The clock, the days, the months

Unit 6, second half — telling the time, and naming any day or month.

Unit 6 of 30, and this half closes it. The first half gave you the present tense and the reflexive verbs, so you can say what you do in a day. This half says when. After it you can tell the time, ask what time something happens, and name any day or month of the year. What is still missing is the past — yesterday, two days ago — and that arrives with the past tense in unit 9.

Topic	Numbers and quantities — 3 aspects
This section	The clock, all 7 days, all 12 months — complete
Coverage	2 of 3. Numbers 0–100 were unit 2; numbers past 100, prices and quantities are unit 8.
Deferred	timetable readings such as ora paisprezece → unit 7 · written dates → unit 25 · past time words → unit 9
Serves	Listening · Speaking

purple — the part that is new or that changes teal — the hour you name

1 The clock

Three frames. Everything else drops into a slot in one of them.

Ask	Answer	English
Cât e ceasul?	E ora trei.	What time is it? — It's three o'clock.	Cât e ceasul? E ora trei. What time is it? It's three o'clock.
Ce oră este?	Este ora trei.	What hour is it? — It is three o'clock.	Ce oră este? Este ora trei. What hour is it? It is three o'clock.
La ce oră?	La ora trei.	At what time? — At three o'clock.	La ce oră? La ora trei. At what time? At three o'clock.

E is just the short este, the same one you have had since unit 1. Romanians use the short one.

The twelve hours

You already have the numerals. Exactly three of them change shape here.

	Romanian
1	ora unu	ora unu one o'clock
2	ora două	ora două two o'clock
3	ora trei
4	ora patru
5	ora cinci
6	ora șase
7	ora șapte
8	ora opt
9	ora nouă
10	ora zece
11	ora unsprezece	ora unsprezece eleven o'clock
12	ora douăsprezece	ora douăsprezece twelve o'clock

Minutes — și up to the half hour, fără after it

Clock	Romanian
3:00	E ora trei.
3:05	E trei și cinci.
3:10	E trei și zece.
3:15	E trei și un sfert.	E trei și un sfert. 3:15
3:20	E trei și douăzeci.
3:30	E trei și jumătate.	E trei și jumătate. 3:30
3:40	E patru fără douăzeci.
3:45	E patru fără un sfert.	E patru fără un sfert. 3:45
3:50	E patru fără zece.
3:55	E patru fără cinci.

Read the teal column straight down. It says trei six times and then jumps to patru — while the clock is still saying three. That jump is the whole rule. Și means and; fără means without, and you already hold it from fără zahăr, without sugar.

Which part of the day

Word	In place	Clock
dimineața	E ora opt dimineața.	8:00	E ora opt dimineața. 8:00
la prânz	E ora douăsprezece, la prânz.	12:00	E ora douăsprezece, la prânz. 12:00
după-amiaza	E ora patru după-amiaza.	16:00	E ora patru după-amiaza. 16:00
seara	E ora opt seara.	20:00	E ora opt seara. 20:00
noaptea	E ora unsprezece noaptea.	23:00	E ora unsprezece noaptea. 23:00

In order, those five are in the morning, at midday, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night. Four of them end in -a, and that -a is the definite ending you met in unit 5, doing a second job: it turns the noun into a time expression. Learn these five as they stand — you are not choosing the ending, it comes attached. La prânz is the odd one and takes a preposition instead.

2 The words

Thirty items in three blocks. Tap a row to uncover it; the buttons at the top hide one whole side so you can test yourself in either direction.

	Romanian	English	Anchor
luni Monday E luni. It is Monday.	luni•••	Monday•••	From lună, the moon — Latin Lunae dies, the same thought as English Monday. It is also the plural of that word: două luni is two months.•••
marți Tuesday E marți. It is Tuesday.	marți•••	Tuesday•••	Mars. French mardi. The month martie is the same god.•••
miercuri Wednesday E miercuri. It is Wednesday.	miercuri•••	Wednesday•••	Mercury. French mercredi.•••
joi Thursday E joi. It is Thursday.	joi•••	Thursday•••	Jupiter, Jove. French jeudi.•••
vineri Friday E vineri. It is Friday.	vineri•••	Friday•••	Venus. French vendredi.•••
sâmbătă Saturday E sâmbătă. It is Saturday.	sâmbătă•••	Saturday•••	The one Slavic hook in the week: Ukrainian субота.•••
duminică Sunday E duminică. It is Sunday.	duminică•••	Sunday•••	Latin dominica, the Lord's day — Italian domenica.•••
ianuarie January în ianuarie in January	ianuarie•••	January•••	Russian январь.•••
februarie February în februarie in February	februarie•••	February•••	Russian февраль.•••
martie March în martie in March	martie•••	March•••	Russian март.•••
aprilie April în aprilie in April	aprilie•••	April•••	Russian апрель.•••
mai May în mai in May	mai•••	May•••	Russian май.•••
iunie June în iunie in June	iunie•••	June•••	Russian июнь.•••
iulie July în iulie in July	iulie•••	July•••	Russian июль.•••
august August în august in August	august•••	August•••	Russian август.•••
septembrie September în septembrie in September	septembrie•••	September•••	Russian сентябрь.•••
octombrie October în octombrie in October	octombrie•••	October•••	Russian октябрь.•••
noiembrie November în noiembrie in November	noiembrie•••	November•••	Russian ноябрь.•••
decembrie December în decembrie in December	decembrie•••	December•••	Russian декабрь.•••
oră hour; o'clock o oră, două ore one hour, two hours	oră (f, ore)•••	hour; o'clock•••	English hour, French heure. Not ceas, the clock on the wall, and not timp, time in general.•••
minut minute un minut, două minute one minute, two minutes	minut (n, minute)•••	minute•••	Neuter, so it counts like every neuter: masculine in the singular, feminine in the plural.•••
sfert quarter un sfert, două sferturi one quarter, two quarters	sfert (n, sferturi)•••	quarter•••	Lives almost entirely in un sfert de oră, a quarter of an hour.•••
jumătate half o jumătate, două jumătăți one half, two halves	jumătate (f, jumătăți)•••	half•••	In speech it shortens to juma. Half an hour is o jumătate de oră.•••
săptămână week o săptămână, două săptămâni one week, two weeks	săptămână (f, săptămâni)•••	week•••	Latin septimana, "the seven" — șapte is still inside it.•••
dimineață morning o dimineață, două dimineți one morning, two mornings	dimineață (f, dimineți)•••	morning•••	You already say bună dimineața.•••
seară evening o seară, două seri one evening, two evenings	seară (f, seri)•••	evening•••	You already say bună seara.•••
noapte night o noapte, două nopți one night, two nights	noapte (f, nopți)•••	night•••	The greeting flips the order: noapte bună.•••
prânz midday; lunch un prânz, două prânzuri one lunch, two lunches	prânz (n, prânzuri)•••	midday; lunch•••	Both the hour and the meal. La prânz is at midday.•••
după-amiază afternoon o după-amiază, două după-amiezi one afternoon, two afternoons	după-amiază (f, după-amiezi)•••	afternoon•••	Built from what it says: după (after) plus amiază (midday).•••
Cât e ceasul? What time is it? Cât e ceasul? What time is it?	Cât e ceasul?•••	What time is it?•••	Literally "how much is the clock". Ceas is the clock, never Ukrainian час — that is timp.•••

All seven days are feminine. All twelve months are masculine. Neither is ever capitalised — the same as Ukrainian and Russian, unlike English.

3 The load

Three inventories on this page, and the real memory cost is 11. The twelve months map one to one onto Russian, so they cost close to nothing. The seven days cost seven, and five of them arrive with a planet you already know. The clock costs four words — și, fără, un sfert, jumătate — and two frames. Everything else on the page is numerals you learned in unit 2, doing a new job.

4 The delta

The months are the one place Russian serves you better than Ukrainian. Ukrainian's month names are Slavic — січень, лютий, березень — and they will not help you here at all. Russian kept the Latin set, and Romanian has that same set in the same order. Read the Russian year out loud and the Romanian one is already in your mouth.

A day name stands bare. A month name takes a preposition. Luni lucrez. — On Monday I work. Ukrainian needs у понеділок; English needs on; Romanian puts the bare day name in the time slot and stops. Months go the other way: în ianuarie, in January.

Luni is two different words. It is Monday, and it is the plural of lună — month, and moon. Două luni is two months. Luni standing alone is Monday. Nothing inside the word tells you which; only what stands beside it does.

The hour is feminine, so its numeral has to be. ora două, never ~~ora doi~~ — and ora douăsprezece, never ~~ora doisprezece~~. One hour breaks the pattern: ora unu, not ~~ora una~~. That one is a fixed convention rather than agreement, and it is the only exception in the twelve.

5 Worked examples

7:15 in the morning

Hour → șapte. Still short of the half hour, so the minutes get added with și. Fifteen is un sfert. Morning is dimineața.

E șapte și un sfert dimineața.

It's a quarter past seven in the morning.

E șapte și un sfert dimineața.

It's a quarter past seven in the morning.

10:40

Past the half hour, so you stop naming ten and name the hour you are heading for: unsprezece. Then take twenty off it with fără.

E unsprezece fără douăzeci.

It's twenty to eleven. Notice that the number you say out loud, eleven, is not the number on the clock face.

E unsprezece fără douăzeci.

It's twenty to eleven.

Friday at 2 p.m.

Day name bare — vineri, no preposition. Then la ora, and two beside a feminine hour is două. Afternoon is după-amiaza.

Vineri, la ora două după-amiaza.

On Friday, at two in the afternoon.

Vineri, la ora două după-amiaza.

On Friday, at two in the afternoon.

6 Named here, taught later

lunea, marțea, joia — "on Mondays", the habit rather than the date. It is the day name plus that same definite ending. Comes back with the article's other jobs.

ora paisprezece — the 24-hour reading, which is what timetables and station announcements use. Unit 7, with transport.

pe 5 martie 2027 — a full written date, and întâi for the first of a month. Unit 25, with formal letters.

ieri, acum două zile — yesterday, two days ago. They need the past tense, so unit 9.

7 Your turn

Three of them. Work each one out before you press Show.

Say 4:45 the Romanian way.

E cinci fără un sfert. — past the half hour, so you name five and take a quarter off it.

Say three months.

trei luni — the numeral in front is carrying the whole distinction.

Say I get up at seven in the morning. The verb is one of last session's reflexives.

Mă trezesc la ora șapte dimineața.

8 Carry away

Up to the half hour, add the minutes to the hour you are in with și. Past it, take them off the hour you are heading for with fără.

Days are feminine and stand bare — Luni lucrez. Months are masculine and take în — în ianuarie.

Checked against dexonline on 2026-08-25: the gender and plural of oră, minut, sfert, jumătate, prânz, săptămână, dimineață, seară, noapte, după-amiază and of all seven day names — marți through its paradigm table, which gives feminine. That clock time is ora unu and not ~~ora una~~ is DOOM 3's note in dexonline's unu entry, read the same day. The Russian and Ukrainian month names are stated from my own knowledge, not from a dictionary — you are the native speaker of both, so correct any line that is off.