Not every statement is meant to be precise, and Romanian has a rich kit for being deliberately approximate: for saying "it's kind of like X," "somehow it worked out," "she said something like she's leaving," "and so on." This is vague language and hedging — the tools that loosen your commitment, blur an exact boundary, soften a claim so it can't be pinned down, or wave at a category instead of naming it exactly. Far from being sloppy, this is precise social work: hedges make assertions less aggressive, leave room to be wrong, and signal that you're estimating rather than declaring. The headline item is gen, the Romanian equivalent of conversational like — extremely useful, but a loud marker of youth slang that you must keep out of careful registers. Around it sits a set of much safer, register-neutral hedges: un fel de, oarecum, cumva.
gen: the Romanian "like"
gen literally means "type, kind, genre," but in modern speech it has become the all-purpose approximative and quotative filler — the exact counterpart of English conversational like. It does three jobs at once: it approximates ("around, sort of"), it introduces a loose quotation ("he was like..."), and it simply fills a hesitation. It exploded in usage over the last few decades and is now the single clearest marker of young, casual, spoken Romanian.
As an approximator, gen softens a number, a time, or a description:
Ne vedem pe la opt, gen, nu mai târziu.
Let's meet around eight, like, no later. (gen = approximate)
As a quotative, it introduces a paraphrase of what someone said or thought — "he was like...," "she said something like...":
A zis ceva gen că pleacă mai devreme și să nu-l așteptăm.
He said something like he's leaving early and we shouldn't wait for him. (gen = loose quote)
And as a pure filler, it buys a beat while you find the word, like English "like" or "you know":
Era, gen, super ciudat tot ce se întâmpla acolo.
It was, like, super weird, everything that was going on there. (gen = hesitation filler)
The fuller form ceva de genul ("something like that, something of the sort") is gen's more spelled-out cousin and feels a touch less slangy — useful when you want the approximative meaning without the heaviest teen-speak flavor.
Costă o mie de lei sau ceva de genul, nu mai știu exact.
It costs a thousand lei or something like that, I don't remember exactly.
un fel de: "a kind of"
un fel de ("a kind of, a sort of") hedges a noun — you reach for it when a label is only approximately right. It is fully register-neutral: you can use it in conversation, an email, or an essay without raising an eyebrow. It signals "this is roughly in this category, but don't take the label too literally."
E un fel de supă, dar mai groasă, mai degrabă o tocană.
It's a kind of soup, but thicker — more of a stew, really.
Au organizat un fel de concurs intern, fără premii mari.
They organized a sort of internal contest, without big prizes.
oarecum and cumva: "somewhat" and "somehow"
oarecum ("somewhat, to some extent, in a way") hedges an adjective or a whole claim, dialing it down from full strength. It is neutral and works in careful writing. cumva ("somehow, by any chance") hedges manner or possibility — "somehow it worked," or, in questions, a softening "by any chance."
Răspunsul lui m-a lăsat oarecum nedumerit.
His answer left me somewhat puzzled.
Oarecum mă așteptam, ca să fiu sincer.
In a way I was expecting it, to be honest.
Nu știu cum, dar cumva am reușit să prindem trenul.
I don't know how, but somehow we managed to catch the train.
In a question, cumva softens the whole request to "by any chance" — a politeness move, not a vagueness one:
Nu aveți cumva o priză liberă pe undeva?
You wouldn't by any chance have a free socket somewhere?
așa: "sort of," trailing off
The tiny word așa ("so, thus, like that") doubles as a vague trailing-off hedge in speech — "it's sort of..., it's kind of like that." Tacked on at the end or used with a gesture, it stands in for a description you can't be bothered to finish, much like English "...and stuff" or "...like that."
E un tip mai retras, mai tăcut, așa.
He's a more withdrawn, quiet sort of guy, you know. (așa = vague trailing-off)
și așa mai departe: the list-closer
și așa mai departe ("and so on, et cetera," often abbreviated ș.a.m.d. in writing) closes an open-ended list: you've given a few examples and signal there are more of the same kind. It is register-neutral — equally at home in speech and formal text. A more colloquial spoken variant is și tot așa.
Trebuie să luăm pâine, lapte, ouă și așa mai departe.
We need to get bread, milk, eggs and so on.
Au discutat despre buget, termene, responsabilități ș.a.m.d.
They discussed the budget, deadlines, responsibilities, etc. (written abbreviation)
| Hedge | Function | Register |
|---|---|---|
| gen | approximate / quotative / filler ("like") | strongly informal, youth slang |
| ceva de genul | "something like that" | informal (milder than gen) |
| un fel de | "a kind of" (hedges a noun) | neutral |
| oarecum | "somewhat, in a way" | neutral |
| cumva | "somehow / by any chance" | neutral |
| cam | "about, roughly" (with numbers) | neutral |
| așa | "sort of, ...like that" | informal |
| și așa mai departe | "and so on" (list-closer) | neutral |
Common Mistakes
Carpet-bombing speech with gen until it sounds like a parody of teenage slang:
❌ Și, gen, am ajuns, gen, la magazin, și, gen, era închis.
Far too many — one 'gen' would do. Stacked like this it sounds like a caricature of teen speech.
✅ Și am ajuns la magazin, gen, dar era închis.
And we got to the shop, like, but it was closed. (one gen, used naturally)
Slipping gen into formal writing or a presentation, where it instantly clashes with the register:
❌ Studiul arată, gen, o creștere a consumului.
Register clash — gen is colloquial slang. In writing use a neutral hedge: o oarecare creștere / o creștere de aproximativ...
✅ Studiul arată o oarecare creștere a consumului.
The study shows a somewhat increased consumption. (neutral hedge in writing)
Using un fel de to hedge an adjective, where Romanian wants oarecum (un fel de attaches to nouns):
❌ Sunt un fel de obosit azi.
Wrong target — un fel de hedges a noun, not an adjective. To soften an adjective use oarecum (or cam).
✅ Sunt cam obosit azi.
I'm sort of tired today.
Translating quotative like as a verb instead of using gen — English speakers sometimes invent ca ("as/like a comparison") for the quotative job, which is ungrammatical:
❌ El era ca 'nu mai pot'.
Calque of English 'he was like...' — ca is a comparison word, not a quotative. The quotative is gen (or a plain a zis că).
✅ El era gen 'nu mai pot'.
He was like, 'I can't take it anymore'.
Key Takeaways
- gen is the Romanian conversational like — approximator, quotative, and filler in one — but it's a strong youth-slang marker: use it sparingly and never in formal contexts.
- For neutral approximation, switch to un fel de (hedges a noun), oarecum ("somewhat," hedges an adjective/claim), cumva ("somehow / by any chance"), or cam ("about").
- ceva de genul ("something like that") is gen's milder, more spelled-out relative.
- și așa mai departe (written ș.a.m.d.) is the register-neutral "and so on" that closes an open list.
- Hedges withdraw commitment, not content — they make claims softer, more polite, and safer to be wrong about.
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