Romanian numbers

Names of numbers in the Romanian language

Romanian numbers are the system of number names used in Romanian to express counts, quantities, ranks in ordered sets, fractions, multiplication, and other information related to numbers. In Romanian grammar, the words expressing numbers are sometimes considered a separate part of speech, called numeral (plural: numerale), along with nouns, verbs, etc. (Note that the English word "numeral" can mean both the symbols used for writing numbers and the names of those numbers in a given language; also, Romanian număr only partially overlaps in meaning with English number.) Nevertheless, these words play the same roles in the sentence as they do in English: adjective, pronoun, noun, and adverb. This article focuses on the mechanism of naming numbers in Romanian and the use of the number names in sentences. The symbols for numbers in Romanian texts are the same as those used in English, with the exception of using the comma as the decimal separator and the period or the space (ideally a narrow space) for grouping digits by three in large numbers. For example, in Romanian 1,5 V means one and a half volts, and 1.000.000 or 1 000 000 means one million.

Cardinal numbers are the words we use for counting objects or expressing quantity.

The number 0 is called zero. Like in English, it requires the plural form of nouns: zero grade "zero degrees", with grade being the plural form of grad). Unlike English, the reading of number/numeral 0 is always zero and never replaced with words like oh, naught, nil, love, etc.

Any given number from 100 to 999 can be named by first saying the hundreds and then, without any connecting word, the two digit number of tens and units; for example, 365 is trei sute șaizeci și cinci. Note that the word for "hundred" is sută, and that if the number of hundreds is 2 or larger, the plural sute is required. The noun sută itself is feminine and as such the numbers 100 and 200 are o sută and două sute. In fast utterances, the numbers 500 and 800 are usually pronounced cinsute and opsute, instead of the standard forms cinci sute and opt sute, respectively. In writing, however, the informal variants are only used for stylistic effects.

Numbers represented as decimal fractions (for example 1.62) are expressed by reading in order the integer part, the decimal separator, and the fractional part. This is the same as in English, with the following exceptions:

The decimal separator is the comma, in Romanian virgulă. For example, 2.5 is written 2,5 and pronounced doi virgulă cinci. The fractional part is read as a multi digit number, not by saying each digit independently. For example, 3.14 (written 3,14) is pronounced trei virgulă paisprezece (literally three comma fourteen). However, when the number of decimals is too large, they can be read one by one as a string of digits: trei virgulă unu patru unu cinci nouă (3.14159). Decimal fractions whose integer part is 0 (such as 0.6) are always written and pronounced in Romanian together with the initial zero: 0,6 is read zero virgulă șase, unlike English point six. In some situations it is customary to say cu "with" instead of virgulă. For example, medical staff might be heard stating the body temperature in words like treizeci și șapte cu cinci, meaning 37.5 °C.

Percentages (%) and permillages (‰) are read using the words la sută and la mie, like in the examples: cinci la sută (5%), nouă la mie (9‰). For percentages an alternative reading uses the neuter noun procent, meaning 1%; the previous example becomes cinci procente.

Negative numbers are named just like in English, by placing the word minus, pronounced , at the beginning: −10 m is minus zece metri.

Distributive numbers are used to show how a larger quantity is divided into smaller, equal portions. These numbers are named using the cardinal number names and the word câte (or cîte, depending on the spelling convention), roughly meaning "each", but requiring a different word order. The following examples show some distributive numbers in various cases:

Punem câte patru prăjituri pe fiecare farfurie. "We put four cakes on each plate." Copiii merg doi câte doi. "The children are walking two by two." Hai să ne despărțim în grupe de câte trei. "Let's split in groups of three each." Au fost expuse desenele a câte doi elevi din fiecare clasă. "The drawings of two students in each class were displayed." Am dat formularele câte unui copil din fiecare grupă. "I gave the forms to one child in each group." – Am dat formularele la cîte doi copii din fiecare grupă. "I gave the forms to two children in each group."