When you first look at a text in Romanian, you might feel a little intimidated by the “squiggly lines” above and below some of the letters.

These are called diacritics (or special characters).

Many beginners make the mistake of ignoring them. They think, “Oh, I’ll just pronounce it like a normal A or T.”

This is a big mistake.

Ignoring diacritics in Romanian is like ignoring the difference between “cat” and “cut” in English. It completely changes the meaning of the word.

The good news? Romanian is a phonetic language.

This means that - unlike English or French - you read words exactly as they are written. Once you learn the sound a letter makes, it makes that sound 99% of the time. There are very few hidden surprises.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the five special Romanian characters and the specific letter groups that usually trip up beginners.

The 5 special Romanian characters

The standard Romanian alphabet is exactly the same as the English alphabet, but with five extra letters added to it.

These aren’t just “accents” - they are considered full, separate letters in the alphabet.

Here is a quick overview table before we dive into the details:

How to pronounce Ă

The letter Ă (a-breve) is extremely common in Romanian.

While a normal A is pronounced open and wide (like “father”), the Ă is a short, mid-vowel sound.

In linguistics, this is called a schwa. It sounds like the “uh” sound you make when you are thinking.

Think of the English words:

• About
• Flower
• Butter

That short, unstressed sound at the end of “flower” is exactly how you pronounce Ă.

(Note: The second ‘e’ in revedere sounds like the English ‘e’, but many words end in ‘ă’, like ‘masă’ - table).

The difference between  and Î

This is the part that scares most learners, but I promise it is simpler than it looks.

First rule: The letters  and Πmake the exact same sound.

There is no difference in pronunciation. The only difference is spelling (orthography).

• We use Î at the beginning or end of a word (e.g., început - beginning).
• We use  inside the word (e.g., România).

How do you pronounce it?

This sound doesn’t really exist in English. It is similar to the Ă sound, but deeper and more guttural.

Imagine you have been punched in the stomach and you make a deep “ugh” sound.

To make this sound:

1. Try to say the letter “E” (as in me).
2. Keep your lips in that smile position.
3. Now try to pull your tongue backwards into your throat and make a deep grunt.

It sounds difficult, but after listening to it a few times in Romanian movies or music, you will get the hang of it.

How to pronounce Ș and Ț

These two consonants are much easier for English speakers because you use these sounds every day.

The Letter Ș (S-comma)

This is simply the “sh” sound.

Whenever you see this letter, think of:

• Shoe
• Shop
• Sheep

The Letter Ț (T-comma)

This sounds like “ts” or “zz”.

Think of the sound at the end of these English words:

• Cats
• Bats
• Pizza (the double z sound)

Warning: Do not confuse T and Ț.

• T is a hard T sound.
• Ț is the TS sound.

The “soft” and “hard” letter groups (Ce, Ci, Ge, Gi)

Aside from the special characters, the biggest challenge in Romanian pronunciation is how the letters C and G behave when they are near E or I.

This is very similar to Italian pronunciation.

The “Soft” Sounds

When C or G are followed by E or I, they become “soft”.

• Ce sounds like “Che” in Check.
• Ci sounds like “Chi” in Chief.
• Ge sounds like “Je” in General.
• Gi sounds like “Ji” in Gin (or the name Gigi).

(Pronounced: Che fah-chee)

The “Hard” Sounds

If you want to keep the C or G sound hard (like K or Go) when they are followed by E or I, you must add a silent H.

• Che sounds like “Ke” in Kettle.
• Chi sounds like “Ki” in Kitten.
• Ghe sounds like “Gue” in Guest.
• Ghi sounds like “Gi” in Give.

Here is a summary table to help you memorize them:

Regional pronunciation differences

Just like in the USA or UK, people in different parts of Romania speak differently.

While the “Standard Romanian” (based largely on the Wallachia/Bucharest accent) is what you will learn in books and courses, you might hear variations if you travel.

Transylvania (Ardeal):

People here tend to speak slower and more melodically. They often soften their consonants. It sounds very calm and polite.

Moldova (Eastern Romania):

The accent here is very distinct. It is faster, and they often shorten their vowels. The specific “chi” sounds might sound more like “shi”. For example, standard ce faci might sound more like shi fași.

My advice: Don’t worry about mimicking these accents yet. Focus on Standard Romanian. Everyone in the country understands standard pronunciation perfectly.

How to type Romanian characters

Finally, if you want to learn Romanian, you need to be able to type it!

You cannot just leave the accents off. As I mentioned earlier, paine (bread?) is not a word, but pâine is. Fata means “the girl”, but față means “face”.

On Mobile (iOS/Android):

Simply long-press the letter.

• Hold A to find ă and â.
• Hold S to find ș.
• Hold T to find ț.
• Hold I to find î.

On Windows:

Go to your Language Settings and add the “Romanian (Standard)” keyboard.

• The key to the right of ‘P’ becomes Ă.
• The key to the right of ‘L’ becomes Ț.
• The key next to that (:) becomes Ș.
• The key next to that (’) becomes Î.
• To get Â, you usually press Shift + the key for Î (depending on the layout).

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Mastering Romanian diacritics is the quickest way to stop sounding like a beginner.

It might feel awkward to make these sounds at first (especially that deep Â/Î sound!), but with practice, your mouth will get used to the new positions.