hey (calling attention)
The core use. Neutral by itself, and coloured entirely by tone.
Hei, tu!
Hey, you!
Hei, ascultă.
Hey, listen.
#151 · Adverb
hei
In Romanian, hei means “hey (calling attention)”. It’s the #151 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Hei is "hey" — the call that gets somebody’s attention, and nothing more. Rank 151, invariable, and it borrows its whole meaning from tone: friendly, surprised or sharp depending on how it is said. It ranks this high because subtitles are mostly people addressing each other.
colloquialhey / hi (greeting)
Between friends it works as a casual hello, like Salut or Bună.
Hei, ce faci?
Hey, how are you?
hey! (protest)
Objecting to something, exactly as English "hey!" does.
Hei, asta e a mea!
Hey, that's mine!
oh well / ah (wistful)
Drawn out, hei can carry resignation — a small sigh at the start of a sentence.
Hei, ce vremuri!
Ah, those were the days!
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.
hei100%
Patterns
Invariable and syntactically free: it stands alone, or opens a sentence with a comma after it. It never takes an ending, never agrees, and never appears inside a clause. Note that hai (#118) is a different word — hai urges action, hei only calls attention.
Hei! (alone)
A complete utterance, calling somebody.
Hei! Aici!
Hey! Over here!
Hei, + sentence
Opens the sentence, separated by a comma.
Hei, vino încoace.
Hey, come over here.
Hei, tu!
With a pronoun, singling somebody out. Can sound sharp.
Hei, tu de acolo!
Hey, you over there!
Scuzați (the polite alternative)
For a stranger, Romanian uses Scuzați or Vă rog instead of hei.
Scuzați, unde e gara?
Excuse me, where's the station?
Examples
Hei, unde mergi?
Hey, where are you going?
hei - Opening a sentence and set off by a comma. It carries no grammar of its own.
Hei, ai grijă!
Hey, be careful!
hei - The warning use, paired with the fixed phrase ai grijă.
Hei! Stai puțin.
Hey! Hold on.
hei - Standing alone as a full utterance, then followed by the real request.
Hei, ce mai faci?
Hey, how have you been?
hei - As a greeting between friends. The mai inside the question makes it "how have you been" rather than "how are you".
Hei is informal. It belongs with people you address as tu — friends, family, children. To get a stranger’s attention politely, Romanians say Scuzați! or Vă rog!, never Hei.