How to pronounce combinations of Romanian vowels

P1.4 How to pronounce two Romanian vowels together - part 2

This is the second part of the Romanian vowels combined pronunciation lesson. We assume that you have already studied the part 1.

In this lesson you will learn how to pronounce:

vowels: "i+a"
vowels: "i+e"
vowels: "i+i"
vowels: "i+o"
vowels: "i+u" with the stress on "i"
vowels: "i+u" with the stress on "u"

How to say the vowels "i" and "a" together

English	Romanian translation	Phonetic Transcription
grass	iarbă	/'jar.bə/
stone	piatră	/'pja.trə/
clearing (area without trees)	poiană	/po'ja.nə/

2 Listening

2.1

2.2

3 Translate

3.1

3.2

How do you pronounce "ie" vowels together in Romanian in the same syllable?

English	Romanian translation	Phonetic Transcription
Rabbit	Iepure	/'je.pu.re/
Nails (a spike-shaped metal fastener)	Cuie	/'ku.je/
Honey	Miere	/'mje.re/
Lost	Pierdut	/pjer'dut/
Brain	Creier	/'kre.jer/
Coat rack	Cuier	/ku'jer/
Yesterday	Ieri	/jerʲ/

2 Listening

2.1

2.2

3 Translate

3.1

3.2

How do you pronounce the occurrence of the vowel "i" twice in a Romanian word?

English	Romanian translation	Phonetic Transcription
Thousands	Mii	/mij/
Sons	Fii	/fij/
Firemen	Pompierii	/pom.pi'e.rij/

2 Listening

2.1

2.2

3 Translate

3.1

3.2

Please check our previous lesson on the pronunciation of the vowel "i" for a more comprehensive list of samples of the "ii" pronunciation.

How to pronounce the vowels "i" and "o" together in Romanian

English	Romanian translation	Phonetic Transcription
Ionuț (a Romanian first name)	Ionuț	/jo'nut͡s/
to whine to whimper to mew	miorlăi	/mjor.lə'i/
jonathan (an apple type)	ionatan	/jo.na'tan/

English

Romanian
translation

Audio

Phonetic
Transcription

Ionuț (a Romanian first name)

Ionuț

/jo'nut͡s/

to whine

to whimper

to mew

miorlăi

/mjor.lə'i/

jonathan (an apple type)

ionatan

/jo.na'tan/

2 Listening

2.1

2.2

3 Translate

3.1

3.2

The "io" combination pronounced in the same syllable with the stress on the "o" is quite rare in Romanian. Based on our research this type of pronunciation of "io" can only occur at the beginning of a word.
Besides the examples above, there are only a handful of other words that are pronounced like this.

It is important to understand that there are many other words in Romanian where the vowels "i" and "o" are one after the other, however they are pronounced separately (hiatus) e.g. :Ion (another Romanian first name), violet, marionetă,vioară etc.

Combined pronunciation of "iu" where the stress falls on the "i"

English	Romanian translation	Phonetic Transcription
Son	Fiu	/fiw/
[I] know	Știu	/ʃtiw/
glazier	geamgiu	/d͡ʒe̯am'd͡ʒiw/
Ashy	Cenușiu	/ʧe.nu'ʃiw/
Brownish	Maroniu	/ma.ro'niw/

2 Listening

2.1

2.2

3 Translate

3.1

3.2

There are two ways of pronouncing "iu" in Romanian: in some words "iu" the stress is on "i" while on others "iu" the stress is on "u". There is no rule around when one stress occurs over the other. You will just have to learn the words by heart with their pronunciation.