Traditionally speaking, Romanian is crammed in Baroque and formal structures. Oriental courtesy made it to the soul of the upper and middle class in South Romania during the late Middle Ages, while the 19th century brought around a suffocating tide of French jargon. Just like other peoples in the Balkans and generally in Eastern Europe lacking a solid own background or the will to stand for it, Romanians were always happy to embrace these foreign values they highly appreciated and considered as outstanding for simply coming from abroad. Even nowadays one cannot cross Romania without noticing people spend a long time greeting each other, chatting about nothing, while comme il faut phrases are still at home in this country. From a certain perspective things changed however, as the once omnipresent ‘bonjourists’ (i.e. people that embraced French language, using sometimes genuine, otherwise twisted French words or even phrases, as they thought this to add value to their speech and social appearance) of the 1850-1940 period have now been replaced by people that obsessively use English terms and phrases while mixing them with Romanian. While the French however drew a line between formal and informal approaches, and especially as its strong influence over the local society occurred at a time when the latter had a certain ordered structure of classes which helped adjust its behaviour, one cannot say the same about the current English influence.

Early 20th century Romanian had settled, distinctive formal and informal approaches. When formally referring to or greeting someone, one would use dumneavoastră / dumneata in second singular, dumneavoastră in second plural, respectively dumnealui, dumneaei, dumnealor in third masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine or feminine plural. These terms derived from ‘lordship’ / ‘highness’ as, for instance, dumneavoastră came from domnia voastră (En. ‘your lordship’ / ‘your highness’, approximate translation). On the other hand, when the approach was informal, with friends, close acquaintances or relatives, it was instead tu in second singular, voi in second plural, respectively el, ea, ei, ele in third masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine and feminine plural. Yet postwar Romania changed: for the ‘down on earth, always among the working’ Communists, everyone was a comrade and comrades could not, hell no, be referred to by lordship or highness-related terms. Everyone was tu, while in formal situations dânsul / dânsa / dânșii / dânsele were employed; while being equally informal and actually having the same meaning with el / ea / ei / ele, these terms looked more sophisticated to the straight forward, sincere (or, let’s be straight-forward and sincere, totally imbecile) comrades. The early 1990s saw a comeback of the formal, polite language, quite exaggeratedly in some specific situations. Yet in daily routine, informal ways of addressing prevail, even when it comes to total strangers. In such situations, people are referred to according to age (a young man, even in his, say, 30s, will often be addressed to with tu), race (Gypsies, for instance, are often referred to exclusively informally) or social status (people coming from the countryside or workers will often be referred to informally, especially by people with higher education such as doctors). This different approach according to race, education or society status also existed before the Communist rule, and what bothers one more is not that, but rather the fact that the Romanian society has not polished its behaviour even 20 years after the fall of Communism it never ceases to accuse.

Other than that, current Romanian has a wide array of tricks and unwritten rules, as people bend like willows according to the situation, sometimes choosing to address informally, even rudely to have a stand, while in other cases deciding to play a low key, even excessively polite subject in order to win. It often happens, for instance, that a driver that has just passed on the red light, will start shouting injuries at the policeman that ‘dared’ stop him, or that a traveler caught without a ticket on a train will start loudly complaining about the condition of the train and insulting those paying before quickly bribing the conductor and laughing out loud at this great deed.

With different influences that resulted, quite expectedly, in different speech rules, one can sometimes say where the person addressing him / her comes from by the way he / she greets, the accent aside. A few examples in informal Romanian:

Hi (En.) is put as it follows:

1. -Servus is employed in Transylvania, coming from the Latin ‘servus’ (En. (I am your) ‘servant’ or rather ‘I am at your service’) via the Hungarian szervusz.
   

2. -Salut / bună are employed in Wallachia including Bucharest, as well as in Dobrogea (SE Romania) and Moldavia (E Romania). The former (coming from French ‘salut’) is generally used to address men, the latter (a short version of formal bună ziua / En. ‘good day’, also frequently found in other Romance languages such as the French ‘bonjour’, the Spanish ‘buenos días’, the Italian ‘buongiorno’) is reserved for women.
   

3. -Ceau is often used, together with servus, in Banat (SW Romania), being derived from Italian ‘ciao’.
   

4. -Noroc (En. cheers) is frequently used among work colleagues. It is also employed, just like the English translation, when having a drink. It has a second meaning, ‘good luck’. The more complex hai noroc option (with the same meaning) is also frequently met among friends and mates.
   

5. -Să trăiești! (En. ‘may you live long’, but actually being used as ‘hi there’) is a common greeting among relatives, colleagues and friends, exclusively men and the odd grandma addressing a nephew or niece.
   

6. -Doamne ajută (En. Lord help us) is employed as a means of greeting one or of saying good bye in remote areas, by shepherds up the mountains or monks, as well as in situations where God’s help is sought or relied upon regularly. I frequently meet this greeting when trekking up in remote mountains.
   

Bye (En.) can be one of the following:

1. -Servus, salut, ceau, doamne ajută, noroc, să trăiești (see above), but never bună.
   

2. -Pa (En. ‘bye’), especially used by children and women, but also generally in the family, close friends or colleagues’ environment; it comes from German ‘pa’, also being used in Hungarian as ‘pá’.
   

3. -Cu bine (En. ‘bye’, a short version of mergi / rămâi cu bine, En. ‘may you be well’ with a slight Muslim greeting resonance).
   

4. -Adio (En. ‘bye’) implies a certain feeling, be it of regret (like in ‘I am sorry we have to part, mother / my son / my love’), of discontentment or even hatred (like in ‘it’s not la revedere as that implies wishing to see you again, it’s adio, you tart!’.
   

5. -Inversed greeting structures, usually in past tense such as te-am salutat (En. ‘I’ve said good bye’), te-am pupat (En. ‘I’ve kissed you!’) and all the way to trinky trinky te-am pupăcit (sort of a diminutive from the latter, translating like ‘I’ve kissloved you’); for, one cannot miss it, Romanians love diminutive, cute, trinky forms.
   

6. -Sănătate (En. ‘(may) health (be upon you)’) provides a frequently used, if not rather bland way of parting.
   

7. -Bucurie (En. ‘(may) joy (be upon you)’) is similar to the one above, but of a more regional use; I met it in Bukovina and the Danube Delta.
   

8. -A quick way of parting from one (close friends only) is the fugitive hai pa! (En. ‘OK, bye’).
   

9. -Transylvania sees szia (Hungarian term meaning ‘so long’ and more rarely ‘hello’) also employed among Romanian speakers.
   

You (En.) can come with a few variations:

1. -Tu (the classical version). ‘Hey, you!’ can be translated as hei, tu!, but more specific and definitely more often used terms are as it follows, with the remark that this is familiar speech and tends to get very informal:
   

2. -Bre, especially used in Wallachia and Dobrogea, is a Turkish origin term, which can be used both as an interjection meant to have someone’s attention (like in En. ‘hey!’) and a means of addressing one. It can refer both to an older or younger folk, and while usually it is employed between acquaintances, relatives or friends, one can also address a stranger with it in situations requiring urgent action. Such as bre, nu uita restul! (En. ‘man, don’t forget the change!’).
   

3. -Bă or mă are favourite terms of informally drawing one’s attention especially in Wallachia and Moldavia. Just like with bre, the term indicates an equal-to-equal or (not necessarily though) superior-inferior ranking between interlocutors. The use is similar with bre. Mă comes from măi (considered to be a touch more polite) which, at its turn, comes from Latin mǒdǒ. While in Wallachia they are mostly used between men, in Moldavia they go for women quite often. In reference to women only and usually with a very rude touch, there is fă; an example of its common use is fă proasto (En. ‘you stupid’). They can be used in complex addressing structures such as bă amice! (En. hey, brother!) or bă boule! (En. you ox!), the latter being at the same level with the fă proasto. Former President Ion Iliescu’s retort during an anti-Ion Iliescu rally in the 1990s will live forever with his măi animalule! (En. you animal!). The animal was, of course, one daring oppose his regime and, on the other hand, Ion Iliescu was old and educated, so he made use of the more classical măi instead of the rougher bă or the too simple (for Moscow educated folk) bre.
   

4. -Friends or strangers seeking one’s immediate friendship with or without immediate interest might refer to one another with frate (En. bro’), tati (En. daddy), fecior (En. son, mostly employed in Transylvania), băiete (En. son, mostly used in Wallachia and Moldavia), amice (En. pal), ‘moșule’ (En. old man, yet often used by young people when smartly addressing one another), gogule (Gogu is a usually considered as low class name, hence one’s meaning to have a straight, no frills communication by employing it); a softer version here is omule (En. man). Older / regional and therefore sometimes considered more refined terms such as tanti (En. ma’am, coming from French tante / En. aunt but rarely implying the other person is one’s relative), madam (En. lady, coming from French madame), matale / mătălică (En. you, deriving from formal dumneata, with the shorter, Argeș County version of tălică), neică / nene / nea’ (En. man / old man, traditionally used by the young when addressing the old in a respectful way, yet nowadays used in multiple situations where friendly, informal speech is sought) are more rarely met nowadays. Combinations are of course possible and plentiful, such as in bă băiete, mă gogule, bă nene and the softer măi omule, which all stand for ‘hey you’ if the phrase starts with or contains only them, or for ‘man’ if the phrase ends with them. Like in m-ai călcat pe picior, mă nene! (En. you’ve stepped on my foot, man!). If needed and even unneeded, curses come separately and as they are plentiful, I have dedicated them a separate article.
   

5. -A special note goes to the haide bre / hai bă / hai mă and other associations of the kind. Met throughout the Balkans, haide comes from Turkish ‘haydi‘, hence the most natural combination being haide bre (En. ‘come on, man!’). Hai mă and hai bă are just its shorter alternatives, while the hai(de) măi is considered to be a softer, more polite one. In fact it is not, they all go only between close acquaintances.
   

6. -Last, but not least, if one needs get someone’s attention with a crystal clear message, it is bă, n-auzi! (En. ‘man, you deaf?!’); this sounds like an exclamation and it ain’t no question other than in appearance. Pretty clear, ay?
   

Some similar versions in a more or less formal approach would go like this:

1. -Bună ziua (En. ‘good day’, actually meaning ‘hello’) is the most frequently used, all day greeting. It is used all over the country and it has a few variations based on the time of day one needs use it: bună dimineața (En. ‘good morning’, usually employed from midnight till noon), bună ziua (En. ‘good day’ / ‘hello’, that works from noon till it gets dark or around 5-6 PM or so), bună seara (En. ‘good evening’, anytime after the sunset) and the one that is more like ‘bye bye’, noapte bună (En. ‘good night’); please note the term switch for the latter. Variations of the bună să vă fie ziua (En. ‘may you have a good day’) are also sometimes used. Transylvania sees the switch of terms for ziua bună or seara bună, especially when they are used as a means to say ‘good bye’.
   

2. -Vă salut (En. ‘I greet you’, with an emphasis on the formal ‘you’), să trăiți (En. ‘may you live long’, coming from the army and Communist environment) are more like old school practice, but are still in use. When used in past tense, the former can be a form of saying ‘good bye’: v-am salutat!, which would translate ‘(I have said) good bye’. This slides into informal language though.
   

3. -Sărut mâna (En. ‘(let me) kiss your hand’) lies somewhere between formal and informal speech. Coming from the German ‘Küss die Hand’ and brought around the Wallachian upper class in the 19th century by the Austrians, it is traditionally employed when addressing a lady. More recently, young people use it even to male friends in order to say a smart ‘thank you’.
   

Good byes are as it follows:

1. -La revedere (En. ‘good bye’ or, literally, ‘until we see again’) is routine and the form to use in most situations, just like bună ziua to begin with.
   

2. -O zi bună (En. ‘good day’) is frequently used in Transylvania, but not only.
   

3. -Numai bine or toate cele bune (En. ‘all the best’) is used in both formal and informal speech and one could hardly get any more politically correct an approach than that.
   

Either way, a few other useful phrases are:

1. -Vă rog (En. ‘please’)
   

2. -Poftim / poftiți (En. ‘here you are’ / ‘here is your order’ / ‘please’ / ‘this way’)
   

3. -Mă scuzați (En. ‘excuse me’) and the reversed scuzați-mă (En. ‘pardon me’ / ‘may I’)
   

4. -Mulțumesc (En. ‘thank you’) and the de rigueur answer to it: cu plăcere (En. ‘you are welcome’); in Transylvania the latter might be replaced by vă rog or poftiți / poftim.
   

Once you’re done with common words and phrases, you might go on reading about communication in Romania and its mishaps. Hai pa!