Punctuation Conventions

Romanian uses the same inventory of marks as English — comma, period, question mark, quotation marks — so it is tempting to assume the rules transfer. They mostly don't. Romanian draws the comma in different places (before dar but not before că), shapes its quotation marks differently (low-opening „, high-closing ”), runs dialogue on a dash instead of quote marks, and writes decimals with a comma where English writes a period. Most of these are not stylistic preferences but firm conventions enforced by the Romanian Academy, and getting them wrong is exactly the kind of thing that marks writing as foreign even when every word is correct. This page is the rulebook.

The comma before dar, iar, ci, însă

This is the rule English speakers most need to relearn. The adversative and contrastive conjunctions — dar (but), iar (and/whereas), ci (but rather), însă (however) — take a comma before them. This matches English's "but," so it feels natural, but Romanian is stricter and more consistent about it: the comma is essentially obligatory before these words when they join two clauses.

Note that însă (however) is mobile: it can sit after the first word of its clause rather than at the front, and then it is fenced by commas on both sides — El, însă, a refuzat ("He, however, refused").

The comma that English uses but Romanian forbids: subject and verb

English never puts a comma between a subject and its verb either, so this rarely causes errors in simple sentences. The trap appears with long or complex subjects, where an English writer might be tempted to "breathe" with a comma. Romanian forbids it absolutely.

No comma before că (and usually before să)

Here is the sharpest break from English habit. English puts a comma before "that" in some styles and reflexively before subordinate clauses. Romanian does not put a comma before că (that) introducing an object clause, nor before să introducing a subjunctive complement. The clause is felt as the direct object of the verb — and you never comma off a direct object.

The exception worth knowing: when the că-clause is fronted or parenthetical, or when că introduces an explanatory afterthought, a comma can appear — but the default, for the everyday "I think that / I know that / he said that" pattern, is no comma.

The vocative comma: addressing someone

When you call someone by name or title — the vocative — Romanian fences that address off with a comma, exactly as careful English does ("Maria, come here!"). This is one place the rules align, but learners often drop the comma, producing a command instead of an address.

Lists and the (absent) Oxford comma

In a list of three or more items, Romanian separates items with commas but, like British English, normally omits the comma before the final și (and) or sau (or). There is no Oxford comma in standard Romanian; writing one looks like an Anglicism.

Quotation marks: „low–high” and the «guillemets»

Romanian quotation marks are not the English "…". The standard pair is „…” — a low opening mark (like a comma sitting on the baseline) and a high closing mark (like English's closing quote). For a quotation inside a quotation, Romanian switches to the French-style angled «…» (ghilimele, also called ghilimele franțuzești).

Note that the opening mark „ sits at the bottom and the closing mark ” sits at the top — the reverse of how an English keyboard's straight quotes look. Producing them correctly is a mark of careful Romanian typography (academic) and (formal) writing; in casual texting, people often fall back on straight " for convenience (informal).

Dialogue: the em-dash, not quotation marks

In narrative prose — novels, short stories, transcribed conversation — Romanian does not wrap each speaker's line in quotation marks the way English does. Instead, each new turn of speech begins on its own line with an em-dash (—) followed by a space. This is the dominant convention in Romanian fiction and is what you will see in any printed novel.

Numbers: the decimal comma and the thousands separator

Romanian, like most of continental Europe, swaps the roles of comma and period in numbers compared to English. The decimal separator is a comma, and thousands are grouped with a period (or a thin space). So English's "1,500.75" is Romanian's 1.500,75. This causes real-world confusion with prices and measurements.

Question and exclamation marks

These behave largely as in English — one mark at the end, no inverted opening mark (Romanian is not Spanish). What's worth flagging is that Romanian frequently uses the exclamation mark for the vocative and imperative where English would use a period, because calling and commanding are felt as emphatic acts.

Common Mistakes

Putting a comma before că, transferring the English habit of comma-before-"that":

Using English-style straight quotation marks instead of the low–high Romanian pair in formal writing:

Writing a decimal with a period instead of a comma:

Inserting an Oxford comma before the final și:

Dropping the vocative comma, turning an address into a flat statement:

Key Takeaways

• A comma precedes dar, iar, ci, însă — but never separates a subject from its verb and never sits before an object că-clause or a să-complement.
• The vocative is fenced with commas: Maria, vino!
• There is no Oxford comma: pâine, lapte și ouă.
• Quotation marks are „low-opening, high-closing”, with «guillemets» for nested quotes; dialogue runs on an em-dash (—), not quotation marks.
• Numbers use a decimal comma and a period (or space) for thousands: 1.250,99 lei.