''e, Ital. un'''ghi'''a), although this did not go as far as it did in Italian with other similar clusters (Rom. '''plà'''ce, Ital. '''pi'''ace).

Another similarity with Italian is the change from {{IPA|[ke]}} or {{IPA|[ki]}} to {{IPA|[tʃe]}} or {{IPA|[tʃi]}} (Lat. pax, pa'''ce'''m → Rom. and Ital. pa'''ce''', Lat. dul'''ce'''m → Rom. dul'''ce''', Ital. dol'''ce''', Lat. '''ci'''rcus → Rom. '''ce'''rc, Ital. '''ci'''rco) and {{IPA|[ɡe]}} or {{IPA|[ɡi]}} to {{IPA|[dʒe]}} or {{IPA|[dʒi]}} (Lat. '''ge'''lu → Rom. '''gè'''r, Ital. '''ge'''lo, Lat. mar'''gi'''nem → Rom. and Ital. mar'''gi'''ne, Lat. '''ge'''mere → Rom. '''gè'''m ('''ge'''mere), Ital. '''ge'''mere).

There are also a few changes shared with [[Dalmatian language|Dalmatian]], such as {{IPA|/ɡn/}} (probably phonetically {{IPA|[ŋn]}}) → {{IPA|[mn]}} (Lat. co'''gn'''atus → Rom. cu'''mn'''at, Dalm. co'''mn'''ut) and {{IPA|/ks/}} → {{IPA|[ps]}} in some situations (Lat. coxa → Rom. có'''ps'''ă, Dalm. co'''ps'''a).

Among the notable phonetic changes are:
* diphthongization of e and o → ea and oa, before ă (or e as well, in the case of o) in the next syllable:
:* Lat. c'''e'''ra → Rom. c'''é'''ră (wax)
:* Lat. s'''o'''le → Rom. s'''ó'''re (sun)
* [[iotation]] {{IPA|[e]}} → {{IPA|[ie]}} in the beginning of the word
:* Lat. h'''e'''rba → Rom. ĭ'''a'''rbă (grass, herb)
* velar {{IPA|[k ɡ]}} → labial {{IPA|[p b m]}} before alveolar consonants and {{IPA|[w]}} (e.g. '''ngu''' → '''mb'''):
:* Lat. o'''ct'''o → Rom. o'''pt''' (eight)
:* Lat. li'''ng'''ua → Rom. lì'''mb'''ă (tongue, language)
:* Lat. si'''gn'''um → Rom. sè'''mn''' (sign)
:* Lat. co'''x'''a → Rom. có'''ps'''ă (thigh)
:* Lat. a'''qu'''a → Rom. a'''p'''ă (water)
* [[Rhotacism (sound change)|rhotacism]] {{IPA|[l]}} → {{IPA|[r]}} between vowels
:* Lat. cae'''l'''um → Rom. cè'''r''' (sky)
* Alveolars {{IPA|[d t]}} assibilated to {{IPA|[(d)z] [(t)s]}} when before short {{IPA|[e]}} or long {{IPA|[iː]}}
:* Lat. '''d'''eus → Rom. '''ḑ'''èŭ → '''z'''èŭ (god)
:* Lat. '''t'''enem → Rom. '''ț'''ine (hold)

Romanian has entirely lost Latin {{IPA|/kw/}} ('''qu'''), turning it either into {{IPA|/p/}} (Lat. '''qu'''attuor → Rom. ''pàtru'', "four"; cf. It. ''quattro'') or {{IPA|/k/}} (Lat. '''qu'''ando → Rom. ''când'', "when"; Lat. '''qu'''ale → Rom. ''càre'', "which").

== Writing system ==
[[File:Psaltire Hurmuzaki1.JPG|thumb|[[Hurmuzaki Psalter]], dated between 1491 and 1504.<ref name="auto"/>]]

The first written record about a [[Romance language]] spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans is from 587. A Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion ''Torna, torna, fratre!'' (meaning "Return, return, brother!"). [[Theophanes Confessor]] recorded it as part of a 6th-century military expedition by [[Comentiolus]] and [[Priscus]] against the Avars and Slovenes.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Vlachs |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature |publisher=Adam and Charles Black |location=Edinburgh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zt5TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA269 |date=1898 |editor-last=Baynes |editor-first=Thomas Spencer |edition=9th |volume=24 |pages=269 |language=en}}</ref>

The oldest surviving written text in Romanian is a letter from late June 1521,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarlin |first=Mika |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nKWpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 |title=Romanian Grammar |publisher=Books on Demand |year=2014 |isbn=9789522868985 |edition=2nd |location=Helsinki |page=15 |language=en}}</ref> in which Neacșu of [[Câmpulung]] wrote to the mayor of [[Brașov]] about an imminent attack of the Turks. It was written using the [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic alphabet]], like most early Romanian writings. The earliest surviving writing in Latin script was a late 16th-century [[Transylvania]]n text which was written with the [[Hungarian alphabet]] conventions.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

In the 18th century, [[Transylvania]]n scholars noted the Latin origin of Romanian and adapted the [[Latin alphabet]] to the Romanian language, using some orthographic rules from [[Italian alphabet|Italian]], recognized as Romanian's closest relative. The Cyrillic alphabet remained in (gradually decreasing) use until 1860, when Romanian writing was first officially regulated.

In the [[Moldavian SSR|Soviet Republic of Moldova]], the Russian-derived [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet]] was used until 1989, when the Romanian Latin alphabet was introduced; in the breakaway territory of Transnistria the Cyrillic alphabet remains in use.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dyer |first=Donald L. |date=1999 |title=Some Influences of Russian on the Romanian of Moldova during the Soviet Period |journal=The Slavic and East European Journal |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=85–98 |doi=10.2307/309907 |jstor=309907}}</ref>
{{clear}}

=== Romanian alphabet ===
{{Main|Romanian alphabet|Romanian braille}}
The Romanian alphabet is as follows:

:{|class="center wikitable" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|-
!colspan="31"| [[Capital letters]]
|-
| [[A]]
| [[Ă]]
| [[Â]]
| [[B]]
| [[C]]
| [[D]]
| [[E]]
| [[F]]
| [[G]]
| [[H]]
| [[I]]
| [[Î]]
| [[J]]
| [[K]]
| [[L]]
| [[M]]
| [[N]]
| [[O]]
| [[P]]
| [[Q]]
| [[R]]
| [[S]]
| [[Ș]]
| [[T]]
| [[Ț]]
| [[U]]
| [[V]]
| [[W]]
| [[X]]
| [[Y]]
| [[Z]]
|-
!colspan="31"| [[Lower case|Lower case letters]]
|-
| [[a]]
| [[ă]]
| [[â]]
| [[b]]
| [[c]]
| [[d]]
| [[e]]
| [[f]]
| [[g]]
| [[h]]
| [[i]]
| [[î]]
| [[j]]
| [[k]]
| [[l]]
| [[m]]
| [[n]]
| [[o]]
| [[p]]
| [[q]]
| [[r]]
| [[s]]
| [[ș]]
| [[t]]
| [[ț]]
| [[u]]
| [[v]]
| [[w]]
| [[x]]
| [[y]]
| [[z]]
|-
!colspan="31"| Phonemes
|-
| {{IPAslink|a}}
| {{IPAslink|ə}}
| {{IPAslink|ɨ}}
| {{IPAslink|b}}
| {{IPAslink|k}},<br />{{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}}
| {{IPAslink|d}}
| {{IPAslink|e}},<br />{{IPAslink|e̯}},<br />{{IPA|/je/}}
| {{IPAslink|f}}
| {{IPAslink|ɡ}},<br />{{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}
| {{IPAslink|h}},<br />mute
| {{IPAslink|i}},<br />{{IPAslink|j}},<br />{{IPAslink|ʲ}}
| {{IPAslink|ɨ}}
| {{IPAslink|ʒ}}
| {{IPAslink|k}}
| {{IPAslink|l}}
| {{IPAslink|m}}
| {{IPAslink|n}}
| {{IPAslink|o}},<br />{{IPAslink|o̯}}
| {{IPAslink|p}}
| {{IPAslink|k}}
| {{IPAslink|r}}
| {{IPAslink|s}}
| {{IPAslink|ʃ}}
| {{IPAslink|t}}
| {{IPAslink|t͡s}}
| {{IPAslink|u}},<br />{{IPAslink|w}}
| {{IPAslink|v}}
| {{IPAslink|v}},<br />{{IPAslink|w}},<br />{{IPAslink|u}}
| {{IPA|/ks/,<br />/ɡz/}}
| {{IPAslink|j}},<br />{{IPAslink|i}}
| {{IPAslink|z}}
|}

K, Q, W and Y, are not part of the native alphabet; they were officially introduced in the Romanian alphabet in 1982 and are mostly used to write loanwords like ''kilogram'', ''quasar'', ''watt'', and ''yoga''.

The Romanian alphabet is based on the [[Latin script]] with five additional letters {{lang|ro|[[Ă]]}}, {{lang|ro|[[Â]]}}, {{lang|ro|[[Î]]}}, {{lang|ro|[[Ș]]}}, {{lang|ro|[[Ț]]}}. Formerly, there were as many as 12 additional letters, but some of them were abolished in subsequent reforms. Also, until the early 20th century, a breve marker was used, which survives only in ă.

Today the Romanian alphabet is largely [[Phonemic orthography|phonemic]]. However, the letters ''â'' and ''î'' both represent the same [[close central unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|/ɨ/}}. ''Â'' is used only inside words; ''î'' is used at the beginning or the end of non-compound words and in the middle of compound words. Another exception from a completely phonetic writing system is the fact that [[vowel]]s and their respective [[semivowel]]s are not distinguished in writing. In dictionaries the distinction is marked by separating the entry word into [[syllable]]s for words containing a [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]].

Stressed vowels also are not marked in writing, except very rarely in cases where by misplacing the stress a word might change its meaning and if the meaning is not obvious from the context. For example, ''trei copíi'' means "three children" while ''trei cópii'' means "three copies".

=== Pronunciation ===
[[File:Romanian keyboard letters.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A close shot of some keys with Romanian characters on the keyboard of a laptop]]

{{See also|Romanian alphabet#Î versus Â}}
* {{lang|ro|h}} is not silent like in other Romance languages such as Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan and French, but represents the phoneme {{IPA|/h/}}, except in the digraphs {{lang|ro|ch}} /k/ and {{lang|ro|gh}} /g/ (see below)
* {{lang|ro|j}} represents {{IPA|/ʒ/}}, as in French, Catalan or Portuguese (the sound spelled with ''s'' in the English words "vision, pleasure, treasure").
* There are two letters with a comma below, [[Ș]] and [[Ț]], which represent the sounds {{IPA|/ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/t͡s/}}. However, the allographs with a cedilla instead of a comma, ''[[Ş]]'' and ''[[Ţ]]'', became widespread when pre-[[Unicode]] and early Unicode [[character sets]] did not include the standard form.
* {{lang|ro|ă}} represents the [[schwa]], {{IPA|/ə/}}.
* {{lang|ro|î}} and {{lang|ro|â}} both represent the sound {{IPA|/ɨ/}}. In rapid speech (for example in the name of the country) the {{lang|ro|â}} sound may sound similar to a casual listener to the short [[schwa]] sound {{lang|ro|ă}} (in fact, [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]] does merge the two, writing them {{lang|rup|ã}}) but careful speakers will distinguish the sound. The nearest equivalent is the vowel in the last syllable of the word ''roses'' for some English dialects which distinguish it from ''Rosa's'' (e.g. /ˈroʊzɪz/ vs /ˈroʊzəz/) or the second syllable of the word "rhythm". It is also roughly equivalent to European Portuguese {{IPA|/ɨ/}}, the Polish {{lang|pl|y}} or the Russian {{lang|ru|ы|italic=no}}.
* The letter ''e'' generally represents the [[Mid front|mid front unrounded]] vowel {{IPA|[e]}}, somewhat like in the English word ''s'''e'''t''. However, the letter {{lang|ro|e}} is pronounced as {{IPA|[je]}} ([j] sounds like 'y' in 'you') when it is the first letter of any form of the verb {{lang|ro|a fi}} "to be", or of a personal pronoun, for instance {{lang|ro|este}} {{IPA|/jeste/}} "is" and {{lang|ro|el}} {{IPA|/jel/}} "he".<ref>{{in lang|ro}} Several Romanian dictionaries specify the pronunciation [je] for word-initial letter ''e'' in some personal pronouns: [http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=el ''el'', ''ei'', etc.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226034155/http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=el |date=26 December 2007 }} and in some forms of the verb ''a fi'' (''to be''): [http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=fi ''este'', ''eram'', etc.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727075024/http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=fi |date=27 July 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{in lang|ro}} Mioara Avram, [https://www.webcitation.org/5kofUFPHx?url=http://www.geocities.com/georgepruteanu/carti/avram-ortog-pdf.zip ''Ortografie pentru toți''], Editura Litera, Chișinău, 1997, p. 29</ref> This addition of the semivowel {{IPA|/j/}} does not occur in more recent loans and their derivatives, such as {{lang|ro|eră}} "era", {{lang|ro|electric}} "electric" etc. Some words (such as {{lang|ro|iepure}} "hare", formerly spelled {{lang|ro|epure}}) are now written with the initial {{lang|ro|i}} to indicate the semivowel.
* {{lang|ro|x}} represents either the phoneme sequence {{IPA|/ks/}} as in {{lang|ro|expresie}} = expression, or {{IPA|/ɡz/}} as in {{lang|ro|exemplu}} = example, as in English.
* As in Italian, the letters {{lang|ro|c}} and {{lang|ro|g}} represent the affricates {{IPA|/tʃ/}} and {{IPA|/dʒ/}} before {{lang|ro|i}} and {{lang|ro|e}}, and {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} elsewhere. When {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} are followed by vowels {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/i/}} (or their corresponding [[semivowel]]s or the final {{IPA|/ʲ/}}) the digraphs {{lang|ro|ch}} and {{lang|ro|gh}} are used instead of {{lang|ro|c}} and {{lang|ro|g}}, as shown in the table below. Unlike Italian, however, Romanian uses {{lang|ro|ce-}} and {{lang|ro|ge-}} to write {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} before a central vowel instead of {{lang|it|ci-}} and {{lang|it|gi-}}.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Group
!Phoneme
!Pronunciation
!Examples
|-
|{{lang|ro|ce}}, {{lang|ro|ci}}
||{{IPA|/tʃ/}}
| ''ch'' in '''chest''', '''cheek'''
| {{lang|ro|cerc}} (circle), {{lang|ro|ceașcă}} (cup), {{lang|ro|cercel}} (earring), {{lang|ro|cină}} (dinner), {{lang|ro|ciocan}} (hammer)
|-
|{{lang|ro|che}}, {{lang|ro|chi}}
||{{IPA|/k/}}
| ''k'' in '''kettle''', '''kiss'''
| {{lang|ro|cheie}} (key), {{lang|ro|chelner}} (waiter), {{lang|ro|chioșc}} (kiosk), {{lang|ro|chitară}} (guitar), {{lang|ro|ureche}} (ear)
|-
|{{lang|ro|ge}}, {{lang|ro|gi}}
||{{IPA|/dʒ/}}
| ''j'' in '''jelly''', '''jigsaw'''
| {{lang|ro|ger}} (frost), {{lang|ro|gimnast}} (gymnast), {{lang|ro|gem}} (jam), {{lang|ro|girafă}} (giraffe), {{lang|ro|geantă}} (bag)
|-
|{{lang|ro|ghe}}, {{lang|ro|ghi}}
||{{IPA|/ɡ/}}
| ''g'' in '''get''', '''give'''
| {{lang|ro|ghețar}} (glacier), {{lang|ro|ghid}} (guide), {{lang|ro|ghindă}} (acorn), {{lang|ro|ghidon}} (handle bar), {{lang|ro|stingher}} (lonely)
|}

=== Punctuation and capitalization ===
Uses of punctuation peculiar to Romanian are:
* Quotation marks use one of the [[Quotation mark, non-English usage#Polish|Polish quotation formats]], specifically „quote «inside» quote”, that is, „…” for a normal quotation, and «…» for a quotation inside a quotation.
* Proper quotations which span multiple paragraphs do not start each paragraph with quotation marks; quotation marks are placed only at the beginning and the end of the entire quotation, regardless of how many paragraphs it contains.
* Dialogues use [[Quotation mark, non-English usage#Quotation dash|quotation dashes]].
* The [[serial comma|Oxford comma]] before "and" is considered incorrect ("red, yellow and blue" is the proper format).
* Punctuation signs which follow a text in parentheses always follow the final bracket.
* In titles, only the first letter of the first word is capitalized, the rest of the title using sentence capitalization (with all its rules: proper names are capitalized as usual, etc.).
* Names of months and days are not capitalized ({{lang|ro|ianuarie}} "January", {{lang|ro|joi}} "Thursday").
* Adjectives derived from proper names are not capitalized ({{lang|ro|Germania}} "Germany", but {{lang|ro|german}} "German").

=== Academy spelling recommendations ===
In 1993, new spelling rules were proposed by the [[Romanian Academy]]. In 2000, the Moldovan Academy recommended adopting the same spelling rules,<ref>The new edition of "Dicționarul ortografic al limbii române (ortoepic, morfologic, cu norme de punctuație)" – introduced by the [[Academy of Sciences of Moldova]] and recommended for publishing following a conference on 15 November 2000 – applies the decision of the General Meeting of the [[Romanian Academy]] from 17 February 1993, regarding the reintroduction to "â" and "sunt" in the orthography of the Romanian language. ([[:ro:Imagine:Asm lbro3.jpg|Introduction, Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova]])</ref> and in 2010 the Academy launched a schedule for the transition to the new rules that was intended to be completed by publications in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 June 2010 |title=Gheorghe Duca: Trebuie schimbată atitudinea de sorginte proletară față de savanți și în genere față de intelectuali |url=http://www.allmoldova.md/ro/int/interview/gheorghe-duca-060410.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722170555/http://www.allmoldova.md/ro/int/interview/gheorghe-duca-060410.html |archive-date=22 July 2011 |access-date=3 January 2011 |publisher=Allmoldova |language=ro |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

On 17 October 2016, the Moldovan minister of education signed Order No. 872, adopting the revised spelling rules as recommended by the Moldovan Academy of Sciences, and giving the following two school years as a transition period. Thus the spelling used by institutions under Moldova's ministry of education has been brought in line with the Romanian Academy's 1993 recommendation. This order, however, did not apply to other government institutions, and Law 3462 of 1989 (which provided for the means of transliterating Cyrillic to Latin) has not been amended to reflect the ministry of education's changes either; thus, most Moldovan government institutions, along with most Moldovans, prefer to use the spelling adopted in 1989 (when the use of Latin script became official).

=== Examples of Romanian text ===
: ''All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.''
::''([[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]])''

The sentence in contemporary Romanian. Words inherited directly from Latin are highlighted:
: '''Toate''' '''ființele''' umane '''se''' '''nasc''' libere '''și''' egale '''în''' demnitate '''și''' '''în''' '''drepturi'''. '''Ele''' '''sunt''' '''înzestrate''' '''cu''' rațiune '''și''' conștiință '''și''' trebuie '''să''' '''se''' comporte '''unele''' '''față''' '''de''' '''altele''' '''în''' spiritul fraternității.

The same sentence, with French and Italian [[loanwords]] highlighted instead:
: Toate ființele '''umane''' se nasc '''libere''' și '''egale''' în '''demnitate''' și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu '''rațiune''' și '''conștiință''' și trebuie să se '''comporte''' unele față de altele în '''spiritul''' '''fraternității'''.

The sentence rewritten to exclude French and Italian loanwords. Slavic loanwords are highlighted:
: Toate ființele omenești se nasc '''slobode''' și '''deopotrivă''' în '''destoinicie''' și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu înțelegere și cuget și '''trebuie''' să se poarte unele față de altele în '''duh''' de frățietate.

The sentence rewritten to exclude all loanwords. The meaning is unchanged:
: '''Toate ființele omenești se nasc nesupuse și asemenea în prețuire și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu înțelegere și cuget și se cuvine să se poarte unele față de altele frățește.'''

== See also ==
{{Portal|Language|Linguistics|Moldova|Romania}}
* [[Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova]]
* [[Eastern Romance languages]]
* [[Eastern Romance substratum]]
* [[Legacy of the Roman Empire]]
* [[Moldova–Romania relations]]
* [[Moldovan language]]
* [[Neacșu's letter]]
* [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet]]
* [[Romanian dialects]]
* [[Romanian grammar]]
* [[Romanian lexis]]
* [[Romanian literature]]
* [[Romanian phonology]]
* [[Romanian transitional alphabet]]
* [[Tărtăria tablets]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Andreose |first1=Alvise |title=The Cambridge History of the Romance Languages |last2=Renzi |first2=Lorenzo |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-80073-0 |editor-last=Maiden |editor-first=Martin |volume=2: Contexts |location=Cambridge |pages=283–334 |chapter=Geography and Distribution of the Romance Languages in Europe |author-link2=Lorenzo Renzi |editor-last2=Smith |editor-first2=John Charles |editor-last3=Ledgeway |editor-first3=Adam}}
* {{Cite book |last=Giurescu |first=Constantin C. |title=The Making of the Romanian People and Language |date=1972 |publisher=Meridiane |location=Bucharest}}
* {{Cite book |title=Das Rumänische und seine Nachbarn |date=2009 |publisher=Frank & Timme |editor-last=Kahl |editor-first=Thede |editor-link=Thede Kahl |location=Berlin |language=de}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Paliga |first=Sorin |date=2010 |title=When Could Be Dated the 'Earliest Slavic Borrowings in Romanian'? |url=http://macedonia.kroraina.com/rs/rs46_4_11.pdf |journal=Romanoslavica |language=en |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=101–119 |access-date=27 June 2019 |archive-date=27 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627002523/http://macedonia.kroraina.com/rs/rs46_4_11.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Petrucci |first=Peter R. |title=Slavic Features in the History of Rumanian |date=1999 |publisher=LINCOM Europa |isbn=38-9586-599-0 |location=München |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rosetti |first=Alexandru |title=Istoria limbii române |date=1965–1969 |publisher=Editura științifică |volume=1–2 |location=[[Bucharest|București]] |language=ro}}
* {{Cite book |editor-last=Hinrichs |editor-first=Uwe |title=Handbuch der Südosteuropa-Linguistik |date=1999 |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |location=Wiesbaden  |language=de}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/rom-uni.htm SAMPA for Romanian]
* [http://www.seelrc.org:8080/grammar/pdf/stand_alone_romanian.pdf Romanian Reference Grammar, by Dana Cojocaru, University of Bucharest (183 pages) – 4.6 MB – pdf]
* [http://www.fsi-language-courses.net/fsi-romanian-language-course/ USA Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Romanian basic course]
* [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\ier\rom&first=0 Romanian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]

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