Counting in Romanian

Language overview

Romanian (limba română) is a Romance language that belongs to the Daco-Romance languages branch, also known under the name of Balkan-Romance languages branch. Official language of Romania and Moldova, and co-official in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina of Serbia, and in Transnistria, the Romanian language counts about 24 million native speakers.

Romanian numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

• In Romanian, digits from zero to nine are rendered by specific words: zero [0], unu [1], doi [2], trei [3], patru [4], cinci [5], șase [6], șapte [7], opt [8], and nouă [9].
• From eleven to nineteen, numbers are formed starting with the unit, then the word spre (meaning towards), and the word for ten (zece) with no space: unsprezece [11], doisprezece [12], treisprezece [13], paisprezece [14], cincisprezece [15], șaisprezece [16], șaptesprezece [17], optsprezece [18], and nouăsprezece [19].
• The tens are formed starting with the multiplier digit, directly followed by the word for ten in its plural form (zeci): zece [10], douăzeci [20], treizeci [30], patruzeci [40], cincizeci [50], șaizeci [60], șaptezeci [70], optzeci [80], and nouăzeci [90].
• Compound numbers are formed by linking the ten and the unit with the conjunction și (and), separated with spaces (e.g.: douăzeci și unu [21], treizeci și cinci [35], șaptezeci și cinci [75]).
• Hundreds are formed by setting the multiplier digit before the word for hundred (sută in singular, and sute in plural), which is feminine, separated with a space: o sută [100], două sute [200], trei sute [300], patru sute [400], cinci sute [500], șase sute [600], șapte sute [700], opt sute [800], and nouă sute [900].
• Compound hundreds are formed starting with the hundred, followed by the ten and the unit (e.g.: trei sute șaizeci și cinci [365]).
• Thousands are formed by setting the multiplier digit before the word for thousand (mie in singular, and mii in plural), which is feminine, separated with a space: o mie [1 000], două mii [2 000], trei mii [3 000], patru mii [4 000], cinci mii [5 000], șase mii [6 000], șapte mii [7 000], opt mii [8 000], and nouă mii [9 000].
• Higher scale numbers, which are neutral, are: un milion [1 million, 10⁶] (pluriel : milioane), un miliard [1 billion, 10⁹] (pluriel : miliarde), un trilion [1 trillion, 10¹²] (pluriel : trilioane), un cvadrilion [1 quadrillion, 10¹⁵] (pluriel : cvadrilioane), un cvintilion [1 quintillion, 10¹⁸] (pluriel : cvintilioane), un sextilion [1 sextillion, 10²¹] (pluriel : sextilioane)…

Write a number in full in Romanian

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Romanian. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.

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