Romanian, Daco-Romanian română, limba română Pronunciation [roˈmɨnə] Spoken in By a majority:  Romania  Republic of Moldova Minority speakers in:  Albania  Bulgariacitation needed  Croatia  Greece  Hungary  Italy  Kazakhstan  Macedonia  Russia  Serbia  Spain  Ukraine Migrant speakers in: North and South America Western and Southern Europe  Australia  Canada  USA  Israel  Germany  New Zealand Region Southeastern, Central and Eastern Europe Total speakers First language: 24 million Second language: 4 million 1 Ranking 34 (native),2dead link 41 (ranking by SIL estimate) Language family Indo-European Italic Romance Eastern Romance Romanian, Daco-Romanian Writing system Latin alphabet (Romanian variant) Official status Official language in  Romania  Moldova 3  Vojvodina (Serbia)  European Union  Mount Athos Latin Union Recognised minority language in  Ukraine Regulated by Academia Română Language codes ISO 639-1 ro ISO 639-2 rum (B)  ron (T) ISO 639-3 ron Linguasphere – Map of the Romanian-speaking territories Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română [ˈlimba roˈmɨnə]  ( listen) ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people,12 primarily in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania, Republic of Moldova, the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia and in the autonomous Mount Athos in Greececitation needed. In the Republic of Moldova, the language is officially called limba moldovenească ("Moldovan") for political reasons. Romanian speakers are scattered across many other countries, notably Italy, Spain, Ukraine, the United States, Canada, Israel, Russia, Portugal, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Contents 1 History 2 Geographic distribution 2.1 Legal status 2.1.1 In Romania 2.1.2 In Moldova 2.1.3 In Vojvodina 2.1.4 In other countries and organisations 2.2 As a second and foreign language 2.3 Popular culture 2.4 Dialects 3 Classification 3.1 Contacts with other languages 3.1.1 Dacian language 3.1.2 Balkan linguistic union 3.1.3 Slavic languages 3.1.4 Other influences 3.1.5 French, Italian and English words 4 Grammar 5 Phonology 5.1 Phonetic changes 6 Writing system 6.1 Romanian alphabet 6.2 Pronunciation 6.3 Punctuation and capitalization 7 Spelling issues between Romania's and Moldova's usage 8 Language sample 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links 12.1 Learning Romanian 12.2 Phrasebooks // History Main articles: History of Romanian language and Origin of the Romanians The Dacian people were the ancient inhabitants of Romanian territory. They were defeated by the Romans in 106, and part of Dacia (Oltenia, Banat, and Transylvania) became a Roman province. This province, which was rich in ores, especially silver and gold,4 was colonized by the Romans,5 who brought with them Vulgar Latin as the language of administration and commerce, and who started a period of intense romanization, which gave birth to the proto-Romanian language.67 But in the 3rd century CE, under the pressure of Free Dacians and from invasions of migratory populations such as Goths, the Roman Empire was forced to withdraw from Dacia, in 271 CE, leaving it to the Goths.89 It is a matter of debate whether modern-day Romanians are descendants of the people that abandoned the area and settled south of the Danube or of the romanized people that remained in Dacia. Map of Balkans with regions inhabited by Romanians/Vlachs highlighted Owing to the geographical isolation of its speakers, Romanian was probably among the first of the Romance languages to split from Latin.citation needed It received little influence from other Romance languages until the modern period (the middle of the 19th century), and is therefore one of the most uniform languages in Europe. It has the largest number of speakers of the remaining Eastern Romance languages and is more conservative than other Romance languages in nominal morphology. Romanian has preserved a part of the Latin declension, but whereas Latin had six cases, Romanian has three: the nominative-accusative, the genitive-dative, and marginally the vocative. Romanian nouns also preserve the neuter gender. However, the verb morphology of Romanian has shown the same move towards a compound perfect and future tense as the other Romance languages. Compared with the other Romance languages, during its evolution, Romanian simplified the original Latin tense system in extreme ways,10 in particular the original Latin absence of sequence of tenses.11 All the dialects of Romanian are believed to have been unified in a Proto-Romanian language up to sometime between the 7th and 10th centuries, when the area came under the influence of the Byzantine Empire. It was then that Romanian became influenced by the Slavic languages12 and to some degree by Greek. For example, Aromanian, one of the closest relatives of Romanian, has very few Slavic words.citation needed Also, the variations in the "Daco-Romanian" dialect (spoken throughout Romania and Moldova) are very small. The use of this uniform "Daco-Romanian" dialect extends well beyond the borders of the Romanian state: a Romanian-speaker from Moldova speaks the same language as a Romanian-speaker from the Serbian Banat. Romanian was influenced by Slavic, Greek (Byzantine, then Phanariote), Turkish, and Hungarian, while the other Romance languages were influenced by Germanic, Celtic and Arabic. Geographic distribution See also: Romanian-American v · d · eRomânofonia Click on the coloured regions on the map to get to the related article: *Romanian is also an official language of the Latin Union.  Official and national language    Official but not primary language    National minority language    EU    Romanian diaspora  Romanian speaking countries and territoriescitation needed Country Speakers (%) Speakers (native) Population Europe Romania 91% 19,736,517 21,698,181 Moldova ² 76.4% 2,588,355 3,388,071 Transnistria (Eastern Moldova)³ 31.9% 177,050 555,500 Vojvodina (Serbia) 1.5% 29,512 2,031,992 not official: Timočka Krajina (Serbia) 4 8.2% 58,221 712,050 Spain 1.7% 796,57613 46,661,950 Italy 1.06% 640,00014 60,345,000 Ukraine 5 0.8% 327,703 48,457,000 Hungary 0.1% 8,48015 10,198,315 Asia not official: Israel 3.7% 250,000 6,800,000 Kazakhstan 1 0.1% 20,054 14,953,126 Russia 1 0.12% 169,698 16 145,537,200 The Americas not official: Canada 0.34% 110,000 32,207,113 United States 6 0.12% 340,000 281,421,906

1 Many are Moldavian who were deported ² Data only for the districts on the right bank of Dniester (without Transnistria and the city of Tighina). In Moldova, it is sometimes referred to as the "Moldovan language" ³ In Transnistria, it is officially called "Moldovan language" and is written in Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet. 4 Officially divided into Vlachs and Romanians 5 Most in Northern Bukovina and Southern Bessarabia; according to a Moldova Noastră study (based on the latest Ukrainian census).17 6 Romanian is spoken mostly in Southeastern, Central and Eastern Europe, although speakers of the language can be found all over the world, mostly due to emigration of Romanian nationals and the return of immigrants to Romania back to their original countries. Romanian speakers account for 0.5% of the world's population,18 and 4% of the Romance-speaking population of the world.19 Romanian is the single official and national language in Romania and Moldova, although it shares the official status at regional level with other languages in the Moldovan autonomies of Gagauzia and Transnistria. Romanian is also an official language of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia along with five other languages. Romanian minorities are encountered in Serbia (Timok Valley), Ukraine (Chernivtsi and Odessa oblasts), Hungary (Gyula) and Bulgaria (Vidin). Large immigrant communities are found in Italy, Spain, France, and Portugal. As of 1995, the largest Romanian-speaking community in the Middle East is found in Israel, where Romanian is spoken by 5% of the population.2021 Romanian is also spoken as a second language by people from Arabic-speaking countries who have studied in Romania. It is estimated that almost half a million Middle Eastern Arabs studied in Romania during the 1980s.22 Small Romanian-speaking communities are to be found in Kazakhstan and Russia. Romanian is also spoken within communities of Romanian and Moldovan immigrants in the United States, Canada and Australia, although they don't make up a large homogeneous community state-wide. Legal status In Romania According to the Constitution of Romania of 1991, as revised in 2003, Romanian is the official language of the Republic.23 Romania mandates the use of Romanian in official government publications, public education and legal contracts. Advertisements as well as other public messages must bear a translation of foreign words,24 while trade signs and logos shall be written predominantly in Romanian.25 The Romanian Language Institute (Institutul Limbii Române), established by the Ministry of Education of Romania, promotes Romanian and supports people willing to study the language, working together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department for Romanians Abroad.26 In Moldova Main article: Moldovan language The Constitution of Moldova names the state language of the country "Moldovan". However, linguists consider it to be largely identical to Romanian. It has been the sole official language since the adoption of the Law on State Language of the Moldavian SSR in 1989.27 This law mandates the use of Moldovan in all the political, economical, cultural and social spheres, as well as asserting the existence of a "linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity".28 It is also used in schools, mass media, education and in the colloquial speech and writing. Outside the political arena the language is most often called "Romanian". In the breakaway territory of Transnistria, it is co-official with Ukrainian and Russian. In the 2004 census, out of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova, 16.5% (558,508) stated Romanian as their mother tongue, whereas 60% stated Moldovan. While 40% of all urban Romanian/Moldovan speakers identified their native tongue as Romanian, in the countryside under 12% of Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated Romanian as their mother tongue.29 However, the group of experts from the international census observation Mission to the Republic of Moldova concluded that the items in the questionnaire dealing with nationality and language proved to be the most sensitive ones, particularly with reference to the recording of responses to these questions as being "Moldovan" or "Romanian", and therefore it concluded that special care would need to be taken in interpreting them.30 In Vojvodina Main article: Official status of Romanian language in Vojvodina Official usage of Romanian language in Vojvodina, Serbia Romanian language in entire Serbia (see also Romanians of Serbia), census 2002   1-5%   5-10%   10-15%   15-25%   25-35%   over 35% The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia 31 determines that in the regions of the Republic of Serbia inhabited by national minorities, their own languages and scripts shall be officially used as well, in the manner established by law. The Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina 32 determines that, together with the Serbo-Croat language and the Cyrillic script, and the Latin script as stipulated by the law, the Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian and Rusyn languages and their scripts, as well as languages and scripts of other nationalities, shall simultaneously be officially used in the work of the bodies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in the manner established by the law. The bodies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina are: the Assembly, the Executive Council and the Provincial administrative bodies.33 The Romanian language and script are officially used in eight municipalities: Alibunar, Biserica Albă (Serbian: Bela Crkva), Zitiște (Žitište), Zrenianin (Zrenjanin), Kovăcița (Kovačica), Cuvin (Kovin), Plandiște (Plandište) and Sečanj. In the municipality of Vârșeț (Vršac), Romanian is official only in the villages of Voivodinț (Vojvodinci), Marcovăț (Markovac), Straja (Straža), Jamu Mic (Mali Žam), Srediștea Mică (Malo Središte), Mesici (Mesić), Jablanka, Sălcița (Salčica), Râtișor (Ritiševo), Oreșaț (Orašac) and Coștei (Kuštilj).34

In the 2002 Census, the last carried out in Serbia, 1.5% of Vojvodinians chose Romanian as their mother tongue. In other countries and organisations See also: Romanian diaspora In parts of Ukraine where Romanians constitute a significant share of the local population (districts in Chernivtsi, Odessa and Zakarpattia oblasts) Romanian is being taught in schools as a primary language and there are newspapers, TV, and radio broadcasting in Romanian.3536 The University of Chernivtsi trains teachers for Romanian schools in the fields of Romanian philology, mathematics and physics.37 Romanian is an official or administrative language in various communities and organisations, such as the Latin Union and the European Union. Romanian is also one of the five languages in which religious services are performed in the autonomous monastic state of Mount Athos, spoken in the monk communities of Prodromos and Lacu. Distribution of first-language native Romanian speakers by country (Altele means 'other') As a second and foreign language Romanian is taught in some areas that have Romanian minority communities, such as Vojvodina in Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Hungary. The Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) has since 1992 organised summer training courses in Romanian for language teachers in these countries.38 In some of the schools, there are non-Romanian nationals who study Romanian as a foreign language (for example the Nicolae Bălcescu High-school in Gyula, Hungary). Romanian is taught as a foreign language in various tertiary institutions, mostly in European countries such as Germany, France and Italy, as well as the Netherlands, and elsewhere, like the USA. Overall, it is taught as a foreign language in 43 countries around the world.39 Popular culture Romanian has become popular in other countries through movies and songs performed in the Romanian language. Examples of recent Romanian acts that had a great success in non-Romanophone countries are the bands O-Zone (which had great success with their #1 single Dragostea din tei/Numa Numa across the world), Akcent (popular in the Netherlands, Poland and other European countries), Activ (successful in some Eastern European countries) as well as high-rated movies like 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 12:08 East of Bucharest or California Dreamin' (all of them with awards at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival). Trailer of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days on YouTube On the other hand, some artists wrote songs dedicated to the Romanian language. The multiplatinum pop trio O-Zone (originally from Moldova) released a song called "Nu mă las de limba noastră" ('I won't forsake our language'). The final verse of this song, Eu nu mă las de limba noastră, de limba noastră cea română is translated in English as I won't forsake our language, our Romanian language. Also, the Moldovan musicians Doina and Ion Aldea Teodorovici performed a song entitled "The Romanian language". O-Zone - Nu mă las de limba noastră on YouTube Doina and Ion Aldea Teodorovici - Limba română on YouTube Dialects Main article: Varieties of the Romanian language See also: Proto-Romanian language and Origin of Romanians#Daco-Romanian continuity The term "Romanian" is sometimes40 (although not often) used also in a more general sense, which envelops four hardly mutually intelligible languages: Romanian, Istro-Romanian, Aromanian, and Megleno-Romanian. The four languages are the offspring of the Romance varieties spoken both to the north and to south of Danube, before the settlement of the Slavonian tribes south of the river - Romanian in the North, the latter two in the south, while Istro-Romanian is believed to be the offspring of a 11th century migration from Romania. These four are also known as the Eastern Romance languages. When the term "Romanian" is used in this larger sense, the term "Daco-Romanian" is used for Romanian itself. The origin of the term "Daco-Romanian" can be traced back to the first printed book of Romanian grammar in 1780,41 by Samuil Micu and Gheorghe Șincai. There, the Romanian dialect spoken north of the Danube is called lingua Daco-Romana to emphasize its origin and its area of use, which includes the former Roman province of Dacia (though it is spoken also south of the Danube, in Dobrudja, Central Serbia and northern Bulgaria). This article deals with Romanian language, and thus only its regional variations are discussed here. The differences between these varieties are usually small, usually consisting in a few dozencitation needed regional words, some generally regular phonetic changes, and few grammar aspects. Standard literary Romanian language is identical when it comes to writing, regardless of the region or country. Romanian (specifically Daco-Romanian) varieties (graiuri). Blue: Southern varieties Red: Northern varieties Like most natural languages, Romanian can be regarded as a dialect continuum. The dialects of Romanian are distinguished by minor differences in pronunciation. Romanians themselves speak of the differences as accents or "speeches" (in Romanian: accent or grai). Several regional accents are usually distinguished: Muntenian accent (Graiul muntenesc), spoken mainly in Wallachia and southern parts of Dobruja. Oltenian accent (Graiul oltenesc), spoken mainly in Oltenia and by the Romanian minority in Timok region of Serbia. In Oltenia a notable dialectal feature is the preferred usage of the simple perfect rather than the compound perfect which is preferred elsewhere. Moldavian accent (Graiul moldovenesc), spoken mainly in Moldavia, northern parts of Dobruja and Moldova. Written <p> is at times realised as /k/, written <c> before front vowels is sometimes realised as /ʃ/, written <ă>, in final position, is sometimes palatalized, written <e> is rarely also pronounced /i/. Maramureșian accent (Graiul maramureșean), spoken mainly in Maramureș. Transylvanian accent (Graiul ardelenesc), spoken mainly in Transylvania. Banatian accent (Graiul bănățean), spoken mainly in Banat. Written <t> before front vowels is sometimes realised as /t͡ʃ/ and <d> as /d͡ʒ/.

Over the last century, however, regional accents have been weakened due to mass communication and greater mobility. Classification See also: Romance languages Romanian language in the Romance language family Romanian is a Romance language, belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family, having much in common with languages such as French, Italian,and Portuguese However, the languages closest to Romanian are the other Eastern Romance languages, spoken south of Danube: Aromanian/Macedo-Romanian, Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian, which are frequently classified as dialects of Romanian. An alternative name for Romanian used by linguists to disambiguate with the other Eastern Romance languages is "Daco-Romanian", referring to the area where it is spoken (which corresponds roughly to the onetime Roman province of Dacia). Compared with the other Romance languages, the closest relative of Romanian is Italian; the two languages show a limited degree of asymmetrical mutual intelligibility, especially in their cultivated forms: speakers of Romanian seem to understand Italian more easily than the other way around.citation needed Romanian has obvious grammatical and lexical similarities with French, Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese; however, it is not mutually intelligible with them to any practical extentcitation needed. Romanian speakers will usually need some formal study of basic grammar and vocabulary before being able to understand more than individual words and simple sentencescitation needed. The same is true for speakers of these languages trying to understand Romaniancitation needed. In the following sample sentence (meaning "She always closes the window before having dinner.") cognates are written in bold: Illa semper fenestram claudit antequam cenat. (Latin) Ea închide totdeauna fereastra înainte de a cina. (Romanian) Lei chiude sempre la finestra prima di cenare. (Italian) Elle ferme toujours la fenêtre avant de dîner. (French) Ella siempre cierra la ventana antes de cenar. (Spanish) Ela fecha sempre a janela antes de jantar (cear). (Portuguese) Eilla pecha siempre la ventana enantes de cenare. (Leonese) Idda sempri chiudi la finestra àntica cina. (Sicilian) Idda sempi chiudi a finestra ant'a cina. (Calabrian) Ella sempre tanca la finestra abans de sopar. (Catalan) Ela pecha sempre a xanela denantes de cear. (Galician) Eya siempre serra la ventana antes de senar. (Judaeo-Spanish) Essa nzerra sempe 'a fenesta primme de cenà. (Neapolitan) Ea sempre sera 'a fenestra prima de cenà. (Venetian) A study done by Italian-American linguist Mario Pei in 1949, which analyzed the evolutionary degree of languages in comparison to their inheritance language (in the case of Romance languages to Latin comparing phonology, inflection, discourse, syntax, vocabulary, and intonation) revealed the following percentages:42 Sardinian: 8%; Italian: 12%; Spanish: 20%; Romanian: 23.5%; Occitan: 25%; Portuguese: 31%; French: 44%. The lexical similarity with Italian is estimated at 77%, followed by French at 75%, Sardinian 74%, Catalan 73%, Spanish 71%, Portuguese, and Rhaeto-Romance at 72%. In modern times Romanian vocabulary has been strongly influenced by French, Italian and other international words. Contacts with other languages Dacian language The Dacian language was an Indo-European language spoken by the ancient Dacians. It may have been the first language to influence the Latin spoken in Dacia, but little is known about it. About 300 words found only in Romanian or with a cognate in the Albanian language may be inherited from Dacian, many of them being related to pastoral life (for example: balaur "dragon", brânză "cheese", mal "shore"). Some linguists have asserted that Albanians are Dacians who were not romanized and migrated southward.43 A different view is that these non-Latin words (many with Albanian cognates) are not necessarily Dacian, but rather were brought into the territory that is modern Romania by Romance-speaking shepherds migrating north from Albania, Serbia, and northern Greece who became the Romanian people. However, the Eastern Romance substratum appears to have been a satem language, while the Paleo-Balkan languages spoken in northern Greece (Ancient Macedonian) were most likely centum languages. The general opinion is that Dacian was a satem language, as was Thracian, which, however, was indeed spoken in the south.43 Balkan linguistic union While most of Romanian grammar and morphology are based on Latin, there are some features that are shared only with other languages of the Balkans and not found in other Romance languages. The languages of the Balkan linguistic union belong to individual branches of the Indo-European language family: Bulgarian and Albanian, and in some cases Greek and Serbian. The shared features include a suffixed definite article, the syncretism of genitive and dative case, the formation of the future and perfect, and the lack of infinitives. Slavic languages Main article: Slavic superstratum in Romanian The Slavic influences on Romanian are especially noticeable and can be observed at all linguistic levels: lexis, phonetics, morphology and syntax. About 30% of Romanian words are of Slavic origin. This is due to the migration of Slavic tribes who traversed the territory of present-day Romania during the early evolution of the language. This process of the introduction of Slavic in Dacia was similar to the appearance of various Germanic dialects in the Western Roman Empire, where Gallic Latin and Northern Italian dialects became strongly germanized.citation needed However, due to lower Romance-speaking populace in the East, Slavic remained spoken for much longer and did not die out immediately. Other influences

Even before the 19th century, Romanian came in contact with several other languages. Some notable examples include: Greek: folos < ófelos "use", buzunar < buzunára "pocket", proaspăt < prósfatos "fresh", cutie < cution "box" Hungarian: a cheltui < költeni "to spend", a făgădui < fogadni "to promise", a mântui < menteni "to save" and maybe oraș < város "town" (note that linguistically, Romanian oraș couldn’t be borrowed from Hungarian varos. It would have been a form *veras44) Turkish: cafea < kahve "coffee", papuc < papuç "slipper", ciorbă < çorba "wholemeal soup, sour soup" German: cartof < Kartoffel "potato", bere < Bier "beer", șurub < Schraube "screw", turn < Turm "tower", ramă < Rahmen "frame", muștiuc < Mundstück "mouth piece", bormașină < Bohrmaschine "drilling machine", cremșnit < Kremschnitte "cream slice", șvaițer < Schweizer "Swiss cheese", șlep < Schleppkahn "barge", șpriț < Spritzer "wine with soda water", abțibild < Abziehbild "decal picture", șnițel < Schnitzel "cutlet", șuncă < dialectal Schunke (Schinken) "ham", punct < Punkt "point", maistru < Meister "master" Romany, the Romanian Roma have provided several words to Romanian slang: mișto "good, beautiful" < mišto,45 gagică < gadji "girl" French, Italian and English words Since the 19th century, many modern words were borrowed from the other Romance languages, especially from French and Italian (for example: birou "desk, office", avion "airplane", exploata "exploit"). It was estimated that about 38% of the number of words in Romanian are of French and/or Italian origin (in many cases both languages); and adding this to the words that were inherited from Latin, about 75%-85% of Romanian words can be traced to Latin. The use of these Romanianized French and Italian loanwords has tended to increase at the expense of Slavic loanwords, many of which have become rare or fallen out of use. As second or third languages, French and Italian themselves are better known in Romania than in Romania's neighbors. Along with the switch to the Latin alphabet in Moldova, the re-latinization of the vocabulary has tended to reinforce the Latin character of the language. In the process of lexical modernization, many of the words already existing as Latin direct heritage, as a part of its core or popular vocabulary, have been doubled by words borrowed from other Romance languages, thus forming a further and more modern and literary lexical layer. Typically, the popular word is a noun and the borrowed word an adjective. Some examples: Latin Romanian direct Latin heritage Romanian neologism agilis (quick) ager (astute) agil (it.<agile, fr.<agile) (agile) aqua (water) apă (water) acvatic (it. <acquatico, fr.<aquatique) (aquatic) dens, dentem (tooth) dinte (tooth) dentist (it.<dentista, fr.<dentiste) (dentist) directus (straight) drept (straight, right) direct (it.<diretto, fr.<direct) (direct) frigus (cold) frig (cold - noun) frigid (it.<frigido, fr.<frigide) (frigid) rapidus (quick) repede (quick) rapid (it.<rapido, fr.<rapide) (quick) In the 20th century, an increasing number of English words have been borrowed (such as: gem < jam; interviu < interview; meci < match; manager < manager; fotbal < football; sandviș < sandwich; bișniță < business; ciungă < chewing gum; chec < cake). These words are assigned grammatical gender in Romanian and handled according to Romanian rules; thus "the manager" is managerul. Grammar Main article: Romanian grammar Romanian nouns are characterized by gender (feminine, masculine, and neuter), and declined by number (singular and plural) and case (nominative/accusative, dative/genitive and vocative). The articles, as well as most adjectives and pronouns, agree in gender, number and case with the noun they reference. Romanian is the only Romance language where definite articles are enclitic: that is, attached to the end of the noun (as in North Germanic languages), instead of in front (proclitic). They were formed, as in other Romance languages, from the Latin demonstrative pronouns. As in all Romance languages, Romanian verbs are highly inflected for person, number, tense, mood, voice. The usual word order in sentences is SVO (Subject - Verb - Object). Romanian has four verbal conjugations which further split into ten conjugation patterns. Verbs can be put in five moods that are inflected for the person (indicative, conditional/optative, imperative, subjunctive, and presumptive) and four impersonal moods (infinitive, gerund, supine, and participle). Phonology Main article: Romanian phonology Romanian has nine vowels; the more "exotic" ones are /ɨ/, /ə/ (also in stressed positions), and the diphthongs /e̯a/ and /o̯a/. Additionally, /ø/ and /y/ may appear in some borrowed words. There are also twenty-two consonants. The two approximants /j/ and /w/ can appear before or after any vowel, creating a large number of glide-vowel sequences which are, strictly speaking, not diphthongs. In final positions after consonants, a short /i/ can be deleted, surfacing only as the palatalization of the preceding consonant (e.g. [mʲ]). Similarly, a deleted /u/ may prompt labialization of a preceding consonant, though this has ceased to carry any morphological meaning. Phonetic changes Main article: Latin-to-Romanian sound changes Owing to its isolation from the other Romance languages, the phonetic evolution of Romanian was quite different, but does share a few changes with Italian, such as [kl] > [kj] (Lat. clarus > Rom. chiar, Ital. chiaro) and also a few with Dalmatian, such as /ɡn/ (probably phonetically [ŋn]) > [mn] (Lat. cognatus > Rom. cumnat, Dalm. comnut).

Among the notable phonetic changes are: diphthongization of e and o Lat. cera → Rom. ceară (wax) Lat. sole → Rom. soare (sun) iotacism [e] → [ie] in the beginning of the word Lat. herba → Rom. iarbă (grass, herb) velar [k ɡ] → labial [p b m] before alveolar consonants and [w] (eg. ngu → mb): Lat. octo → Rom. opt (eight) Lat. lingua → Rom. limbă (tongue, language) Lat. signum → Rom. semn (sign) Lat. coxa → Rom. coapsă (thigh) rhotacism [l] → [r] between vowels Lat. caelum → Rom. cer (sky) Alveolars [d t] palatalized to [(d)z] [ts] when before short [e] or long [iː] Lat. deus → Rom. zeu (god) Lat. tenem → Rom. ține (hold) On the other hand, it (along with French) has lost /kw/ (qu) sound before /a/ from original Latin, turning it either into /p/ (Lat. quattuor → Rom.patru, "four"; cf. It. quattro) or /k/ (Lat. quando → Rom.când, "when"; Lat. qualitas → Rom.calitate, "quality"). Writing system Neacșu's letter is the oldest surviving document written in Romanian The first written record of a Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans was written by the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes Confessor in the 6th century about a military expedition against the Avars from 587, when a Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion Torna, torna fratre (meaning "Return, return brother!"). The oldest written text in Romanian is a letter from late June 1521, in which Neacșu of Câmpulung wrote to the mayor of Brașov about an imminent attack of the Turks. It was written using the Cyrillic alphabet, like most early Romanian writings. The earliest writing in Latin script was a late 16th century Transylvanian text which was written with the Hungarian alphabet conventions. A sample of Romanian written in the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, which was still in use in the early 19th century In the late 18th century, Transylvanian scholars noted the Latin origin of Romanian and adapted the Latin alphabet to the Romanian language, using some rules from Italian, recognized as Romanian's closest relative. The Cyrillic alphabet remained in (gradually decreasing) use until 1860, when Romanian writing was first officially regulated. In the Soviet Republic of Moldova, a special version of the Cyrillic alphabet derived from the Russian version was used, until 1989, when it returned to the Romanian Latin alphabet. Romanian alphabet Main article: Romanian alphabet The Romanian alphabet is as follows: A, a (a); Ă, ă (ă); Â, â (â din a); B, b (be), C, c (ce); D, d (de), E, e (e); F, f (fe / ef); G, g (ghe / ge); H, h (ha / haș); I, i (i); Î, î (î din i); J, j (je), K, k (ka / kapa), L, l (le / el); M, m (me / em); N, n (ne / en); O, o (o); P, p (pe); Q (chiu); R, r, (re / er); S, s (se / es); Ș, ș (șe); T, t (te); Ț, ț (țe); U, u (u); V, v (ve); W (dublu ve); X, x (ics); Y (i grec); Z, z (ze / zet). K, Q, W and Y are not part of the native alphabet, were officially introduced in the Romanian alphabet in 1982 and are mostly used to write loanwords like kilogram, quasar, watt, and yoga. The Romanian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet with five additional letters Ă, Â, Î, Ș , Ț. Formerly, there were as many as 12 additional letters, but some of them were abolished in subsequent reforms. Also, until the early 20th century, a short vowel marker was used. Today the Romanian alphabet is largely phonemic. However, the letters â and î both represent the same close central unrounded vowel /ɨ/.  is used only inside words; î is used at the beginning or the end of single words and in the middle of compound words. Another exception from a completely phonetic writing system is the fact that vowels and their respective semivowels are not distinguished in writing. In dictionaries the distinction is marked by separating the entry word into syllables for words containing a hiatus. Stressed vowels also are not marked in writing, except very rarely in cases where by misplacing the stress a word might change its meaning and if the meaning is not obvious from the context. For example trei copíi means "three children" while trei cópii means "three copies". Pronunciation See also: Romanian alphabet#Î versus  h is not silent like in other Romance languages such as Spanish and French, but represents the phoneme /h/, except in the digraphs ch /k/ and gh /g/ (see below) j represents /ʒ/, as in French or Portuguese (the sound spelled with s in the English words 'vision, pleasure, treasure'). There are two letters with a comma below, Ș and Ț, which represent the sounds /ʃ/ and /t͡s/. However, the allographs with a cedilla instead of a comma, Ș and Ț, became widespread when pre-Unicode and early Unicode character sets did not include the standard form. A final orthographical i after a consonant often represents the palatalization of the consonant (e. g. lup /lup/ "wolf" vs. lupi /lupʲ/ "wolves") -- it is not pronounced like Italian lupi (which also means "wolves"), and is indeed an example of the Slavic influence on Romanian. ă represents the schwa, /ə/. î and â both represent the sound /ɨ/. In rapid speech (for example in the name of the country) the â sound may sound similar to a casual listener to a short schwa sound but careful speakers will distinguish the sound. The nearest equivalent is the vowel in the last syllable of the word roses for some English speakers. The letter e generally represents the mid front unrounded vowel [e], somewhat like in the English word set. However, the letter e is pronounced as ie [je] ([j] sounds like 'y' in 'you') when it is the first letter of any form of the verb a fi "to be", or of a personal pronoun, for instance este /jeste/ "is" and el /jel/ "he".4647 This addition of the semivowel /j/ does not occur in more recent loans and their derivatives, such as eră "era", electric "electric" etc. Some words (such as iepure "hare", formerly spelled epure) are now written with the initial i to indicate the semivowel. x represents either the phoneme /ks/ as in expresie = expression, or /ɡz/ as in exemplu = example, as in English. As in Italian, the letters c and g represent the affricates /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ before i and e, and /k/ and /ɡ/ elsewhere. When /k/ and /ɡ/ are followed by vowels /e/ and /i/ (or their corresponding semivowels or the final /ʲ/) the digraphs ch and gh are used instead of c and g, as shown in the table below. Group Phoneme Pronunciation Examples ce, ci /tʃ/ ch in chest, cheek cerc (circle), cine (who) che, chi /k/ k in kettle, kiss chem (I call), chimie (chemistry) ge, gi /dʒ/ j in jelly, jigsaw ger (frost), gimnast (gymnast) ghe, ghi /ɡ/ g in get, give ghețar (glacier), ghid (guide) Punctuation and capitalization

Uses of punctuation peculiar to Romanian are: The quotation marks use the Polish format in the format „quote «inside» quote”, that is, „. . .” for a normal quotation, and double angle symbols for a quotation inside a quotation. Proper quotations which span multiple paragraphs don't start each paragraph with the quotation marks; one single pair of quotation marks is always used, regardless of how many paragraphs are quoted; Dialogues are identified with quotation dashes; The Oxford comma before "and" is considered incorrect ("red, yellow and blue" is the proper format); Punctuation signs which follow a text in parentheses always follow the final bracket; In titles, only the first letter of the first word is capitalized, the rest of the title using sentence capitalization (with all its rules: proper names are capitalized as usual, etc.). Names of months and days are not capitalized (ianuarie "January", joi "Thursday") Adjectives derived from proper names are not capitalized (Germania "Germany", but german "German") Spelling issues between Romania's and Moldova's usage There are minor spelling differences between standard forms of Romanian language used in Romania and the variant (also called Moldovan) used in the Republic of Moldova— the Academy of Sciences of Moldova hadn't switched to the new spelling rules introduced by the Romanian Academy in 1993. In 2000, the Moldovan Academy recommended adopting the spelling rules used in Romania; in practice, however, many Moldovans persist in using the older spellings.48 Language sample English text: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) Contemporary Romanian - highlighted words are French or Italian loanwords: Toate ființele umane se nasc libere și egale în demnitate și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu rațiune și conștiință și trebuie să se comporte unele față de altele în spiritul fraternității. Romanian, excluding French and Italian loanwords - highlighted words are Slavic loanwords: Toate ființele omenești se nasc slobode și deopotrivă în destoinicie și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu înțelegere și cuget și trebuie să se poarte unele față de altele în duh de frățietate. Romanian, excluding loanwords: Toate ființele omenești se nasc nesupuse și asemenea în prețuire și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu înțelegere și cuget și se cuvine să se poarte unele față de altele după firea frăției. See also Latin Europe Romanian vocabulary Romanianization Notes ^ a b The Latin Union reports 28 million speakers for Romanian, out of whom 24 million are native speakers of the language: Latin Union - The odyssey of languages: ro, es, fr, it, pt; see also Ethnologue report for Romanian ^ a b "Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People". Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People. Microsoft Encarta 2006. http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500404/Languages_Spoken_by_More_Than_10_Million_People.html.  ^ The constitution of the Republic of Moldova refers to the country's language as Moldovan rather than Romanian, though in practice it is often called "Romanian". The introduction of the law concerning the functioning of the languages (September 1989), still effective in the Republic of Moldova according to the Constitution,Parlament.md asserts the linguistic identity between the Romanian language and the Moldovan language. IATP.md ^ "Dacia-Province of the Roman Empire". United Nations of Roma Victor. http://www.unrv.com/provinces/dacia.php.  ^ Deletant, Dennis (1995). Colloquial Romanian. New York: Routledge. p. 1.  ^ Matley, Ian (1970). Romania; a Profile. Praeger. p. 85.  ^ Giurescu, Constantin C. (1972). The Making of the Romanian People and Language. Bucharest: Meridiane Publishing House. pp. 43, 98–101, 141.  ^ Eutropius; Justin, Cornelius Nepos (1886). Eutropius, Abridgment of Roman History. London: George Bell and Sons. http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/eutropius_breviarium_2_text.htm.  ^ Watkins, Thayer. "The Economic History of the Western Roman Empire". http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/barbarians.htm.  ^ Yves D’hulst, Martine Coene, Larisa Avram, “Syncretic and analytic tenses in Romanian”, in “Balkan Syntax ans Semantics”, pag. 366: "In its evolution, Romanian simplified the original Latin tense system in extreme ways." ^ Yves D’hulst et al., “Syncretic and analytic tenses in Romanian”, in “Balkan Syntax ans Semantics”, p.355: "general absence of consecutio temporum." ^ Graham Mallinson, “Rumanian”, in “The Romance Languages”, Taylor & Francis, 1997, p. 413: "Much more substantial than the Germanic adstrate in the Western Romance Languages is the Slavic adstrate in Balkan Romance." ^ Instituto Nacional de Estadística: Avance del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero de 2009. Datos provisionales. INE.es ^ ISTAT.it ^ "Number of speakers of Romanian in Hungary in 1995 according to Ethnologue". Ethnologue.com. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ron. Retrieved 2010-05-23.  ^ Perepis2002.ru Perepis 2002 ^ RDSCJ.rodead link ^ "Latin Union - Languages and cultures online 2005". Dtil.unilat.org. http://dtil.unilat.org/LI/2005/ro/rezultatele_detaliate.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-23.  ^ MSN Encarta - Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million Peopledead link ^ According to the 1993 Statistical Abstract of Israel there were 250,000 Romanian speakers in Israel, at a population of 5,548,523 (census 1995). ^ "Reports of about 300,000 Jews that left the country after WW2". Eurojewcong.org. http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=110. Retrieved 2010-05-23.  ^ "Evenimentul Zilei". Evz.ro. http://www.evz.ro/article.php?artid=185041. Retrieved 2010-05-23.  ^ "Constitution of Romania". Cdep.ro. http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?den=act2_1&par1=1. Retrieved 2010-05-23.  ^ Legea "Pruteanu": 500/2004 - Law on the Protection of the Romanian Language ^ Art. 27 (3), Legea nr. 26/1990 privind Registrul Comerțului ^ Ministry of Education of Romania ^ Dalby, Andrew. Dictionary of Languages. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 518. ISBN 0-7475-3117-X.  ^ Legea cu privire la functionarea limbilor vorbite pe teritoriul RSS Moldovenesti Nr.3465-XI din 01.09.89 Vestile nr.9/217, 1989 (Law regarding the usage of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova): "Moldavian RSS supports the desire of the Moldavian that live across the borders of the Republic, and - considering the existing Moldo-Romanian linguistic identity - of the Romanians that live on the territory of the USSR, of doing their studies and satisfying their cultural needs in their maternal language." ^ National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova: Census 2004 ^ Experts Offering to Consult the National Statistics Bureau in Evaluation of the Census Data, Moldova Azi, May 19, 2005, story attributed to AP Flux. Retrieved October 11, 2005. ^ Official Gazette of Republic of Serbia, No. 1/90 ^ Official Gazette of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina ^ Official use of languages and scripts in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina published by the Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Minorities ^ Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Minorities: Official use of the Romanian language in the APV ^ Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research: [1], [2] ^ Slovak Academy of Sciences in Kosicedead link ^ Kramar Andriy. "University of Chernivtsi". Chnu.cv.ua. http://www.chnu.cv.ua/index.php?page=ua/gradinf/rules/02bac_d. Retrieved 2010-05-23.  ^ Cursuri de perfecționare, published in Ziua on August 19, 2005 ^ Romanian Language Institute: Data concerning the teaching of the Romanian language abroad ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica article on "Romanian" ^ Samuil Micu, Gheorghe Șincai, Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae, Vienna, 1780. ^ Pei, Mario (1949). Story of Language. ISBN 0397004001.  ^ a b Vladimir Georgiev (Gheorghiev), (Romanian) Raporturile dintre limbile dacă, tracă și frigiană, "Studii Clasice" Journal, II, 1960, 39-58 ^ Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian by Sorin Paliga, Bucharest, Editura Evenimentul 2006 ISBN 973-87920-0-2 ^ (Romanian) Rodica Zafiu, "Mișto și legenda bastonului", România literară, No. 6, 2009 — There is no doubt among linguists about the Romany etymology of the Romanian word mișto, but a fairly widespread folk etymology and urban legend maintains that the German phrase mit Stock "with stick" would be its true origin. ^ (Romanian) Several Romanian dictionaries specify the pronunciation [je] for word-initial letter e in some personal pronouns: el, ei, etc. and in some forms of the verb a fi (to be): este, eram, etc. ^ (Romanian) Mioara Avram, Ortografie pentru toți, Editura Litera, Chișinău, 1997, p. 29 ^ The new edition of "Dicționarul ortografic al limbii române (ortoepic, morfologic, cu norme de punctuație)" – introduced by the Academy of Sciences of Moldova and recommended for publishing following a conference on 15 November 2000 – applies the decision of the General Meeting of the Romanian Academy from 17 February 1993, regarding the return to "â" and "sunt" in the orthography of the Romanian language. (Introduction, Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova) The decision is mandatory in schools.citation needed References Uwe, Hinrichs (ed.), Handbuch der Südosteuropa-Linguistik, Wiesbaden, 1999. Rosetti, Alexandru, Istoria limbii române, 2 vols., Bucharest, 1965-1969. Kahl, Thede (ed.), Das Rumänische und seine Nachbarn, Berlin, 2009. Giurescu, Constantin, The Making of the Romanian People and Language, Bucharest, 1972. External links Look up Category:Romanian language in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Look up Romanian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Romanian language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Romanian Romanian language edition of Wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus Ethnologue report for Romanian SAMPA for Romanian Dictionar de rime online - Romanian Rhymes Online Dictionary Learning Romanian Romanian Lessons Romanian lessons, prepared by the Department for Interethnic Relations, Chișinău, Republic of Moldovia Romanian Reference Grammar, by Dana Cojocaru, University of Bucharest (183 pages) - 4.6 MB - pdf Romanian Language Sounds Learn Romanian Magazine, a collection of texts and audio podcasts published as an online magazine Phrasebooks Romanian phrasebook on Wikitravel Romanian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix) v · d · eRomanian language (articles) Dialects and varieties Romanian varieties • Vlach Linguistics Grammar (nouns, verbs, numbers) • Alphabet (Ă, Â, Î, Ș, Ț) • Vocabulary (profanities) • Phonology • Exonyms Historic evolution Dacian (words) → Romanization (Thraco-Roman synchretism) → Vulgar Latin (sound changes) → Proto-Romanian (substratum) → Eastern Romance (also Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian) Institutions Romanian Academy (Dicţionarul explicativ al limbii române) • Academy of Sciences of Moldova Other Romanians (origin, Romanianization) • Name • Balkan sprachbund • Romanian Cyrillic alphabet • Moldovan v · d · e Romania topics Basic topics · Alphabetical index of topics  History Timeline · Prehistoric Romania · Dacia · Roman Dacia · Middle Ages · Early Modern Era · National awakening · Romanian Principalities · Kingdom of Romania · World War I · Greater Romania · World War II · Communist Romania · 1989 Romanian Revolution · Since 1989  Geography Topography · Mountains · Islands · Rivers · Lakes · Climate · Protected areas · Flora · Fauna  Economy Romanian leu · National Bank · Bucharest Stock Exchange · Sibiu Stock Exchange · Science and technology · Education · Agriculture · Industry · Services · Mining · Energy  · Communications · Tourism · Transport · Healthcare · Companies  Government Constitution · Parliament (Senate · Chamber of Deputies) · President · Prime Minister · Elections · Political parties · Foreign relations · Government Agencies · Law enforcement · History · Land Forces · Air Force · Naval Forces · Military Police · Administrative divisions · Counties · Cities · Human rights ·  Culture Orthodox Christianity · Holy Synod · Judaism · Islam · Postal codes · Languages · Religion  · Minorities · Immigration · Romanians · List of Romanians · Academy · Architecture · Art · Cinema (Actors) · Music (Composers) · Cuisine · Romanian language · Literature (Writers • Poets) · List of Romanians · Philosophy · Folklore (Dress) · Humour · Media · Sport · Public holidays · Society WikiProject • Portal • Commons v · d · e Official languages of the European Union

Bulgarian · Czech · Danish · Dutch · English · Estonian · Finnish · French · German · Greek · Hungarian · Irish · Italian · Latvian · Lithuanian · Maltese · Polish · Portuguese · Romanian · Slovak · Slovene · Spanish · Swedish v · d · eRomance languages  Italo-Western  Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Italic Ligurian Brigasc · Genoese · Intemelio · Mentonasc · Monégasque Lombard Eastern · Gallo-Sicilian · Western Others Emiliano-Romagnolo · Piedmontese · Venetian Gallo-Rhaetian Langues d'oïl Burgundian · Champenois · Frainc-Comtou · French · Gallo · Lorrain · Norman · Picard · Poitevin · Saintongeais · Walloon Rhaeto-Romance Friulian · Ladin · Romansh Others Arpitan Occitano- Romance Catalan Algherese · Balearic · Central · Valencian Occitan Auvergnat · Gascon · Languedocien · Limousin · Old Occitan · Provençal · Shuadit · Vivaro-Alpine Ibero-Romance Astur-Leonese Asturian · Cantabrian · Extremaduran · Leonese · Mirandese Portuguese African (Angolan, Cape Verdean, Guinean, Mozambican, São Tomean) · East Timorese · Macanese · Brazilian · European (Barranquenho) Galician Eonavian · Fala Spanish (Castilian) African (Equatoguinean) · Latin American (South American, Caribbean, Central American, North American) · Asian · Peninsular (Ladino / Caló) Italo-Dalmatian Italian Central · Corsican (Gallurese) · Sassarese · Tuscan Neapolitan Southern Italian dialects Pyrenean Navarro-Aragonese (Aragonese) · Mozarabic Others Dalmatian · Istriot · Judeo-Italian · Sicilian  Eastern and Southern Eastern Romanian Moldovan · Vlach Others Aromanian · Istro-Romanian · Megleno-Romanian Southern Sardinian Campidanese · Logudorese Italics indicate extinct languages; bold indicates languages with more than 5 million speakers; languages between parenthesis are varieties of the language on their left. v · d · eLanguages of Europe Sovereign states Albania · Andorra · Armenia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Georgia · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · United Kingdom (England • Northern Ireland • Scotland • Wales) · Vatican City States with limited recognition Abkhazia · Kosovo · Nagorno-Karabakh Republic · Northern Cyprus · South Ossetia · Transnistria Dependencies, other territories Åland · Azores · Faroe Islands · Gibraltar · Guernsey · Jan Mayen · Jersey · Madeira · Isle of Man · Svalbard Other entities European Union v · d · eLatin Union Member nations Andorra · Angola · Bolivia · Brazil · Cape Verde · Chile · Colombia · Costa Rica · Côte d'Ivoire · Cuba · Dominican Republic · East Timor · Ecuador · El Salvador · France · Guatemala · Guinea-Bissau · Haiti · Honduras · Italy · Mexico · Moldova · Monaco · Mozambique · Nicaragua · Panama · Paraguay · Peru · Philippines · Portugal · Romania · San Marino · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Spain · Uruguay · Venezuela Permanent observers Argentina · Holy See · Sovereign Military Order of Malta Official languages Catalan · French · Italian · Portuguese · Romanian · Spanish

Bulgarian · Czech · Danish · Dutch · English · Estonian · Finnish · French · German · Greek · Hungarian · Irish · Italian · Latvian · Lithuanian · Maltese · Polish · Portuguese · Romanian · Slovak · Slovene · Spanish · Swedish v · d · eRomance languages  Italo-Western  Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Italic Ligurian Brigasc · Genoese · Intemelio · Mentonasc · Monégasque Lombard Eastern · Gallo-Sicilian · Western Others Emiliano-Romagnolo · Piedmontese · Venetian Gallo-Rhaetian Langues d'oïl Burgundian · Champenois · Frainc-Comtou · French · Gallo · Lorrain · Norman · Picard · Poitevin · Saintongeais · Walloon Rhaeto-Romance Friulian · Ladin · Romansh Others Arpitan Occitano- Romance Catalan Algherese · Balearic · Central · Valencian Occitan Auvergnat · Gascon · Languedocien · Limousin · Old Occitan · Provençal · Shuadit · Vivaro-Alpine Ibero-Romance Astur-Leonese Asturian · Cantabrian · Extremaduran · Leonese · Mirandese Portuguese African (Angolan, Cape Verdean, Guinean, Mozambican, São Tomean) · East Timorese · Macanese · Brazilian · European (Barranquenho) Galician Eonavian · Fala Spanish (Castilian) African (Equatoguinean) · Latin American (South American, Caribbean, Central American, North American) · Asian · Peninsular (Ladino / Caló) Italo-Dalmatian Italian Central · Corsican (Gallurese) · Sassarese · Tuscan Neapolitan Southern Italian dialects Pyrenean Navarro-Aragonese (Aragonese) · Mozarabic Others Dalmatian · Istriot · Judeo-Italian · Sicilian  Eastern and Southern Eastern Romanian Moldovan · Vlach Others Aromanian · Istro-Romanian · Megleno-Romanian Southern Sardinian Campidanese · Logudorese Italics indicate extinct languages; bold indicates languages with more than 5 million speakers; languages between parenthesis are varieties of the language on their left. v · d · eLanguages of Europe Sovereign states Albania · Andorra · Armenia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Georgia · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · United Kingdom (England • Northern Ireland • Scotland • Wales) · Vatican City States with limited recognition Abkhazia · Kosovo · Nagorno-Karabakh Republic · Northern Cyprus · South Ossetia · Transnistria Dependencies, other territories Åland · Azores · Faroe Islands · Gibraltar · Guernsey · Jan Mayen · Jersey · Madeira · Isle of Man · Svalbard Other entities European Union v · d · eLatin Union Member nations Andorra · Angola · Bolivia · Brazil · Cape Verde · Chile · Colombia · Costa Rica · Côte d'Ivoire · Cuba · Dominican Republic · East Timor · Ecuador · El Salvador · France · Guatemala · Guinea-Bissau · Haiti · Honduras · Italy · Mexico · Moldova · Monaco · Mozambique · Nicaragua · Panama · Paraguay · Peru · Philippines · Portugal · Romania · San Marino · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Spain · Uruguay · Venezuela Permanent observers Argentina · Holy See · Sovereign Military Order of Malta Official languages Catalan · French · Italian · Portuguese · Romanian · Spanish

Bulgarian · Czech · Danish · Dutch · English · Estonian · Finnish · French · German · Greek · Hungarian · Irish · Italian · Latvian · Lithuanian · Maltese · Polish · Portuguese · Romanian · Slovak · Slovene · Spanish · Swedish v · d · eRomance languages  Italo-Western  Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Italic Ligurian Brigasc · Genoese · Intemelio · Mentonasc · Monégasque Lombard Eastern · Gallo-Sicilian · Western Others Emiliano-Romagnolo · Piedmontese · Venetian Gallo-Rhaetian Langues d'oïl Burgundian · Champenois · Frainc-Comtou · French · Gallo · Lorrain · Norman · Picard · Poitevin · Saintongeais · Walloon Rhaeto-Romance Friulian · Ladin · Romansh Others Arpitan Occitano- Romance Catalan Algherese · Balearic · Central · Valencian Occitan Auvergnat · Gascon · Languedocien · Limousin · Old Occitan · Provençal · Shuadit · Vivaro-Alpine Ibero-Romance Astur-Leonese Asturian · Cantabrian · Extremaduran · Leonese · Mirandese Portuguese African (Angolan, Cape Verdean, Guinean, Mozambican, São Tomean) · East Timorese · Macanese · Brazilian · European (Barranquenho) Galician Eonavian · Fala Spanish (Castilian) African (Equatoguinean) · Latin American (South American, Caribbean, Central American, North American) · Asian · Peninsular (Ladino / Caló) Italo-Dalmatian Italian Central · Corsican (Gallurese) · Sassarese · Tuscan Neapolitan Southern Italian dialects Pyrenean Navarro-Aragonese (Aragonese) · Mozarabic Others Dalmatian · Istriot · Judeo-Italian · Sicilian  Eastern and Southern Eastern Romanian Moldovan · Vlach Others Aromanian · Istro-Romanian · Megleno-Romanian Southern Sardinian Campidanese · Logudorese Italics indicate extinct languages; bold indicates languages with more than 5 million speakers; languages between parenthesis are varieties of the language on their left. v · d · eLanguages of Europe Sovereign states Albania · Andorra · Armenia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Georgia · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · United Kingdom (England • Northern Ireland • Scotland • Wales) · Vatican City States with limited recognition Abkhazia · Kosovo · Nagorno-Karabakh Republic · Northern Cyprus · South Ossetia · Transnistria Dependencies, other territories Åland · Azores · Faroe Islands · Gibraltar · Guernsey · Jan Mayen · Jersey · Madeira · Isle of Man · Svalbard Other entities European Union v · d · eLatin Union Member nations Andorra · Angola · Bolivia · Brazil · Cape Verde · Chile · Colombia · Costa Rica · Côte d'Ivoire · Cuba · Dominican Republic · East Timor · Ecuador · El Salvador · France · Guatemala · Guinea-Bissau · Haiti · Honduras · Italy · Mexico · Moldova · Monaco · Mozambique · Nicaragua · Panama · Paraguay · Peru · Philippines · Portugal · Romania · San Marino · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Spain · Uruguay · Venezuela Permanent observers Argentina · Holy See · Sovereign Military Order of Malta Official languages Catalan · French · Italian · Portuguese · Romanian · Spanish