ă, ĕ and ŏ are pronounced like the Russian ы, or nearly like the English u in murder. The vowels in this case make no difference in the pronunciation, but represent only the derivation of the word. Thus, in blănd, which is from the Latin blandus, a is used in preference to any of the other vowels. Similar reasons govern the orthography of words from Slavonic and other sources.
ŭ, when it occurs at the end of a word, is pronounced like a silent u, which is called ŭ short.
ó and é are pronounced as if followed by a: mórte, pronounced moarte; pétră, pronounced peatră. But at the end of words these diphthongs are to be written ea, oa.
ĭ, at the end of a word, is pronounced generally as a silent i, which is called ĭ short.
î: this is generally confounded in writing with ĭ, but has a very different sound, approaching the French nasal vowel un.
e is pronounced like the French é in fermé; but at the beginning of words, except in the case of neologisms, and occasionally in the middle, e is pronounced like ye in yet—e. g., el era, ‘he was.’ This peculiarity is of Slavonic origin.
s. When s occurs between two vowels it is pronounced as in English z. Sometimes it retains its original sound, as in casa, but some modern writers spell such words with a double s.
Phonetic Remarks.
One of the greatest difficulties which the Roumanian language presents to foreigners is the difficulty of learning and remembering the nice modifications of sound to which certain letters (both vowels and consonants) are subject. It
