Nicio grijă, avem timp.

Literally, nicio grijă means no worry or not any worry.

In natural English, the whole expression is usually rendered as no worries, don’t worry, or it’s fine. Romanian often uses this kind of short noun phrase the way English uses brief reassurance formulas.

Because grijă is a feminine singular noun.

Romanian negative determiners agree with the noun in gender and number:

• niciun = masculine/neuter singular
• nicio = feminine singular

So:

• nicio grijă = no worry
• niciun problemă would be wrong, because problemă is feminine
• nicio problemă = correct

Here, nicio is written as one word because it functions as a single negative determiner meaning no / not any.

This is different from nici o written as two words, which usually means not even one.

Compare:

• Nicio grijă. = No worries.
• Nici o grijă nu avea. = He/She didn’t have even one worry.
  (more emphatic, and less common in everyday speech)

For learners, a useful rule is:

• nicio / niciun = the normal no / not any
• nici o / nici un = not even one

Because Romanian, like English in expressions such as No problem or No worries, can omit the verb in short informal statements.

So Nicio grijă is an elliptical expression. The full idea could be something like:

• Nu e nicio grijă. = There’s no problem / no need to worry.

But in conversation, the shorter version sounds very natural.

Yes, grijă is singular here.

Romanian often uses a singular noun in expressions where English might prefer a plural, especially in fixed reassuring phrases. So even though English commonly says no worries, Romanian can say nicio grijă with a singular noun.

You may also hear other expressions built differently, such as:

• Nu-ți face griji. = Don’t worry.
  Here griji is plural.

So both singular and plural can appear in Romanian, depending on the expression.

They are close in meaning, but they are structured differently.

• Nicio grijă = No worries / It’s fine

  • short
  • reassuring
  • often a response to someone’s concern

• Nu-ți face griji = Don’t worry

  • directly addressed to someone
  • literally don’t make worries for yourself
  • a full imperative sentence

So if someone says they might be late, you could answer:

• Nicio grijă, avem timp. = No worries, we have time.

If you want to directly tell someone not to worry, you might say:

• Nu-ți face griji, avem timp.

Because avem timp means we have time, which is a very natural Romanian way to express that there is enough time for what we need to do.

• avem = we have
• timp = time

Romanian often uses a avea (to have) in situations where English also says we have time.

You could sometimes hear:

• E timp. = There’s time.

But avem timp feels a bit more personal and connected to the speaker and listener: we still have enough time.

The comma separates two short parts:

• Nicio grijă = a reassurance
• avem timp = the reason or explanation

So the structure is something like:

• No worries, we have time.

The pause is natural in speech too. The first part calms the listener; the second part explains why there is no need for concern.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide would be:

• Nicio ≈ NEE-cho
• grijă ≈ GREE-zhuh
• avem ≈ ah-VEM
• timp ≈ teemp

A few useful notes:

• ci in nicio sounds like ch in cheese
• j in grijă sounds like the s in measure or the g in genre
• ă is the Romanian mid-central vowel, a short neutral sound similar to the a in sofa
• timp ends with a clear mp cluster

Yes, depending on context, it can overlap with no worries, don’t worry, and no problem.

Still, the nuance is slightly closer to don’t worry / no worries because of the noun grijă, which is related to care, worry, or concern.

If you want a very direct equivalent of no problem, Romanian often uses:

• Nicio problemă.

So:

• Nicio grijă = more about worry or concern
• Nicio problemă = more about a problem or inconvenience

In real conversation, though, both can be reassuring.

Yes, you can. That version is fuller and more explicit.

• Nicio grijă, avem timp. = shorter, lighter, very natural in speech
• Nu e nicio grijă, avem timp. = fuller, literally It’s no worry / There’s no problem, we have time

Both are understandable and natural. The shorter version is especially common in casual conversation.

Yes, grijă is a noun here.

Its core meanings include:

• care
• worry
• concern

Its exact English translation depends on context. For example:

• am grijă de tine = I take care of you
• îmi fac griji = I worry
• fără grijă = without worry / carefree

In Nicio grijă, the sense is clearly worry/concern, so the phrase reassures someone that there is nothing to be concerned about.