Academic and scientific Romanian is built around a single goal: objectivity. The author wants the claims to seem to belong to the evidence and the field, not to a personal "I think." Everything follows from that. The first-person singular nearly disappears; the author hides behind impersonal se-constructions and a modest "we"; verbs turn into nouns to pack arguments densely; assertions are hedged so they don't overreach; and connectives stitch the reasoning into a visible chain. The deepest point is that in this register the personal and the emotive read as unscholarly — an eu cred că ("I think that") or a colloquialism in a journal article signals an untrained writer the way a slang word would in a courtroom.
Impersonal and passive se-constructions
The workhorse of the register is the reflexive-passive se: a third-person verb with se and no stated agent, so the action stands on its own. Se observă că... = "it is observed that..."; se poate afirma că... = "it can be asserted that..."; se constată o creștere = "an increase is found." Alongside it sits the est-participle passive (este analizat, au fost colectate) and the verbal-adjective formula este de remarcat / este de menționat ("it is to be noted").
Se observă o corelație semnificativă între cele două variabile.
A significant correlation is observed between the two variables. (impersonal se)
Pe baza datelor, se poate afirma că ipoteza inițială este confirmată.
On the basis of the data, it can be asserted that the initial hypothesis is confirmed. (se poate afirma)
Este de remarcat că rezultatele diferă de cele raportate anterior.
It is to be noted that the results differ from those reported previously. (este de remarcat)
The modest plural: considerăm că
Where English academic writing now often tolerates "I argue," Romanian strongly prefers the plural of modesty — noi used for a single author: considerăm că, propunem o nouă abordare, am demonstrat în secțiunea precedentă. It diffuses the personal claim into a collegial "we," reinforcing the impersonal tone without the heaviness of a full passive.
Considerăm că această abordare oferă o explicație mai coerentă a fenomenului.
We consider that this approach offers a more coherent explanation of the phenomenon. (modest plural)
În cele ce urmează, propunem un model alternativ și îi analizăm implicațiile.
In what follows, we propose an alternative model and analyse its implications. (modest plural propunem, analizăm)
Nominalization
Academic prose converts verbs into abstract nouns and makes those nouns the subjects of sentences — a style called nominalization. Instead of "when we analyze the data, we see that...", the academic version is analiza datelor relevă că... ("the analysis of the data reveals that..."). The abstract noun (analiza, evaluarea, creșterea, depășirea, implementarea) becomes the actor, which suppresses the human agent and densifies the prose.
Analiza datelor relevă o tendință de scădere pe parcursul perioadei studiate.
The analysis of the data reveals a downward trend over the period studied. (nominalization: analiza as subject)
Evaluarea rezultatelor impune o reconsiderare a metodologiei utilizate.
The evaluation of the results calls for a reconsideration of the methodology used. (nominal: evaluarea, reconsiderare, methodology utilizate)
Hedging: claiming carefully
Scholarly writing rarely asserts flatly; it hedges to mark the limits of what the evidence supports. Romanian's hedging toolkit: probabil ("probably"), este posibil ca... să ("it is possible that..."), pare să / pare a ("seems to"), tinde să ("tends to"), în general ("in general"), într-o anumită măsură ("to a certain extent"), ar putea ("might"). Note that este posibil ca and se poate ca trigger the subjunctive (să).
Este posibil ca acest efect să fie influențat de factori externi neidentificați.
It is possible that this effect is influenced by unidentified external factors. (hedge + subjunctive să fie)
Rezultatele tind să confirme ipoteza, deși eșantionul rămâne limitat.
The results tend to confirm the hypothesis, although the sample remains limited. (hedge tind să)
Connectives: making the argument visible
Academic Romanian signposts its logic with explicit connectives. Learning them as a set is one of the fastest ways to sound scholarly.
| Romanian connective | Function | English |
|---|---|---|
| prin urmare / în consecință | consequence | therefore / consequently |
| așadar | conclusion | thus / hence |
| întrucât / deoarece | cause | since / because |
| pe de o parte... pe de altă parte | contrast / balance | on the one hand... on the other |
| cu toate acestea / totuși | concession | nevertheless / however |
| în plus / mai mult | addition | moreover / furthermore |
| de asemenea | addition | also / likewise |
| în ceea ce privește | topic shift | with regard to |
Datele sunt incomplete; prin urmare, concluziile trebuie interpretate cu prudență.
The data are incomplete; therefore, the conclusions must be interpreted with caution. (connective prin urmare)
Întrucât eșantionul a fost restrâns, generalizarea rezultatelor rămâne problematică.
Since the sample was small, generalizing the results remains problematic. (connective întrucât)
Latinate terminology and neologisms
Scientific vocabulary draws heavily on the Latinate/internationalist layer — a evidenția, a evalua, parametru, a corela, semnificativ, ipoteză, metodologie, a implementa. Romanian's Romance base makes this layer fit seamlessly, and the technical neologisms (often shared with English and French) are the expected terms. (For how Romanian absorbs and adapts these borrowings, see neologisms and anglicisms.)
Studiul evidențiază o relație semnificativă din punct de vedere statistic între variabile.
The study highlights a statistically significant relationship between the variables. (Latinate: evidențiază, semnificativă, variabile)
Citation conventions
Romanian academic texts attribute with formulas such as potrivit lui [Autor] ("according to [Author]"), conform studiului, după cum afirmă X, X (2019) susține că..., and în opinia autorului. Note the genitive marker lui before a name (potrivit lui Ionescu) and the verbs of attribution susține, afirmă, arată, demonstrează.
Potrivit lui Ionescu (2018), fenomenul este mai răspândit decât se credea anterior.
According to Ionescu (2018), the phenomenon is more widespread than was previously believed. (citation: potrivit lui)
După cum demonstrează studiile recente, factorul de mediu joacă un rol central.
As recent studies demonstrate, the environmental factor plays a central role. (attribution)
Common Mistakes
Using the first-person singular and personal opinion framing:
❌ Eu cred că rezultatele sunt foarte interesante și îmi plac mult.
Unscholarly — eu cred and the emotive îmi plac are personal/colloquial; academic prose stays impersonal.
✅ Se poate considera că rezultatele prezintă un interes deosebit.
It can be considered that the results present particular interest. (impersonal, neutral)
Letting colloquial markers or intensifiers in:
❌ Datele sunt super relevante, deci clar că ipoteza e corectă.
Off-register — super, deci-as-filler, clar că and the clipped e are colloquial in a paper.
✅ Datele sunt deosebit de relevante; prin urmare, ipoteza pare a fi confirmată.
The data are particularly relevant; therefore, the hypothesis appears to be confirmed. (academic + hedge)
Asserting flatly where hedging is expected:
❌ Acest factor cauzează întotdeauna creșterea.
Overstated — întotdeauna ('always') overreaches the evidence; academic writing hedges.
✅ Acest factor pare să contribuie, într-o anumită măsură, la creștere.
This factor appears to contribute, to a certain extent, to the increase. (hedged)
Forgetting the subjunctive after este posibil ca:
❌ Este posibil ca rezultatele sunt influențate de eroare.
Wrong mood — este posibil ca triggers the subjunctive: să fie.
✅ Este posibil ca rezultatele să fie influențate de eroare.
It is possible that the results are influenced by error. (subjunctive)
Key Takeaways
- Academic Romanian is organized around objectivity through self-effacement: impersonal se (se observă, se poate afirma), the modest-plural considerăm, and agentless nominalization (analiza datelor relevă).
- It hedges systematically — probabil, este posibil ca... să, pare să, tinde să — and signposts reasoning with connectives (prin urmare, întrucât, pe de altă parte).
- Its vocabulary is the Latinate/technical layer; its citations use potrivit lui, conform, după cum afirmă.
- The first-person singular and any colloquial or emotive marker read as unscholarly and must be avoided.
- Unlike journalism, academic writing does not use the reportative conditional — it cites sources explicitly instead.
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- Register and Style: OverviewB2 — Register is the formality-and-situation axis of Romanian — distinct from the regional/geography axis — and it is signalled not by a few polite words but by a whole BUNDLE of choices that move together: address (tu vs dumneavoastră), future form (o să vs voi), demonstratives (ăsta vs acesta), word-layer choice (Slavic/inherited vs neologism), clitic reductions, and sentence structure. Shifting register means shifting many small things at once. This page maps the main Romanian registers — colloquial, neutral, formal, literary, academic, journalistic, legal-bureaucratic — and the markers that scale across them, and previews the group.
- Formal RegisterB2 — Formal Romanian rests on a cluster of mutually reinforcing markers: dumneavoastră with the 2nd-person plural verb, the voi-future (voi veni, not o să vin), acesta over ăsta, full unreduced forms, a Latinate/neologistic vocabulary layer (a solicita not a cere, a achiziționa not a cumpăra), nominal style, and fixed politeness formulas (Vă rog, Cu stimă, V-aș fi recunoscător). Crucially, formality demands consistency — one slip into tu or o să breaks the whole register — so this page shows how to sustain it across a letter or email, not sprinkle it.
- Journalistic RegisterB2 — Romanian journalism has a signature grammatical tic: the conditional used to mark unverified claims — the reportative conditional (Ministrul ar fi demisionat = 'The minister has reportedly resigned'), which distances the outlet from the assertion. So ar fi + participle in a news text means 'allegedly', not 'would'. Press style also leans on attribution (potrivit, conform, surse citate de), headline ellipsis that drops articles and verbs, a neologism- and quote-heavy structure, and lead-paragraph conventions — with a sharp split between tabloid sensationalism and broadsheet sobriety.
- Legal and Bureaucratic StyleC2 — Romanian officialese (limbaj administrativ-juridic) is built to sound authoritative and agent-free: the se-passive (se aprobă, se stabilește), the supine of obligation (urmează a fi depus), extreme nominalization, frozen formulae (în temeiul, în conformitate cu, drept pentru care), archaic prepositions (asupra, întru, spre), and demonstrative-free 'prezentul/sus-numitul'. Its hallmark is the fixed phrase and the impersonal construction, not ordinary communicative grammar — learn to read it, but do not imitate it where plain language is wanted.
- Neologisms and AnglicismsB2 — Modern Romanian absorbs new words — overwhelmingly from English — and immediately fits them with NATIVE morphology rather than code-switching: a verb like a downloada takes full Romanian endings (downloadez, am downloadat), and nouns take Romanian articles and -uri plurals (linkul, joburi, brandul). This grammatical assimilation is what makes 'Romglish' a fully integrated layer, not foreign insertion — even as the Romanian Academy promotes adapted alternatives and calques (a descărca for 'download'). The result is a register split between corporate/IT jargon and the Academy's purist forms.
- Discourse Markers: OverviewB1 — A survey of the words that organize talk rather than carry meaning — additive (în plus, de asemenea), contrastive (totuși, însă, pe de altă parte), causal/consecutive (deci, prin urmare, așadar), reformulative (adică, cu alte cuvinte), exemplifying (de exemplu, bunăoară), and interactional fillers (păi, mă rog, gen). The casual fillers vs the formal connectors are a sharp register signal.