Today, it’s time to hone up your Romanian language skills with some words that you will most likely use during your stay here, even if you’re only visiting for a few days.
This means that I will teach you how to say “Hello” in Romanian, but also “Thank You” and various other similar greetings and phrases that you could use more often than not during your stay here.
These might help you when interacting with locals, give you bragging rights in front of your friends (“I speak Romanian!“) and maybe even twist your tongue a little, just for fun.
From learning to say Hello and Thank You in Romanian, to asking for directions and other things like that, just read on and take notes (or not – your choice).
It might sound difficult at first, but your Romanian friends or strangers will surely appreciate it. Don’t even worry too much about pronunciation as all Romanians will understand what you’re trying to say and that’s all that matters!
Learn various greetings and salutes in Romanian
So, if you’re greeting a lady, and you want to go with a casual Hello or Hi, you would say to her Buna (boo-nah).
If you want to be a bit more formal and not worry about saying the wrong greeting to the wrong gender, you can stick to a regular “Good day” (see below).
So if you want to keep things more formal and use a phrase that works for all genders, try these:
– Buna dimineata UkraineDate coupon (boo-nah dee-meen-yah-tsah) – Good morning– Buna ziua (boo-nah zee-wah) – Good day– Buna seara – Good evening
If you are unsure which of the greetings above to use, go with Buna ziua or Ciao (like in Italian, although the latter is used more often in some areas like the Western parts and rarely in other parts of the country).
When leaving, you have a few options as well, but they are easier in my opinion. (Well, everything seems easy to me). Here are my recommended words:
– Bye Bye – Pa (pah) or Pa-pa (pah-pah). Easy to use in all informal situations, from saying goodbye to friends, to says bye bye at the store, for example.– See you soon – La revedere or Pe curand.– Good night! – Noapte buna– Have a nice day – O zi buna
Here are some more common phrases in Romanian
– Thank you – Multumesc (mool-tsu-mesk). You can also go with Mersi (like the French Merci), which is a bit more informal.– You’re welcome – Cu placere– Have a nice day – O zi frumoasa!– Bon appetite – Pofta buna!
– Sorry: Pardon or Scuze– I’m sorry: Imi pare rau– Excuse me: Scuzati-ma or Ma scuzati– Please: Te rog (informal) or Va rog (formal)– Help: Ajutor– Yes: Da– No: Nu– Maybe: Poate
– How are you: Ce mai faci or just Ce faci?– Nice to meet you: Incantat de cunostinta (if you’re a man) or Incantata de cunostinta (if you’re a woman). Or informally: Imi pare bine– Cheers (when drinking): Noroc!– My name is: Ma numesc
– Where is the toilet: Unde este baia?– Where is the metro station: Unde este statia de metrou?– Where is the bus station: Unde este statia de autobuz?– Where is the tram station: Unde este statia de tramvai?– Where is a nearby ATM: Unde este un bancomat?
One word that I find very useful, but not on your list is poftim. It seems this word has many, many uses, such as go right ahead or after you or pardon me.
It’s great for those situations when you wish to be polite, such as giving someone a seat on a bus or a place in line at the check out. This is a very good word for a non Romanian speaker and works well with appropriate gestures or body language.
However, occasionally I find someone will approach me assuming I can converse with them, but whatever they ask is far beyond my linguistic knowledge. For this I have learned to say, “Eu nu vorbesc limba Romana” (I don’t speak Romanian).
OK… I’m all out of ideas right now, so let’s hope that it is enough for today and you have your basic greetings and phrases all in one place. You can also PIN this for later:
Now that you have vastly improved your Romanian language knowledge with all the words and phrases above (yes, I am joking!), you can go more in depth with some Romanian expressions that generally only make sense in this beautiful country.
Or you can go the safer route and learn how to say “I love you” – and other lover-related things, or just put on your holiday suit and learn how to say Merry Christmas in Romanian. Oh my, so many words!
