English crams an enormous amount of temporal work into three little words — "at," "in," "on" — and trusts context to sort them out. Romanian distributes the same work across la, în, pe, de la...până la, peste, and acum, and the boundaries don't line up with English. The single most consequential mismatch is that English "in two hours" splits into two different Romanian phrases with opposite meanings. This page maps the temporal prepositions onto the kinds of time they express.
La for clock time and events
For a specific time on the clock, Romanian uses la: la ora trei ("at three o'clock"), la nouă și jumătate ("at half past nine"). The same la marks named mealtimes and recurring events: la prânz ("at lunch / at noon"), la cină ("at dinner"), la micul dejun ("at breakfast"). Where English says "at," Romanian almost always says la.
Ne vedem la ora trei în fața bibliotecii.
We'll meet at three o'clock in front of the library.
La prânz mâncăm de obicei acasă.
At lunchtime we usually eat at home.
Filmul începe la opt fix.
The film starts at eight sharp.
Note that ora ("the hour") is optional in casual speech — la trei and la ora trei both mean "at three." For the full inventory of telling time, see dates and time.
În for periods: months, years, seasons
For a stretch of time you sit inside — a month, a year, a season — Romanian uses în: în iulie ("in July"), în 2020 ("in 2020"), în vară ("in summer"). This matches English "in" closely, so it's the easy half of the system.
M-am născut în martie.
I was born in March.
Ne-am mutat aici în 2019.
We moved here in 2019.
În vară mergem mereu la mare.
In summer we always go to the seaside.
Days of the week and parts of the day, however, often go without any preposition (luni = "on Monday," dimineața = "in the morning") or use other patterns — those belong to time expressions rather than to în.
În două ore vs peste două ore: the central split
Here is the trap. English "in two hours" is ambiguous between two readings that Romanian keeps strictly apart:
- în două ore = within / over the course of two hours — the action is completed inside that span. Termin raportul în două ore = "I'll finish the report in (within) two hours."
- peste două ore = after two hours have passed — a point reached when the interval is over. Plec peste două ore = "I'm leaving in two hours' time (two hours from now)."
So în measures duration of completion; peste measures distance to a future point. English "in" collapses both, which is exactly why English speakers reach for în when they need peste.
Ajung peste zece minute, mai am puțin.
I'll be there in ten minutes (ten minutes from now).
Am rezolvat tot în zece minute.
I solved everything in (within) ten minutes.
Trenul pleacă peste o oră.
The train leaves in an hour (an hour from now).
Pot citi cartea asta într-o zi.
I can read this book in (within) a day.
Acum + duration: "ago"
To place an event that far into the past, Romanian uses acum + a duration — literally "now [minus]": acum două ore ("two hours ago"), acum trei ani ("three years ago"). This is the past-facing mirror of peste. It looks odd because acum normally means "now," but the idiom is fixed.
Am sunat-o acum o oră.
I called her an hour ago.
Ne-am cunoscut acum cinci ani.
We met five years ago.
So the past-to-future axis runs: acum două ore (two hours ago) → acum (now) → peste două ore (in two hours).
De la ... până la: spans
To express a span "from X to Y," Romanian pairs de la with până la: de la nouă până la cinci ("from nine to five"). In casual speech the second la of the span is often shortened — de la nouă la cinci — but the full până la is the careful form. Până alone means "until / up to" and marks an endpoint: Lucrez până la cinci ("I work until five").
Programul e de la nouă la șase, de luni până vineri.
The hours are from nine to six, Monday to Friday.
Stau la birou până la opt diseară.
I'm staying at the office until eight tonight.
Magazinul e deschis de la opt dimineața.
The shop is open from eight in the morning.
Pe and pe la: approximate and colloquial time
Pe shows up in some colloquial temporal phrases, especially with seasons in everyday speech: pe vară ("over the summer"), pe la sfârșitul lunii ("around the end of the month"). The combination pe la is the standard way to say "around / about" a time when you're being approximate: pe la trei ("around three"), pe la prânz ("around noon").
Vino pe la șapte, mâncăm împreună.
Come around seven, we'll eat together.
Ne vedem pe la sfârșitul săptămânii.
We'll see each other around the end of the week.
Common Mistakes
❌ Plec în două ore. (meaning 'I'm leaving two hours from now')
Incorrect for 'after two hours' — use peste două ore. (în două ore = within two hours)
✅ Plec peste două ore.
I'm leaving in two hours (two hours from now).
❌ Ne vedem în ora trei.
Incorrect — clock time uses la, not în: la ora trei.
✅ Ne vedem la ora trei.
We'll meet at three o'clock.
❌ Am sunat-o înainte două ore. (meaning 'two hours ago')
Incorrect — 'ago' is acum + duration: acum două ore.
✅ Am sunat-o acum două ore.
I called her two hours ago.
❌ Lucrez la nouă până cinci.
Incorrect — a span is de la ... până la: de la nouă până la cinci.
✅ Lucrez de la nouă până la cinci.
I work from nine to five.
❌ M-am născut la martie.
Incorrect — months take în, not la: în martie.
✅ M-am născut în martie.
I was born in March.
Key Takeaways
- Clock time and named events → la (la ora trei, la prânz).
- Months, years, seasons → în (în iulie, în 2020).
- în două ore = within that span; peste două ore = after it (English "in" splits across these).
- "Ago" = acum + duration (acum două ore); it's the past-facing mirror of peste.
- Spans = de la ... până la (de la nouă până la cinci); până la alone marks an endpoint.
- pe la makes a time approximate (pe la trei, "around three").
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Romanian Prepositions: OverviewA1 — The lay of the land: most everyday Romanian prepositions (la, în, pe, cu, de, din, până, spre, fără, pentru, despre) govern the accusative — which for nouns looks identical to the nominative — while a class of relational prepositions demands the genitive (deasupra) or dative (datorită), and all of them take the strong form of a pronoun (cu mine, never *cu eu).
- Location and Direction: la, în, spre, până laA1 — How Romanian carves up space: la marks a point, activity, or destination (la școală, la doctor, la mare), în marks enclosure (în casă, în oraș), spre marks direction toward (spre nord), and până la marks the limit reached (până la gară) — with pe for surfaces (pe masă).
- Time Expressions (acum, îndată, din când în când)A2 — A practical inventory of the time phrases Romanians actually use — now, ago, right away, usually, suddenly, in advance, in an hour — including the trap that acum means 'now' alone but 'ago' with a duration, and that peste flips a phrase into the future.
- Telling Dates and TimeA2 — Dates use plain cardinals plus a month (pe 5 martie) — except the 1st, which is the special ordinal 'întâi'; clock time uses 'și' for minutes past the hour (trei și zece) and 'fără' ('without') for minutes to the hour (patru fără cinci).
- Prepositions and the ArticleB1 — A practical procedure for deciding when a noun after a Romanian preposition keeps the definite article and when it drops it — generic reference goes bare (la școală, în oraș), specific reference restores the article (la școala mea), with the frozen cu mașina exception.