Are you the type to show off?
Maybe you met someone who went to Europe for a trip and you casually ask them, “Did you learn much of the local language?”
This is really just an excuse for you to show off your Romanian skills. That’s fine. We get it.
There’s always a danger, though, that that person happens to have Romanian grandparents or experience living in a Romanian-speaking environment through an internship or similar. If you want to impress, you need to bring your A-game. And that means using the correct and accurate adverb in Romanian for whatever you need to describe, providing flavor in just the right place.
Table of Contents
- Adverbs In Degrees
- Telling The Truth and Making Predictions
- Adverbs of Location
- Adverbs and Languages
- Time and Romanian Adverbs
- Manner Is Important
- Showing Cause and Effect
- Adverbs Made From Adjectives
- Emotional Adverbs
- Conclusion
1. Adverbs In Degrees
Some of the most common adverbs in any language are those that answer the question “how much” or “to what degree?” These should be the first adverbs you set out to learn.
1- foarte – very
Voi fi foarte bun.
I’ll be very good.
2- destul – quite
Desertul arată destul de bine.
The desert looks quite good.
3- extrem – extremely
Ea a vorbit extrem de repede.
She spoke extremely quickly.
4- prea – too
Nimic nu este prea complicat.
Nothing is too complicated.
5- un pic – a bit
Mă simt un pic pierdut.
I’m feeling a bit lost.
6- puțin – a little
Prima probă a fost puțin rapidă.
The first try was a little faster.
7- suficient de – enough
Ea a fost suficient de inteligentă pentru a înțelege asta.
She was smart enough to know that.
8- prea – too
Sunt prea impulsiv.
I’m too impulsive.
9- evident – obviously
Este evident că ea este necăsătorită.
She’s obviously not married.
10- încă – more
Ei au nevoie de încă un milion de dolari.
They need another million dollars.
11- mai puțin- Less
Trebuie să îi plătești mai puțin.
You must pay them less.
12- abia – barely
Abia îmi amintesc.
I barely remember.
13- exact – exactly
Știu exact ce anume am cerut.
I know exactly what I was asking.
14- aproximativ – approximately
Vei avea nevoie de aproximativ 100 de ore ca să finalizezi acest proiect.
It will take you approximately 100 hours to finish this project.
2. Telling The Truth and Making Predictions
These five “truth” adverbs are quite necessary for when you want to qualify a certain statement. They’re also commonly seen as filler words when speaking casually or distractedly.
1- realmente – actually
El a fost realmente o persoană foarte cumsecade.
He was really a decent person.
2- poate – maybe
Poate mâine sau poate săptămâna viitoare el va tunde iarba.
He will be mowing the lawn maybe tomorrow or maybe next week.
3- posibil – possibly
Este posibil să mă ajuți?
Can you possibly help me?
4- probabil – likely
Probabil mașina lui a fost lovită din spate.
His car was likely struck from behind.
5- cu siguranță – definitely
El este cu siguranță confuz și supărat din cauza glumei tale.
He’s definitely confused and upset because of your joke.
6- oare – perhaps
Este posibil oare, să vin cu propriul meu laptop?
Could I perhaps bring my own laptop?
3. Adverbs of Location
It doesn’t matter where your Romanian class is – with RomanianPod101, you can learn anywhere you like! Describing where you study is an excellent test of your Romanian adverb skills.
1- aici – here
Trusa de prim ajutor se află aici.
The first aid kit is located here.
2- acolo – there
Când merg acolo am impresia că este o povară.
When I go there I feel like a burden.
3- pretutindeni – everywhere
Bacteriile se găsesc pretutindeni.
Bacteria are everywhere.
4- aproape – nearby
Ea stă aproape.
She lives nearby.
5- departe – away
Trebuie să stai departe de noi doi.
You need to stay away from both of us.
6- lângă – next to, close by
Locuiesc lângă stația de metrou.
I live near the metro station.
7- oriunde – anywhere
Ești calificat oriunde în lume.
You are qualified anywhere in the world.
8- nicăieri – nowhere
Nu plec nicăieri.
I’m not going nowhere.
9- direct – straight
Te rog să mergi direct la tine acasă.
Please go straight to your house.
10- înapoi – back
Toate cadourile au fost trimise înapoi.
All the gifts were sent back.
11- exact – right
Poți să parchezi exact aici.
You can park right here.
4. Adverbs and Languages
In Romanian, the suffix -ește is a clear marker of language names, as you can see here. This is because when we say “speak a language,” the underlying meaning is “speak in a certain way.” That’s what adverbs are for!
1- grecește – Greek
Învăț grecește de la bunicul meu.
I am learning Greek from my grandfather.
2- englezește – English
La job vorbim numai englezește.
At work we speak only English.
3- românește – Romanian
Încearcă să vorbească românește cu vecinii săi.
He’s trying to speak Romanian with his neighbors.
4- arabește – Arabic
Ei nu știu că eu vorbesc arăbește.
They do not know I speak Arabic.
5- nemțește – German
Doi dintre ei au început să vorbească în nemțește.
Two of them started talking in German.
6- franțuzește – French
Tot cursul a fost în franțuzește.
All the class was in French.
7- chinezește – Chinese
Este ciudat să te aud vorbind în chinezește.
It’s weird hearing you speak Chinese.
5. Time and Romanian Adverbs
Second only perhaps to adverbs of degree, adverbs of time are quite necessary for sounding natural in casual speech. You can think of several of these as nouns, but as they modify verbs, they’re properly called adverbs.
1- aseară – last night
Aseară a fost foarte frig.
It was very cold last night.
2- ieri – yesterday
Ieri ți-ai spălat mașina.
You washed your car yesterday.
3- mâine – tomorrow
Plec acasă mâine.
I am going home tomorrow.
4- duminica – every Sunday
Duminica merg cu familia la biserică.
I go with my family at the church every Sunday.
5- niciodată – never
Tatăl dumneavoastră nu ar face niciodată asta.
Your father would never have done this.
6- din când în când – from time to time
El îți menționează numele din când în când.
He mentions your name from time to time.
7- totdeauna – always
El a promis că îi va fi totdeauna aproape.
He promised to be always near her.
8- acum – now
Am intrat acum în ultimele secunde ale jocului.
We’re now into the final seconds of the game.
9- de obicei – usually
De obicei, ea se ocupă de asta.
She usually handles that.
10- mai târziu – later
Vorbim mai târziu despre această problemă.
We’ll talk later about this issue.
11- în seara aceasta – tonight
Dacă nu sunt ocupată, pot să fac un tort în seara asta.
If I’m not busy, I can make a cake tonight.
12- uneori – sometimes
Uneori chiar ești amuzant.
Sometimes you’re really funny.
13- vreodată – never
Nu am crezut că voi mai fi vreodată în stare să joc tenis.
I thought I would never be able to play tennis.
14- rareori – rarely
El rareori părăsește calculatorul lui.
He rarely leaves his computer.
15- mereu – always
Sunt mereu ultimul care își termină tema pentru acasă.
I’m always the last one who finishes the homework.
16- actualmente – at present
Actualmente nu existã nici un remediu pentru cancer.
At present there is no cure for cancer.
17- anual – annually
Această sumă este indexată anual.
This amount is annually indexed.
18- lunar – monthly
Ea a fost plătită lunar pentru că a avut grijă de câinele meu.
She was paid monthly for taking care of my dog.
19- săptămânal – weekly
Duminica seara ea întocmește meniurile săptămânale.
On Sunday evening she is planning her weekly menus.
20- zilnic – daily
Care este suma zilnică pe care ea o cere ca bonă?
What is her daily rate for babysitting?
21- pe oră – hourly
Această companie te va plăti pe oră.
This company will pay you hourly.
22- odată – once
Hai să rezolvăm asta odată pentru totdeauna.
Let’s fix this once and for all.
23- de două ori – twice
Ea a citit fiecare capitol de două ori.
She read every chapter twice.
6. Manner Is Important
Here we’ll include several adverbs that are two-word phrases, literally translating to “in a particular manner.”
1- la fix– perfectly
Comentariul tău se potrivește la fix.
Your comment fits perfectly.
2- în mod egal – equally
Vă consider pe toți răspunzători, în mod egal.
I hold you all equally responsible.
3- astfel – like this
O astfel de situație poate deveni foarte periculoasăi.
A situation like this could get quite dangerous.
4- în felul acela – like that
Mă enervez când mă tratezi în felul acela.
I get angry when you treat me like that.
5- mai bine – better
Acest serviciu e mai bine decât am crezut.
This job is better than I thought.
6- mai rău – worse
Au fost tratați mai rău decât niște animale.
They were treated worse than animals.
7- la fel de – as well as
Nu cred că îi cunoaște cineva la fel de bine ca tine.
I don’t think anyone knows them as well as you.
8- nu – not
Asta nu este bine deloc.
That’s not good at all.
9- cu ușurință – easily
Înțeleg cu ușurință toate visele tale.
I can easily understand all your dreams .
7. Showing Cause and Effect
As another stepping stone to fluent and correct Romanian, adverbs of conjunction like these will show your listener that you understand how to organize your ideas well.
1- așadar – therefore
Așadar, ei se simt intimidați de către tine.
Therefore, they feel intimidated by you.
2- totodată – however
Totodată, rezultatul acesta nu este ceea ce ne așteptam.
This result, however, is not what we expected.
3- în caz de – in case of
Nu folosiți liftul în caz de cutremur.
Don’t use the elevator in case of an earthquake.
4- pentru că – because
Lui îi place de ea pentru că este amuzantă.
He likes her because she is funny.
5- așa că – so that
Mi-am anulat călătoria, așa că pot sta cu bunica mea bolnavă.
I cancelled my trip so that I could stay with my sick grandmother.
6- astfel încât să – in order to
El și-a mutat biroul, astfel încât să aibă o panoramă mai bună.
He moved his desk in order to get a better view.
8. Adverbs Made From Adjectives
Now we’re coming to the words that commonly fit the way we think of adverbs in English: a special, modified form of an adjective. You’ll note that a lot of these adverbs in Romanian don’t actually take a special form, though. That makes things easier for you!
1- afectuous – affectionately
Ea a vorbit mereu afectuos despre el.
She always talked about him so warmly.
2- rece – coldly
Aleksei le-a vorbit rece.
Aleksei spoke to them coldly.
3- Cu interes – With interest
Voi urmări cu interes progresul tău.
I shall watch your progress with interest.
4- plăcut – pleasantly
Uneori realitatea de poate surprinde într-un mod plăcut.
Sometimes reality can pleasantly surprise you.
5- Tare – strongly
Putem auzi muzica joaca tare jos.
We can hear the music playing loudly downstairs.
6- rar – slowly
Respiră adânc și rar.
Breathe deeply and slowly.
7- incet – sluggishly
Autobuzul s-a miscat incet.
The bus moved sluggishly.
8- frumos – beautifully
Maria scrie frumos.
Maria writes beautifully.
9- repede – quickly
Vă rugăm să scrie la această adresă repede.
Please write to this address quickly.
10- oribil – horribly
Sunt sigur că totul se va termina oribil.
I’m sure everything will go horribly wrong.
11- Groaznic – terribly
E groaznic de trist.
It’s so horribly sad.
12- prietenește – jovially
S-a purtat prietenește cu tine?
He was friendly to you?
13- cu precizie – accurately
Acești parametri trebuie să fie înregistrați cu precizie.
These parameters should be recorded accurately.
9. Emotional Adverbs
Describing your emotions with adjectives is a great beginner exercise. Not many people would think to describe actions caused by those emotions!
1- inteligent – cleverly
Ai făcut-o foarte inteligent.
You did it very cleverly.
2- eficient – Efficiently
Îi omori cât poți de eficient.
Kill them as efficiently as possible.
3- Nervos – Nervously
Dominic s-a ridicat, nervos.
Domenic stood up, nervously.
4- cu lăcomie – Hungrily
Mă privești cu lăcomie.
You are gazing hungrily at me.
5- Furios – Angrily
El se uită furios.
He’s staring angrily.
6- Politicos – Politely
Ea asculta foarte politicos.
She’s listening very politely.
7- Sincer – Honestly
Spune-mi, sincer, ce ai pe suflet.
Tell me honestly what’s bothering you.
8- Taraneste – Rudely
I comportat foarte taraneste în acea zi.
I behaved very rudely that day.
9- Slab – weakly
Interacționează foarte slab.
They interact very weakly.
10- zgomotos – loudly
Poți să nu mergi așa de zgomotos?
Could you not walk so loudly?
11- încet – quietly
El a început sa fredoneze încet.
He began to hum quietly.
10. Conclusion
Excellent work on learning one hundred adverbs! If you read that last sentence and your palms started sweating because you’re not quite ready to show off your Romanian yet, don’t worry.
Take all the time you need for review.
RomanianPod101 helps you ease yourself into the language without stress or bad vibes. We’ve got lessons, articles like this one, and free YouTube videos for any part of the language you’d like. Join us now and see how far Romanian can take you!
In the meantime, if you have any questions about Romanian adverbs, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments. We’re always glad to help you out!
