I.

The Romanian Phonemic Inventory

A. Vowels
The vowels are speech sounds whose production does not encounter any blockage
across the phonatory system. They are produced with the aid of the vibration of the
vocal cords. Romanian has seven vowels: [a, e, i, o, u, , ]
There are many criteria according to which the Romanian vowels can be classified:
1) from an articulatory point of view, the vowels can be classified by taking into
account the following criteria:
a. aperture or opening: open vowels [a], half-open vowels [e, , o] and closed vowels
[i, , u].
b. their localisation in the buccal cavity (with respect to the position of the tongue):
front ([pre]palatal) vowels: [e, i], central vowels [, ], back vowels [o, u] and neuter
vowels [a].
c. labialisation or participation of the lips: rounded vowels [o, u] and unrounded
vowels [a, e, i, , ].
2) from an acoustic point of view, the Romanian vowels can be classified as follows:
a. compact sounds: [a]
b. compact-diffuse sounds: [e, , o]
c. diffuse sounds: [i, , u]
If we are to take into account the pitch of the sound, we can distinguish among the
following vowel sounds:
a. high-pitched vowels: [e,i]
b. low-pitched vowels: [o, u]
c. neuter vowels: [a, , ]
Vowel

Description

Examples

/a/

Open central unrounded

ap /a.p/ water
balaur /bala.ur/ dragon
cnta /knta/ to sing

/e/

Mid front unrounded

erou /erow/ hero

necaz /nekaz/ trouble
umple /um.ple/ to fill

/i/

Close front unrounded

insul /in.su.l/ island

salcie /sal.ti.e/ willow
topi /topi/ to melt

/o/

Mid back rounded

ora /ora/ city

copil /kopil/ child
acolo /ako.lo/ there

/u/

Close back rounded

uda /uda/ to wet

aduc /aduk/ I bring
simplu /sim.plu/ simple

//

Mid central unrounded

sta /s.ta/ this

pros /pros/ hairy
alb /al.b/ white (fem. sg.)

/ /

Close central unrounded

nspre /n.spre/ toward

crnat /krnat/ sausage
cobor /ko.bor/ to descend

While most of these vowels are relatively straightforward and similar or identical to those in many
other languages, the close central unrounded vowel // is uncommon as a phoneme[1] and
especially uncommon amongst Indo-European languages.

LESS FREQUENT VOWELS

In addition to the seven core vowels, in a number of words of foreign origin (predominantly
French, but also German) the close-mid front rounded vowel //, the open-mid front rounded
vowel //, and the mid-central rounded vowel // (different from the already existing
unrounded //) have been preserved, without replacing them with any of the existing phonemes,
at least in careful speech. The borrowed words have become part of the Romanian vocabulary
and follow the usual inflexion rules, so that the new vowels, though less common, could be
considered as part of the Romanian phoneme set. Romanian dictionaries use in their
phonetic descriptions to represent all the three vowels, which suggests that they may be actually
pronounced identically by Romanian speakers. However, the 2005 edition of the prescriptive
work Dicionarul ortografic, ortoepic i morfologic al limbii romne gives for the ad-hoc phonetic
symbol two distinct values: the mid front rounded vowel (example:acheuleean, 'Acheulean')
and the French "e caduc", that is, the mid-central rounded vowel (example: chemin de fer, 'the
card game Chemin de Fer').[2] The vowel occurs in words such as: bleu /bl/ ('light
blue'), pasteuriza/pastriza/ ('to pasteurize'), loess /ls/ ('loess'), cozeur /kozr/ ('pleasant
talker'). As it is not a native phoneme, its pronunciation may fluctuate or it may even be replaced
by the diphthong /ee o/. In older French borrowings it has often been replaced by /e/, /o/, or /ee o/, as
in ofer /ofer/ ('driver', from French chauffeur), masor /masor/('masseur', from masseur),
and sufleor /suflee or/ ('theater prompter', from souffleur).

Similarly, borrowings from languages such as French and German sometimes contain the close
front rounded vowel /y/: ecru /ekry/, tul /tyl/, frer /fyrer/. The symbol used for it in phonetic
notations in Romanian dictionaries is . Educated speakers usually pronounce it /y/, but other
realizations such as /ju/ also occur. Older words that originally had this sound have had it
replaced with /ju/, /u/, or /i/. For instance, Turkish kl became ghiul /jul/('large ring'),
Turkish ttn became tutun [tutun] ('tobacco'), but tiutiun [tjutjun] in the Moldavian
subdialect,German Dse gave duz /duz/ ('nozzle') and French bureau became birou /bi
row/ ('desk', 'office').

DIPHTHONGS
According to Ioana Chioran, Romanian has two diphthongs: /ee a/ and /oe a/. As a result of their
origin (diphthongization of mid vowels under stress), they appear normally in stressed
syllables[3] and makemorphological alternations with the mid vowels /e/ and /o/.
In addition to these, the semivowels /j/ and /w/ can be combined (either before, after, or both) with
most vowels. One view considers that only /ee a/ and /oe a/ can follow an obstruent-liquid cluster
such as in broasc ('frog') anddreag ('to mend').[4] can form real diphthongs, while the rest are
merely vowel-glide sequences.[5] The traditional view (taught in schools) considers all of the above
as diphthongs.
Falling
Diphthong

Examples

/aj/

rai /raj/ 'heaven', aisberg /ajs.ber/ 'iceberg'

/aw/

sau /saw/ 'or', august /aw.ust/ 'August'

/ej/

lei /lej/ 'lions', trei /trej/ 'three'

/ew/

greu /rew/ 'heavy', mereu /merew/ 'always'

/ij/

mii /mij/ 'thousands', vii /vij/ 'you come'

/iw/

fiu /fiw/ 'son', scriu /skriw/ 'I write'

/oj/

oi /oj/ 'sheep (pl.)', noi /noj/ 'we'

/ow/

ou /ow/ 'egg', bou /bow/ 'ox'

/uj/

pui /puj/ 'you put', glbui /lbuj/ 'yellowish'

/uw/

eu continuu /konti.nuw/ 'I continue' (partly replaced by eu continui)[6]

/j/

ri /rj/ 'bad (masc. pl.)', vi /vj/ 'valleys'

/w/

dulu /dulw/ 'mastiff', ru /rw/ 'bad (masc. sg.)'

/j/

cine /kj.ne/ 'dog', minile /mj.ni.le/ 'the hands'

/w/

ru /rw/ 'river', bru /brw/ 'girdle'

Rising
Examples

Diphthong
/ee a/

beat /bee a.t/ 'drunk' (f.), mea /mee a/ 'my (fem. sg.)'

/ee o/

Gheorghe /ee or.e/ 'George', ne-o ploua /nee o.plowa/ 'it would rain us'

/ee u/

(only in word combinations) pe-un /pee un/ 'on a'

/ja/

biat /bja.t/ 'poor' (f.), mi-a zis /mjazis/ '(he) told me'

/je/

fier /fjer/ 'iron', miere /mje.re/ 'honey'

/jo/

iod /jod/ 'iodine', chior /kjor/ 'one-eyed'

/ju/

iubit /jubit/ 'loved', chiuvet /kjuve.t/ 'sink'

/oe a/

goace /oe a.te/ 'shell', foarte /foe ar.te/ 'very'

/we/

piuez /piwez/ 'I felt (a fabric)', neuez /n.ewez/ 'I saddle (a horse)'

/wa/

bcuan /b.kwan/ 'inhabitant of Bacu', ziua /zi.wa/ 'the day'

/w/

dou /do.w/ 'two (fem.)', plou /plo.w/ 'it rains'

/w/

plound /plownd/ 'raining', ound /ownd/ 'laying (eggs)'

Triphthong

Examples

/ee aj/

ceainic /tee aj.nik/ 'tea pot', socoteai /so.kotee aj/ 'you were reckoning'

/ee aw/

beau /bee aw/ 'I drink', spuneau /spunee aw/ 'they were saying'

/jaj/

mi-ai dat /mjajdat/ 'you gave me', ia-i /jaj/ 'take them'

/jaw/

iau /jaw/ 'I take', suiau /sujaw/ 'they were climbing'

/jej/

iei /jej/ 'you take', piei /pjej/ 'skins'

/jew/

maieu /majew/ 'undershirt', eu /jew/ 'I (myself)'

/joj/

i-oi da /jojda/ 'I might give him', picioic /pitjoj.k/ 'potato (regionalism)'

/jow/

maiou /majow/ 'undershirt'

/oe aj/

leoaic /leoe aj.k/ 'lioness', rusoaic /rusoe aj.k/ 'Russian woman'

/waj/

neuai /n.ewaj/ '(you) were saddling'

/waw/

neuau /n.ewaw/ '(they) were saddling'

/wj/

roui /ro.wj/ 'of the dew'

/ee oea/

pleoape /plee oea.pe/ 'eyelids', leoarc /lee oear.k/ 'soaking (wet)'

/joe a/

creioane /krejoe a.ne/ 'pencils', aripioar /a.ripjoe a.r/ 'winglet'

As can be seen from the examples above, the diphthongs /ee a/ and /oe a/ contrast
with /ja/ and /wa/ respectively, though there are no minimal pairs to contrast /oe a/ and /wa/.
[7]
Impressionistically, the two pairs sound very similar to native speakers [8] Because /oe a/ doesn't
appear in the final syllable of a prosodic word, there are no monosyllabic words with /oe a/;
exceptions might include voal ('veil') and trotuar ('sidewalk'), though Ioana Chioran argues[9] that
these are best treated as containing glide-vowel sequences rather than diphthongs. In some
regional pronunciations, the diphthong /oe a/ tends to be pronounced as a single vowel //.
Other triphthongs such as /juj/ and /oe aw/ occur sporadically in interjections and uncommon
words.

DIPHTHONGS IN BORROWINGS
Borrowings from English have enlarged the set of ascending diphthongs to also
include /j/, /we/, /wi/, and /wo/, or have extended their previously limited use. Generally, these

borrowings have retained their original spellings, but their pronunciation has been adapted to the
Romanian phonology. The table below gives some examples.
Diphthong

Examples

/j/

yearling /jr.lin/ 'one-year-old animal (colt)'

/we/

western /wes.tern/ 'Western (movie set in the American West)'

/wi/

tweeter /twi.tr/ 'high-pitch loudspeaker'

/wo/

walkman /wok.men/ 'pocket-sized tape/CD player'

Borrowings such as whisky and week-end are listed in some dictionaries as starting with the
ascending diphthong/wi/, which corresponds to the original English pronunciation, but in others
they appear with the descending diphthong /uj/.[10]

VOWEL ALTERNATIONS
Romanian has a broad process of alternating between a mid vowel and a "low"
vowel: /ee a/ alternates with /e/, /oe a/with /o/, and /a/ with //.[11]
Originally, this was the result of a phonological process wherein mid vowels (Balkan Latin, by this
time, had merged the long and short mid vowels) lowered to [] and [] under stress; a
subsequent change diphthongized these vowels.[12] This has resulted in stress alternations,[13] as
shown in the examples below, where stressed vowels and diphthongs are highlighted in bold:
Stressed
a-

carte

'book'

crticic

'book' (diminutive)

cas

'house'

csu

'house' (diminutive)

beat

'drunk'

beiv

'drunkard'

sear

'evening'

nserat

'dusk'

poart

'gate'

portar

'gatekeeper'

coast

'rib'

costi

'rib' (diminutive)

eea - e
oea - o

Unstressed

This has since been morphologized and now shows up in verb conjugations [14] and nominal
inflection (e.g.oaste/oti, 'army'/'armies')[15]

CONSONANTS
Standard Romanian has twenty consonants, as listed in the table below.
Bilabial

Romanian consonants[16]
LabioDental1
dental

Postalveolar

Velar

Glottal

Nasal
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Trill
Approximant

^1 All consonants marked as "dental" in this table (excluding /l/) are apico-dental.[17] /l/ is apicoalveolar.[17]
Besides the consonants in this table, a few consonants can have allophones:

Palatalized consonants occur when preceding /i/.[16][18]

/n/ becomes the velar [] before /k/, // and /h/;

/h/ becomes the velar [x] in word-final positions (duh 'spirit') and before consonants (hrean 'horseradish');
it becomes the palatal []before [i], [j], like in the word "human" in English, and as a realization for an
underlying /hi/ sequence in word-final positions (cehi'Czech people' is pronounced [tte], though usually
transcribed [tteh]).

The Romanian consonant set is almost the same as that in Italian, with a few exceptions: The
Italian palatal consonants //, // and affricate /dz/ are missing in standard Romanian, which in
turn has the fricative // and the "glottal" /h/.
Here are some examples, with an approximate indication of how each consonant is pronounced,
intended for English native speakers.
Consonant

Pronounced as

Examples

/p/

p in speak

pas /pas/ step, spate /spa.te/ back, cap /kap/ head

/b/

b in boy

ban /ban/ money, zbor /zbor/ I fly, rob /rob/ slave

/t/

t in stop

tare /ta.re/ hard, stai /staj/ you stay, sat /sat/ village

/d/

d in day

dac /da.k/ if, vinde /vin.de/ he sells, cad /kad/ I fall

/k/

k in sky

cal /kal/ horse, ascund /askund/ I hide, sac /sak/ sack

//

g in go

gol /ol/ empty, pung /pun./ bag, drag /dra/ dear

/ts/

ts in nuts

ar /tsa.r/ country, a /a.ts/ thread, so /sots/ husband

/t/

ch in chin

cer /ter/ sky, vacile /va.ti.le/ the cows, maci /mat/ poppies

/d/

j in jingle

ger /der/ frost, magic /ma.dik/ magical, rogi /rod/ you ask

/m/

m in man

mic /mik/ small, amar /amar/ bitter, pom /pom/ tree

/n/

n in name

nor /nor/ cloud, inel /inel/ ring, motan /motan/ tomcat

/f/

f in fine

foc /fok/ fire, afar /afa.r/ out, pantof /pantof/ shoe

/v/

v in voice

val /val/ wave, covor /kovor/ carpet, mov /mov/ mauve

/s/

s in sound

sare /sa.re/ salt, case /ka.se/ houses, ales /ales/ chosen

/z/

z in zone

zid /zid/ wall, mazre /ma.z.re/ pea, orez /orez/ rice

//

sh in shy

arpe /ar.pe/ snake, aa /aa/ so, ora /ora/ city

/ /

s in measure

jar /ar/ embers, ajutor /a.utor/ help, vrej /vre/ stalk

/h/

h in hope

horn /horn/ chimney, pahar /pahar/ glass, duh /duh/ spirit

/l/

l in like

lung /lun/ long, alun /alu.n/ hazelnut, fel /fel/ sort

/r/

Italian r

repede /re.pe.de/ quickly, tren /tren/ train, mr /mr/ apple

PALATALIZED CONSONANTS
In addition to appearing before /i/, palatalized consonants also appear terminally as the
manifestation of certain morphological markers, namely to indicate: [19]

Plurality in nouns and adjectives

Second person singular in verbs.

The interpretation commonly taken is that an underlying morpheme /i/ palatalizes the consonant
and is subsequently deleted. However, /s/, /t/, and /d/ become [], [tts], and [z], respectively,
[19]
with very few phonetically justified exceptions, included in the table below, which shows that
this palatalization can occur for all consonants.

Voiceless
Consonan
t

Examples

Voiced
Consonan
t

Examples

/p/

rupi /rup/ 'you tear'

/b/

arabi /arab/ 'Arabs'

/t/

proti /prot/ 'stupid (masc.

pl.)'

/d/

ndejdi /nded/'hopes'

/k/
/t ts/

urechi /urek/ 'ears'

roi /rot ts/ 'wheels'

//

unghi /un/ 'angle'

/t t/

faci /fat t/ 'you do'

/dt/

mergi /merdt/ 'you go'

/m/

dormi /dorm/ 'you sleep'

/n/

bani /ban/ 'money (pl.)'

/f/

efi /ef/ 'bosses'

/v/

pleuvi /pleuv/ 'bald (masc.

pl.)'

/s/

bessi /bes/ 'Bessi'

/z/

brazi /braz/ 'fir trees'

//

moi /mo/ 'old men'

//

breji /bre/ 'brave (masc. pl.)'

/h/

vlahi /vlah/'Wallachians'

/l/

coli /kol/ 'schools

/r/

sari /sar/ 'you jump

In certain morphological processes // is replaced by the full vowel /i/, for example

in noun plural genitive formation: coli - colilor /kol/ - /ko.li.lor/ ('schools - of the schools'),

when appending the definite article to some plural nouns: brazi - brazii /braz/ - /bra.zij/ ('fir trees - the fir
trees')

in verb + pronoun combinations: dai - dai- ne /datts/ - /da.ttsi.ne/ ('give - give us').

This may explain why // is perceived as a separate sound by native speakers and written with the
same letter as the vowel /i/.
The non-syllabic // can be sometimes found inside compound words like civa /kttsva/ ('a few')
and oriunde /orun.de/ ('wherever'), where the first morpheme happened to end in this //. A word
that contains this twice iscincizeci /ttinttzett/ ('fifty').
In old Romanian and still in some local pronunciations there is another example of such a nonsyllabic, non-semivocalic phoneme, derived from /u/, which manifests itself as labialization of the
preceding sound. The usual IPA notation is //. It is found at the end of some words after
consonants and semivowels, as in un urs, pronounced /un urs/ ('a bear'), or mi spui /m
spuj/ ('you tell me'). The disappearance of this phoneme might be attributed to the fact that,
unlike //, it didn't play any morphological role. It is possibly a trace of Latin endings
containing /u/ (-us, -um), this phoneme is related to vowel /u/ used to connect the definite article
"l" to the stem of a noun or adjective, as in domn - domnul /domn - dom.nul/ ('lord - the lord',
cf. Latin dominus).

OTHER CONSONANTS
As with other languages, Romanian interjections are remarkable from a phonetic perspective in
that they often use sounds beyond the normal phoneme inventory or disobey the normal
phonotactical rules, by containing unusual phoneme sequences, by allowing words to be made
up of only consonants, or by consisting of repetitions. Such exceptional mechanisms are needed
to obtain an increased level of expressivity.[20] Often, these interjections have multiple spellings or
occasionally none at all, which accounts for the difficulty of finding the right approximation using
existing letters.[21] The following is a list of examples.

A bilabial affricate [], pronounced by rounding the lips and strongly sucking air between them, is used
for urging horses to start walking.[20]

Whistling is another interjection surpassing the limits of the phoneme inventory. It is usually spelled fiufiu.

[20]

The dental click [] (see also click consonants) is used in an interjection similar to the English tuttut (or tsk-tsk), expressing concern, disappointment, disapproval, etc., and generally accompanied by frowning or
a comparable facial expression. Usually two to four such clicks in a row make up the interjection; only one click is
rare and more than four can be used for over-emphasis. The Romanian spelling is usually ttt or . Technically, the
dental click is obtained by creating a cavity between a velar closure and the tongue touching the alveolar ridge in
the same position as for consonant [t]. When the tongue closure is released, the air from outside is sucked in and
produces the click.

The same dental click is used in another interjection, the informal equivalent of "no" (nu in Romanian).
Only one click is emitted, usually as an answer to a yes-no question. Although there is rarely any accompanying

sound, the usual spelling is nt or n, in which the additional n has the role of showing either the fact that the click is
pronounced stronger, or that the mouth shape before the click is approximately the same as for consonant [n].

A series of interjections are pronounced with the mouth shut. Depending on intonation, length, and
rhythm, they can have various meanings, such as: perplexity, doubt, displeasure, tastiness, toothache, approval,
etc.[21] Possible spellings include: hm, hm/hm,mhm, h, mmm, , h. Phonetically similar, but semantically
different, is the English interjection ahem.

Another interjection, meaning "no", could be described as the pronunciation of [a.a] with the mouth
shut; both voicings start withglottal stops, like the English uh-oh. Possible spellings include: -, m-m, and m-m.
The stress pattern is opposite to the interjection for "yes" mentioned before, pronounced [aha] with the mouth
shut.

Pfu expresses contempt or dissatisfaction and starts with the voiceless bilabial fricative //, sounding like
(but being different from) the English whew, which expresses relief after an effort or danger.

Ch/ch expresses disgust and ends in the voiceless velar fricative /x/, similar in meaning to English ugh.

Brrr expresses shivering cold and is made up of a single consonant, the bilabial trill, whose IPA symbol
is //. The spelling with several letters r is misleading, as the tongue doesn't play an active role; the actual labial
place of articulation is indicated by letter b.

STRESS
Romanian has a stress accent, like almost all other Romance languages (with the notable
exception of French). Generally, stress falls on the rightmost syllable of a prosodic word (that is,
the root and derivational material but excluding inflections and final inflectional vowels). [22] While a
lexically marked stress pattern with penultimate stress exists, any morphologically derived forms
will continue to follow the unmarked pattern.[22]
In the examples below, the stress is indicated in the phonetic transcription by a small vertical
line before the stressed syllable.
frate /fra.te/ ('brother'), copil /kopil/ ('child')
strugure /stru.u.re/ ('grape'), albastru /albas.tru/ ('blue'), cltor /k.ltor/ ('voyager').

Stress is not normally marked in writing, except occasionally to distinguish between homographs,
or in dictionaries for the entry words. When it is marked, the main vowel of the stressed syllable
receives an accent (usually acute, but sometimes grave), for example vsel - vesl ('jovial',
fem. sg. - 'tableware').
In verb conjugation, noun declension, and other word formation processes, stress shifts can
occur. Verbs can have homographic forms only distinguished by stress, such as in el sufl which
can mean "he blows" or "he blew" depending on whether the stress is on the first or the second
syllable, respectively. Changing the grammatical category of a word can lead to similar word
pairs, such as the verb a albi /albi/ ('to whiten') compared to the adjective albi /alb/ ('white',
masc. pl.). Stress in Romanian verbs can normally be predicted by comparing tenses with similar
verbs in Spanish, which does indicate stress in writing.
Secondary stress occurs according to a predictable pattern, falling on every other syllable,
starting with the first, as long as it does not fall adjacent to the primary stress. [23]

PROSODY
RHYTHM
Languages such as English, Russian, and Arabic are called stress-timed, meaning
that syllables are pronounced at a lower or higher rate so as to achieve a roughly equal time
interval between stressed syllables. Another category of languages are syllable-timed, which
means that each syllable takes about the same amount of time, regardless of the position of the
stresses in the sentence. Romanian is one of the syllable-timed languages, along with other
Romance languages (French, Spanish, etc.), Telugu, Yoruba, and many others. (A third timing
system is mora timing, exemplified by Classical Latin, Fijian, Finnish, Hawaiian, Japanese,
and Old English.)

The distinction between these timing categories may sometimes seem unclear, and definitions
vary. In addition, the time intervals between stresses/syllables/morae are in reality only
approximately equal, with many exceptions and large deviations having been reported. However,
while the actual time may be only approximately equal, the differences are perceptually identical.
In the case of Romanian, consonant clusters are often found both in the syllable onset and coda,
which require physical time to be pronounced. The syllable timing rule is then overridden by
slowing down the rhythm. Thus, it is seen that stress and syllable timing interact. The sample
sentences below, each consisting of six syllables, are illustrative:
Mama pune masa Mom sets the table
Muli puti blonzi plng prin curi Many blond kids cry in the courtyards

The total time length taken by each of these sentences is obviously different, and attempting to
pronounce one of them with the same rhythm as the other results in unnatural utterances.
To a lesser extent, but still perceivably, the syllables are extended in time also on one hand by the
presence of liquid and nasal consonants, and on the other by that of semivowels in diphthongs
and triphthongs, such as shown in the examples below.
Romanian

English

pic - plic

bit - envelope

cec - cerc

cheque - circle

zic - zinc

I say - zinc

car - chiar

I carry - even

sare - soare

salt - sun

sta - stea

to stay - star

fi - fii

be (inf.) - be (imperative)

A simple way to evaluate the length of a word, and compare it to another, consists in pronouncing
it repeatedly at a natural speech rate.

INTONATION
A detailed description of the intonation patterns must consider a wide range of elements, such as
the focus of the sentence, the theme and the rheme, emotional aspects, etc. In this section only a
few general traits of the Romanian intonation are discussed. Most importantly, intonation is
essential in questions, especially because, unlike English and other languages, Romanian does
not distinguish grammatically declarative and interrogative sentences.
In non-emphatic yes/no questions the pitch rises at the end of the sentence until the last
stressed syllable. If unstressed syllables follow, they often have a falling intonation, but this is not
a rule.
Ai stins lumina? [ai stins lumina] (Have you turned off the light?)
Da. (Yes.)

In Transylvanian speech these yes/no questions have a very different intonation pattern, usually
with a pitch peak at the beginning of the question: [ai stins lumina]
In selection questions the tone rises at the first element of the selection, and falls at the second.
Vrei bere sau vin? [vrei bere sau vin] (Do you want beer or wine?)
Bere. (Beer.)

Wh-questions start with a high pitch on the first word and then the pitch falls gradually toward
the end of the sentence.

 Cine a lsat ua deschis? [cine a lsat ua deschis] (Who left the door open?)
Mama. (Mom did.)

Repeat questions have a rising intonation.

A sunat Rodica adineauri. (Rodica just called.)
Cine a sunat? [cine a sunat] (Who called?)
Colega ta, Rodica. (Your classmate, Rodica.)

Tag questions are uttered with a rising intonation.

i-e foame, nu-i aa? [i-e foame, nu-i aa] (You're hungry, aren't you?)

Unfinished utterances have a rising intonation similar to that of yes/no questions, but the pitch
rise is smaller.
Dup ce m-am ntors... [dup ce m-am ntors...] (After I came back...)

Various other intonation patterns are used to express: requests, commands, surprise, suggestion,
advice, and so on.