he; him
subject or object pronoun for a masculine singular person, animal, or sometimes a masculine noun understood from context
El vine mai târziu.
He is coming later.
L-am văzut pe el ieri.
I saw him yesterday.
#8 · Pronoun · PRON
In Romanian, el means “he; him”. It’s the #8 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Romanian third-person masculine singular pronoun: "he, him, it". It is also used in the fixed forms of the definite article and in some demonstrative contrasts.
neutralsubject or object pronoun for a masculine singular person, animal, or sometimes a masculine noun understood from context
He is coming later.
I saw him yesterday.
refers to a masculine singular thing or idea when the noun is omitted or clear from context
Which pen is it? The one on the table.
I want this one, not that one.
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 9 forms cover about 82% of everyday use — learn these first.
| subject form | el | basic masculine singular form |
|---|---|---|
| stressed object form | el / pe el | used for emphasis or after preposition; often reinforced with pe |
| clitic object form | îl / l- | unstressed object form used before verbs; spelling changes by context |
| disambiguated object | pe el | common after prepositions and for emphasis |
vs. ea
ea is the feminine singular pronoun: "she / her / it" (feminine).
El e aici, ea e la birou.
He is here, she is at the office.
vs. îl
îl is the unstressed object form often used with verbs, while el is the full stressed form.
El m-a ajutat. / L-a ajutat pe el.
He helped me. / He helped him.
vs. lui
lui is the dative form meaning "to/for him"; el is nominative/accusative.
I-am dat lui cartea.
I gave him the book.
El vorbește românește foarte bine.
He speaks Romanian very well.
El
L-am sunat, dar el nu a răspuns.
I called him, but he didn’t answer.
el
Nu el a spus asta.
It wasn’t him who said that.
el