If you are an English speaker, your capitalization instincts are systematically too generous for Romanian. English capitalizes days, months, languages, nationalities, and most words in a title; Romanian capitalizes almost none of those. The underlying principle is closer to French, Italian, and Spanish: a capital letter marks a true proper noun (a specific, named entity) or the start of a sentence, and very little else. Once you internalize "is this an actual name, or just a category?", you'll stop over-capitalizing. This page lists exactly what stays lowercase, what gets a capital, and the one courtesy capital — the polite Dumneavoastră — that has no English equivalent.
What is NOT capitalized (the English-speaker traps)
These five categories are capitalized in English and lowercase in Romanian. This is the single biggest source of capitalization errors for learners.
| Category | Romanian (lowercase) | English (capitalized) |
|---|---|---|
| Days of the week | luni, marți, miercuri, joi, vineri, sâmbătă, duminică | Monday, Tuesday... |
| Months | ianuarie, februarie, martie, decembrie | January, February... |
| Languages | româna, engleza, franceza, spaniola | Romanian, English, French... |
| Nationalities / adjectives | român, englez, francez; românesc, englezesc | Romanian, English, French |
| Seasons | primăvara, vara, toamna, iarna | (English usually lowercases these too) |
Note carefully that nationalities behave like ordinary adjectives: un student român ("a Romanian student"), bucătărie românească ("Romanian cuisine") — lowercase, just like un student bun. The same word român is lowercase whether it's the adjective "Romanian" or the noun "a Romanian (person)."
Luni încep cursul de limba română.
On Monday I start the Romanian language course. (luni and română both lowercase — day and language)
Ea e româncă, iar el e francez.
She's Romanian and he's French. (nationalities lowercase: româncă, francez)
În decembrie ninge mult în nordul țării.
In December it snows a lot in the north of the country. (decembrie lowercase)
Vara mergem mereu la mare.
In summer we always go to the seaside. (vara — season — lowercase)
What IS capitalized
Romanian reserves capitals for genuinely proper nouns and a few specific cases:
Proper nouns — names of people, places, institutions, companies, brands, rivers, mountains: Maria, București, România, Carpații, Dunărea, Universitatea din Cluj, Partidul Național Liberal.
The first word of a sentence, as in English.
Holidays and major feast days — these are capitalized, unlike days and months: Crăciun (Christmas), Paște / Paști (Easter), Anul Nou (New Year), Ziua Națională (National Day), Sfânta Maria (Assumption / St. Mary's Day).
Geographical and astronomical names, and (in formal/astronomical use) Pământ, Soare, Lună when treated as proper names.
De Crăciun ne adunăm toți la bunici în Maramureș.
At Christmas we all gather at our grandparents' in Maramureș. (Crăciun and the region Maramureș capitalized)
Anul acesta, Paștele cade în aprilie.
This year, Easter falls in April. (Paște capitalized; aprilie, the month, lowercase)
Dunărea se varsă în Marea Neagră.
The Danube flows into the Black Sea. (proper nouns Dunărea, Marea Neagră)
The courtesy capital: Dumneavoastră and the Dumnea- forms
Romanian has a set of polite third-person address forms built on dumnea-, and they are very commonly capitalized as a mark of respect, especially in writing addressed to the person:
- Dumneavoastră (you, polite — singular or plural)
- Dumnealui (he, polite), Dumneaei (she, polite), Dumnealor (they, polite)
- The reverential Domnia Sa / Domnia Voastră (His/Your Honor, very formal)
Capitalizing these is a courtesy convention, not a strict spelling rule — you'll see dumneavoastră lowercase in plenty of texts, and that's also accepted. But in a respectful letter, an official communication, or any context where you want to honor the addressee, the capital is the polite choice. There is no English parallel: English long ago lost a polite "you" altogether, so this capital encodes a social distinction English can't express. Treat it like a small bow on the page.
Vă mulțumesc, Dumneavoastră ați fost foarte amabil.
Thank you, you have been very kind. (Dumneavoastră capitalized as a courtesy — formal)
Domnul Popescu nu e aici; Dumnealui revine mâine.
Mr. Popescu isn't here; he'll be back tomorrow. (Dumnealui, the polite 'he', capitalized out of respect)
Titles of books, films, and works
English capitalizes most words in a title ("The Old Man and the Sea"). Romanian capitalizes only the first word and any proper nouns inside the title — everything else stays lowercase, exactly like an ordinary sentence.
- Amintiri din copilărie (Memories of Childhood) — only Amintiri is capitalized.
- Ion — Liviu Rebreanu's novel; one word, a name.
- Numele trandafirului (The Name of the Rose) — only Numele.
- Baltagul (The Hatchet) — one word.
Am citit «Amintiri din copilărie» în clasa a cincea.
I read 'Memories of Childhood' in fifth grade. (only the first word, Amintiri, is capitalized)
Filmul «Moromeții» e o capodoperă.
The film 'The Moromete Family' is a masterpiece. (the title is a proper name, capitalized; no other words to capitalize)
A note on quotation marks for titles
Romanian typically encloses titles in the angle quotation marks « » or the low-high pair „ " rather than italicizing them, and you'll see both. This is a punctuation choice, separate from capitalization, but it's worth knowing so you recognize titles when reading — the capitalization rule (first word + proper nouns) stays the same regardless of which marks are used.
Common Mistakes
Capitalizing days and months, English-style:
❌ Ne vedem Luni, pe 5 Ianuarie.
Incorrect — days and months are lowercase in Romanian.
✅ Ne vedem luni, pe 5 ianuarie.
See you on Monday, January 5th.
Capitalizing languages and nationalities:
❌ Vorbesc Română și Engleză; sunt Român.
Incorrect — languages and nationalities are lowercase.
✅ Vorbesc română și engleză; sunt român.
I speak Romanian and English; I'm Romanian.
Title-casing every word of a work's title:
❌ Numele Trandafirului
Incorrect — only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
✅ Numele trandafirului
The Name of the Rose (only Numele capitalized)
Lowercasing holidays because months are lowercase:
❌ Sărbătorim crăciunul și paștele acasă.
Incorrect — holiday names ARE capitalized: Crăciunul, Paștele.
✅ Sărbătorim Crăciunul și Paștele acasă.
We celebrate Christmas and Easter at home.
Treating the polite Dumneavoastră like an ordinary pronoun and never capitalizing it in formal letters:
❌ Stimate domn, va rog... (in a formal letter)
Acceptable lowercase, but in respectful writing the courtesy capital is preferred — and 'va' needs its diacritic.
✅ Stimate domn, Vă rog să ne contactați.
Dear Sir, please contact us. (courtesy capital on the polite Vă; diacritic restored)
Key Takeaways
- Romanian capitalizes proper nouns and sentence starts, and little else — much less than English.
- Lowercase: days (luni, marți), months (ianuarie), languages (româna, engleza), nationalities and adjectives (român, românesc), seasons (vara, iarna).
- Capitalized: proper nouns, holidays (Crăciun, Paște, Anul Nou), and — as a courtesy — the polite Dumneavoastră, Dumnealui, Dumneaei.
- Titles of works capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns, not every word.
- The courtesy capital on Dumneavoastră has no English equivalent — it's a politeness signal English can't express.
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