from / out of (a place)
The origin of movement, mirroring în: if you would go în a place, you come din it.
Vin din oraș.
I'm coming from town.
Ieși din cameră.
Get out of the room.
#33 · Preposition
din
In Romanian, din means “from / out of (a place)”. It’s the #33 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
din is the 33rd most common Romanian word and it is really two prepositions fused into one: de + în, "from inside". That origin explains everything it does — it takes things out of places (Vin din București), out of groups (unul din ei), and out of materials (o masă din lemn). Whenever English says "from the" or "out of", Romanian almost always says din.
neutralof / from among (a part of a whole)
Picking one or some out of a set — where English uses "of them", "of us".
unul din ei
one of them
jumătate din bani
half of the money
made of (material)
What something is made out of. Interchangeable with de in this sense, but din is the safer, more explicit choice.
o casă din piatră
a stone house
o rochie din bumbac
a cotton dress
since / starting from (a time)
A starting point in time, often with an explicit year, month, or age.
din 2019
since 2019
din copilărie
since childhood
out of (a cause or a manner)
Fixed adverbial phrases: din cauza, din greșeală, din nou, din păcate.
din greșeală
by mistake
din nou
again
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top form cover about 100% of everyday use — learn these first.
din100%
Grammar Behavior
din + place noun
Origin of movement. It is the mirror image of în — în casă (into the house) / din casă (out of the house).
Iese din casă.
He is leaving the house.
number / quantity + din + group
The partitive: selecting part of a set.
Trei din noi rămân.
Three of us are staying.
din cauza + genitive
The standard way to say "because of". The following noun must be in the genitive-dative form.
din cauza vremii
because of the weather
din + material
What something is made of.
o lingură din lemn
a wooden spoon
vs. de
de is the general "of/from"; din specifically means "out of the inside of". With origins of people both appear, but din is used with places you can be inside: din Franța, de la Maria.
Sunt din Franța. / Am primit o scrisoare de la Maria.
I'm from France. / I got a letter from Maria.
vs. de la
de la is "from" a person, a starting point, or an institution you are at, never from inside a container.
Vin de la doctor. / Vin din spital.
I'm coming from the doctor's. / I'm coming out of the hospital.
vs. în
în puts you inside; din takes you out. They pair as a directional couple.
Intru în magazin. / Ies din magazin.
I'm going into the shop. / I'm coming out of the shop.
Examples
Sunt din România.
I'm from Romania.
din - The first sentence every learner needs. Country and city names take din with no article: din România, din Cluj.
Scoate cheile din buzunar.
Take the keys out of your pocket.
din - Physical removal — the literal de + în sense. The noun after din keeps its definite ending: buzunar → din buzunar, but din buzunarul tău when specified.
Doi din zece oameni știu asta.
Two out of ten people know that.
din - The partitive use — proportions and fractions are built with din, not de.
Ne vedem din nou mâine.
We'll see each other again tomorrow.
din nou - din nou is a frozen phrase meaning "again" — learn it whole, it carries none of the "from" meaning.
Am întârziat din cauza traficului.
I was late because of the traffic.
din cauza - din cauza is followed by the genitive: traficului, not traficul.
din never contracts and never takes an article of its own, but the noun after it usually stays indefinite in place names and set phrases: din oraș ("from town"), not din orașul. Add the article only when you are pointing at a specific one: din orașul acesta.