Cardinal Numbers 0–20 | Romanian Grammar

Learning to count to twenty in Romanian takes about ten minutes for the words themselves and a little longer for two things English does not prepare you for. First, 1 and 2 have gender — you say un or o, doi or două, depending on what you are counting, the way you would never say "she-one apple" in English. Second, the teens are built like a little equation: unsprezece literally means "one-upon-ten", and the structure is so regular that once you crack it you can build all of 11–19 yourself. The catch is that the spelling sometimes hides phonetic shortcuts (14 is paisprezece, not patrusprezece), so you have to learn a few reduced forms by ear.

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Two surprises for English speakers: 1 and 2 are gendered (un măr / o carte, doi băieți / două fete), and the teens are compounds meaning "X-toward-ten" — un-spre-zece, doi-spre-zece. Everything 3–10 is fixed and genderless; the work is at the two ends.

The base numbers 0–10

Here is the foundation. Only 1 and 2 vary by gender; 3 through 10 have a single fixed form regardless of what you count.

Numeral	Romanian	Notes
0	zero	borrowed, invariable
1	unu / una	gendered (counting form un / o)
2	doi / două	gendered
3	trei	fixed
4	patru	fixed
5	cinci	fixed
6	șase	fixed
7	șapte	fixed
8	opt	fixed
9	nouă	fixed (note ă)
10	zece	fixed; the base for the teens

Am cumpărat cinci mere, trei pere și șapte prune.

I bought five apples, three pears, and seven plums. (3–10 don't change)

Sunt opt ore de la București la mare cu trenul.

It's eight hours from Bucharest to the seaside by train.

Mind the diacritics: șase and șapte begin with ș (comma-below, not a cedilla), and nouă ends in ă.

Why 1 and 2 are gendered

This is the first real grammar point of counting. The numbers unu/una (1) and doi/două (2) agree in gender with the noun, because historically they descend from words that worked like adjectives. When 1 or 2 stands in front of a noun, you use the short counting forms:

1 → un (masculine/neuter) / o (feminine) — identical to the indefinite article
2 → doi (masculine) / două (feminine/neuter)

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
one	un băiat	o fată	un tren
two	doi băieți	două fete	două trenuri

Am o soră și doi frați.

I have one sister and two brothers. (o feminine, doi masculine)

Pe masă sunt două căni și un pahar.

There are two mugs and one glass on the table. (două feminine, un neuter)

Mai stau două zile, apoi plec.

I'm staying two more days, then I leave. (zile feminine → două)

The standalone counting forms unu and una appear when you count without a noun ("…nine, ten, eleven…" or "How many? One"): Câte ai? Una. The full agreement system for numbers, including why the neuter sides with feminine două, is on gender agreement with numbers.

Câte cărți ai citit luna asta? Doar una.

How many books did you read this month? Just one. (una — standalone feminine)

The teens: "X upon ten"

From 11 to 19, Romanian builds each number as a compound of three pieces: digit + spre + zece, literally "digit-toward-ten". The connector spre ("toward, upon") comes from Latin super ("over"), so unsprezece is "one-over-ten". Once you see the seam, the teens stop being eleven separate words and become one rule.

Numeral	Romanian	Built from
11	unsprezece	un + spre + zece
12	doisprezece / douăsprezece	doi/două + spre + zece (gendered!)
13	treisprezece	trei + spre + zece
14	paisprezece	patru → pai + spre + zece (reduced)
15	cincisprezece	cinci + spre + zece
16	șaisprezece	șase → șai + spre + zece (reduced)
17	șaptesprezece	șapte + spre + zece
18	optsprezece	opt + spre + zece
19	nouăsprezece	nouă + spre + zece
20	douăzeci	două + zeci ('two tens')

Bunicul meu are optzeci și unsprezece... mă rog, nouăzeci și unu de ani!

My grandfather is eighty-eleven... I mean, ninety-one! (a self-correction you'd actually hear)

Trenul pleacă la ora șaptesprezece și un sfert.

The train leaves at quarter past five (17:15). (24-hour time, common in schedules)

Fiica mea împlinește treisprezece ani luna viitoare.

My daughter turns thirteen next month.

Watch the reductions and the gender of 12

Two teens are spelled the way they are said, not the way the equation predicts:

14 is paisprezece, not patrusprezece — patru shortens to pai before -sprezece.
16 is șaisprezece, not șasesprezece — șase shortens to șai.

And 12 keeps the gender of 2: doisprezece for masculine things, douăsprezece for feminine and neuter, exactly because the doi/două split is baked into the front of the compound.

Sunt paisprezece grade afară, ia-ți o jachetă.

It's fourteen degrees out, take a jacket. (paisprezece — reduced form)

Am numărat șaisprezece rațe pe lac.

I counted sixteen ducks on the lake. (șaisprezece — reduced form)

În clasă sunt doisprezece băieți și douăsprezece fete.

There are twelve boys and twelve girls in the class. (12 follows gender: doi- vs două-)

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Twenty breaks the teen pattern: it is douăzeci ("two tens"), not ~~douăsprezece~~. The teens are "digit-spre-zece" (toward ten); the round tens from twenty up are "digit-zeci" (so many tens). That switch from spre-zece to -zeci is the boundary between this page and counting beyond twenty.

Common Mistakes

❌ doi fete

Incorrect — fete is feminine, so 'two' must be două: două fete.

✅ două fete

two girls

❌ doi cărți

Incorrect — carte is feminine; use două: două cărți.

✅ două cărți

two books

❌ patrusprezece

Incorrect spelling/pronunciation — 14 reduces to paisprezece.

✅ paisprezece

fourteen

❌ doisprezece fete

Incorrect — 12 also agrees: feminine takes douăsprezece fete.

✅ douăsprezece fete

twelve girls

❌ unu măr (in front of a noun)

Incorrect — before a noun, 1 uses the short form: un măr (standalone counting form is unu).

✅ un măr

one apple

Key Takeaways

3–10 are fixed and genderless; only 1 (unu/una, counting form un/o) and 2 (doi/două) agree in gender.
Before a noun, 1 takes the short forms un / o; standalone, it is unu / una.
The teens are transparent compounds digit + spre + zece ("X toward ten"): unsprezece, treisprezece, nouăsprezece.
Two teens are reduced: 14 = paisprezece (not patru-), 16 = șaisprezece (not șase-); and 12 keeps gender: doisprezece / douăsprezece.
20 switches pattern to douăzeci ("two tens"), the gateway to the higher numbers.

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