A1.11 Romanian food & drinks vocabulary
In this online Romanian lesson you will find a list of useful vocabulary words for eating and drinking in Romania.
We will teach you how to say in Romanian:
- enjoy your meal & cheers (which might be the most important Romanian words related to eating and drinking)
- the meals of the day
- all the things that can be found on the table
- Coffee & Tea
- Soft drinks
- Alcoholic beverages - Beer
- Romanian wine
- Other Romanian alcoholic beverages - Schnapps, Spirits...
- Typical Romanian starter (video included)
A typical Romanian lunch would start with a soup as the first dish followed by a main dish (most of the times containing meat) with a salad and closing with a desert and a coffee.
The Romanian kitchen is largely based on meat products (ranging from soup with meat, to grilled pork, poultry...). Romanians like quite a lot grilled meat.
How do you say "enjoy your meal" and "cheers" in Romanian?
| English | Romanian translation |
Audio | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
Enjoy your meal Good appetite Bon appétit Literally: Appetite good | Poftă bună | ||
cheers (as in English, "noroc" can be used for a toast, or for saying hi or goodbye) | noroc |
Romanian courses names
| English | Romanian translation |
Audio | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
starter appetizer In Romanian "aperitiv" refers most of the time to "starter" rather than an alcoholic drink served before a meal as an appetizer. | aperitiv | ||
main dish | felul principal | ||
second dish a synonym of "main dish" (felul principal) | felul doi | ||
dessert | desert |
Romanian tableware / dinning room vocabulary
| English | Romanian translation |
Audio | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
spoon | lingură | ||
fork | furculiță | ||
knife | cuțit | ||
plate | farfurie | ||
salt | sare | ||
pepper | piper | ||
oil | ulei | ||
vinegar | oțet | ||
napkin | șerveţel | ||
toothpick | scobitoare | ||
bread | pâine | ||
buns, bread rolls | chifle |
Coffee & Tea - Romanian Vocabulary
| English | Romanian translation |
Audio | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
tea | ceai | ||
coffee | cafea | ||
coffee with milk | cafea cu lapte | ||
Would you like to get a coffee? (you can address both a man and a woman like this) | Ai vrea să mergem la o cafea?
| ||
capuccino | capuccino | ||
espresso | espresso |
Romanian soft drinks
| English | Romanian translation |
Audio | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
plain water still water flat water | apă plată | ||
sparkling water, or sodawater Scientifically speaking, "apă minerală" is not the correct translation for "sparkling water" however many so Romanians (wrongly) use it, that you are bound to hear it. | apă minerală | ||
orange juice | suc de portocale | ||
apple juice | suc de mere | ||
natural fresh juice | suc natural proaspăt | ||
non sparkling (you are literally saying "without acid"; even though "acid" is obviously innappropiate in this context this is the popular way of saying in Romanian "not sparkling" | fără acid | ||
Coca cola | Coca cola | ||
Fanta | Fanta | ||
Peach Prigat Prigat is a popular softdrinks brand in Romania | Prigat de piersici |
Alcoholic beverages - Beer - Romanian vocabulary
| English | Romanian translation |
Audio | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
beer | bere | ||
dark brown beer | bere brună | ||
alcohol-free beer (even though low-alcohol beer is translated differently in Romanian than "bere fără aclool" it virtually means the same thing) It is very important to know that driving in Romania imposes a virtually alcohol free percentage in your blood, thus no alcohol consumption before hitting the road. The rules are quite strict and the Romanian police are enforcing them. | bere fără alcool |
Romanian Wine Vocabulary
| English | Romanian translation |
Audio | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
red wine | vin roșu | ||
white wine | vin alb | ||
rose wine | vin rose | ||
dry [wine] | sec | ||
medium-dry [wine] | demi-sec | ||
medium [wine] | demi-dulce | ||
sweet | dulce |
Liqueur, brandy... - Romanian distilled alcoholic beverages
| English | Romanian translation |
Audio | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
liqueur (also known as schnapps, or cordial) | lichior | ||
This is a very common if not the most famous Romanian liqueur (also known as shnapps or cordial) made of sour cherries, sugar and alcohol. It is usually home made, thus it can be normal 30% alcohol or stronger (according to the house recepy). It is easily available in the bigger Romanian supermarkets (30% alcohol). | vișinată | ||
Afinată is a Romanian liqueur made of bilberries (similar and a bit smaller blueberries), sugar and alcohol. It is similar to vișinată. | afinată | ||
Martini | Martini | ||
cocktail | cocktail | ||
champagne | şampanie | ||
cognac (brandy) | coniac | ||
whisky or whiskey | whisky | ||
vodka | votca |
Romanian starter (eating, food) - useful phrases
| English | Romanian translation |
Audio | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
fish roe salad It's a spreadable salad made of fresh roe (usually carp) with sunflower oil with (or without) ognions and lemon juice | icre | ||
salami | salam | ||
yellow cheese (Kashkaval) | caşcaval | ||
Tripe soup (Ciorba de burtă) is one of the most popular Romanian traditional dishes. It is a white sour soup of tripe (beef) seasoned with garlic sauce and vinaigre/lemon. | ciorbă de burtă | ||
beef sour soup | ciorbă de văcuţă | ||
chicken soup (it could bewith a small sliced chicken meat, however and especially for the home made chicken soup, you can expect to find a chicken wing or drumstick in your plate) | supă de pui | ||
tomato soup It is important to note that most Romanian soups are borth/bouillon type also called clear soup. This is why if you want to refer in Romanian to a soup which is mixed and cream like than you should add the word "cremă". | supă cremă de roşii | ||
semolina dumplings soup (usually with chicken meat as well) | supă de găluşte | ||
soup of the day | supa zilei | ||
pâté a finely-ground spreadeable paste of meat (usually pork, gesses liver) | pateu | ||
pastrami A salty smoked piece of mutton, turkey, beef or turkey. seasoned with spices and herbs. | pastramă | ||
eggs | ouă | ||
smoked | afumat |
"Salata de icre" is most probably something that you haven't tried yet. If you would like to learn more about it including the Romanian recipe please watch the following video detailing the ingredients and how to reach the desired outcome. If you need the translation of the Romanian video transcript just drop us a comment at the bottom of this page and we'll translate it.
3 comments
Commenting on food
I want to be able to comment on food by saying such things as
"This is very good". "The meal was delicious" I liked the food very much" "Very tasty" "Delicious"
I also want to be able to as for hot water with some milk
I want also to ask for my coffee to be extra hot>
Thanks for your help
What to say after a meal in Romanian?"
Hi,
As a quick reply:
"This is very good" - "Este foarte bun". If you want to make it perfect it becomes more complicated, because "bun" refers to nouns (in this case referring to food) which are masculine. A sausage (cârnăcior) is masculine in Romanian whereas a soup is a she(feminine) in Romanian. For soup you should say "Este bună".
"The meal was delicious" - the natural way of saying this in Romanian would be "Mâncarea a fost gustoasă" which literally means the "Food was tasty".
"I liked the food very much" is translated as "Mi-a plăcut mâncarea foarte mult"
"Very tasty" - "Foarte gustos" for mascuilne nouns, or "Foarte gustoasă" referring to feminine nouns.
"Delicious" - "Delicios" for masculine , "delicioasă" for feminine Romanian nouns.
"I would like hot water with some milk" - "Aș vrea apă caldă cu lapte". You might need to repeat this as even if you might be pronouncing well this request is quite uncommon in Romania.
"I would like my coffee extra hot" - "Aș dori cafeaua fierbinte"
I have already some recordings on compliments after a meal in Romanian. I'll do my best to add them in the above lesson, and hopefully add the recordings of what I've just translated above. I'll post back here once that is done. In the meantime you have at least the written answer.
Happy to help
Romanian food - practice exercises
I have also added exercises at the end of the lesson to allow you to practice and help in remembering the Romanian food related vocabulary.
Happy to help
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