Hundreds, Thousands, and Millions
To talk about large quantities, you need the base words for hundred, thousand, and million. Like other nouns, these have specific singular and plural forms depending on their gender:
| Number | Singular | Plural |
|---|
| 100 | o sută | două sute |
| 1,000 | o mie | două mii |
| 1,000,000 | un milion | două milioane |
Notice that sută and mie are feminine, taking o for one and două for two. Milion is neuter, taking un for one and două for two.
The Preposition "de"
In Romanian, when a quantity is 20 or more, you must insert the preposition de between the number and the noun. Because 100, 1,000, and 1,000,000 are larger than 20, they require de.
Additionally, when stating that a sum or debt "is" a certain amount, Romanian uses the structure este de (is in the amount of) before the number.
Dropping "de" for Numbers Ending in 1-19
To build complex large numbers, string them together in order. The de rule still applies based on the last two digits of the number.
However, if a large number ends in a number from 1 to 19, you drop the de before the counted noun.
Combining Thousands and Millions
When combining large units to say something like "one hundred fifty thousand," the same rule applies to the word mii (thousands) itself. Because 150 ends in 50, mii gets a de in front of it.
Similarly, when plural millions are followed by a noun, they take de just like any other large number.
