kind / sort / type
Nearly always inside ce fel de or un fel de. The noun after de stays bare.
Ce fel de muzică?
What kind of music?
un fel de supă
a sort of soup
#121 · Noun
fel
In Romanian, fel means “kind / sort / type”. It’s the #121 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Fel is "kind" or "sort", neuter, rank 121 — and it is mostly a phrase-builder rather than a noun you use on its own. Three phrases carry it: ce fel de? "what kind of?", la fel "the same" or "likewise", and tot felul de "all sorts of". At the table it also means a course of a meal.
neutralthe same / likewise (la fel)
The everyday reply to a wish or a compliment — the Romanian "you too".
La fel!
You too!
Fac la fel.
I do the same.
way / manner
With felul în care, "the way in which" — how something is done.
felul în care vorbește
the way he speaks
course (of a meal)
felul întâi and felul doi are the first and second courses on any Romanian menu.
felul doi
the main course
all sorts of (tot felul de)
A fixed quantifier, usually with a shrug.
tot felul de probleme
all sorts of problems
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top form cover about 84% of everyday use — learn these first.
fel84%
Show 4 more forms
felul14%
feluri2%
felurile<1%
felului<1%
Noun Forms
- Gender
- neuter
- Countability
- countable
| singular indefinite | fel | |
|---|---|---|
| singular definite | felul | |
| plural indefinite | feluri | |
| plural definite | felurile | |
| genitive dative singular | felului | |
| genitive dative plural | felurilor |
Neuter, so un fel but două feluri, with the plural taking -uri. The bare form dominates the corpus because ce fel de, un fel de, la fel and tot felul de all keep the noun article-free.
Examples
Ce fel de om e?
What kind of person is he?
fel - ce fel de is one unit, and the noun after it stays bare — never *ce fel de un om.
— Sărbători fericite! — La fel!
— Happy holidays! — You too!
fel - la fel is the standard way to return a wish. It needs no verb and no pronoun.
E un fel de joc.
It's a sort of game.
fel - un fel de hedges a description when you cannot name the thing exactly.
Nu-mi place felul în care vorbește.
I don't like the way he speaks.
felul - The definite form plus în care, the fixed frame for "the way in which".
Am încercat tot felul de metode.
I tried all sorts of methods.
fel - tot felul de keeps the noun bare and plural, whatever its gender.
La fel means "the same" or "likewise", not "at all". Answering a wish with La fel! is warm and correct; answering a question with it means you do the same thing, so La fel cred și eu is "I think so too".
In expressions
Common phrases built around fel — worth learning as whole units.
la fel— the same; likewise
lit. “at kind”
ce fel de— what kind of
lit. “what kind of”
un fel de— a kind of, a sort of
lit. “a kind of”