Pattern
Quantities use de between the measure and the substance: un kilogram de roșii (a kilo of tomatoes), o sticlă de apă (a bottle of water).
Explanation
Romanian inserts de between any quantity word (kilogram, sticlă, ceașcă, pahar, litru, cutie) and the substance being measured. This de is not optional — it's required by grammar. Un kilogram de roșii (a kilo of tomatoes), un litru de lapte (a liter of milk), o ceașcă de cafea (a cup of coffee), un pahar de vin (a glass of wine).
The same de appears after numbers 20 and higher when counting any noun: douăzeci de mere (twenty apples), o sută de oameni (a hundred people). The pattern is: large-quantity word + de + noun (without article).
In English we say "a kilo of tomatoes" — the "of" maps neatly onto de. Just remember it's mandatory in Romanian and never gets dropped, even in casual speech. Vreau un kilogram roșii sounds wrong; it must be un kilogram de roșii.
Examples
| Romanian | English |
|---|---|
| Un kilogram de mere, vă rog. | A kilo of apples, please. |
| O sticlă de apă plată. | A bottle of still water. |
| Un litru de lapte. | A liter of milk. |
| O ceașcă de cafea cu lapte. | A cup of coffee with milk. |
| Vreau o cutie de ciocolată. | I want a box of chocolate. |
Common mistakes
- Dropping de: Un kilogram roșii is wrong. Always de.
- Adding an article after de: Un kilogram de roșiile is wrong — no definite article in this construction.
- Using cu instead of de: Un pahar cu apă exists but means a glass already filled with water; un pahar de apă is more neutral.
Heritage learner note
Heritage learners often miss this de. In rapid speech your relatives may swallow it, making it sound like un kilogram roșii. But the de is there — and required in writing. Listen carefully: between the quantity and the noun, there's always a brief de. The same applies to large numbers: douăzeci de ani, never douăzeci ani. If you're producing Romanian and your gut says "drop the de," resist it. The de is structural, not optional.