new (recently made or acquired)
The core sense, of objects and of situations.
o mașină nouă
a new car
anul nou
the new year
#130 · Adjective
nou
In Romanian, nou means “new (recently made or acquired)”. It’s the #130 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Nou is "new", rank 130 — and it walks straight into the two most confusing homographs in Romanian. Its plural is noi, which is also the pronoun "we". Its feminine is nouă, which is also the number "nine" and the dative "to us". Nothing but context separates them, so the examples matter more here than the table.
neutralnew (unfamiliar, to someone)
Of a person new to a place, or news new to you.
Sunt nou aici.
I'm new here.
Ce mai e nou?
What's new?
again (din nou)
The fixed adverbial. Neutral, where iar carries a note of exasperation.
Încearcă din nou.
Try again.
the latest / the new one (noul, noua)
Placed before the noun with the article attached, it means the newest of its kind.
noul director
the new director
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 2 forms cover about 87% of everyday use — learn these first.
nou76%
noul10%
Show 5 more forms
noi10%
noile1%
noului<1%
noii<1%
noilor<1%
Adjective Forms
| masculine singular | nou | |
|---|---|---|
| feminine singular | nouă | |
| masculine plural | noi | |
| feminine plural | noi | |
| neuter singular | nou | |
| neuter plural | noi |
- Comparative
- mai nou
- Superlative
- cel mai nou (cea mai nouă / cei mai noi / cele mai noi)
- Irregular Note
- Fully regular. Note that the plural noi serves both genders, so cei mai noi and cele mai noi differ only in cel, not in the adjective.
- Placement
- Normally after the noun: o casă nouă, pantofi noi. Placed in front it takes the definite article itself — noul film, noua lege — and then means "the latest". That fronted use is where noul, noua, noii and noile in the measured data come from.
Examples
Am o mașină nouă.
I have a new car.
nouă - The feminine singular. This same form is also the number "nine" and the dative "to us" — only the sentence tells you which.
Sunt studenți noi.
They are new students.
noi - The plural noi, here an adjective. In Noi suntem studenți the same word is the pronoun "we".
Sunt nou în oraș.
I'm new in town.
nou - A woman would say sunt nouă. The adjective agrees with the speaker, which English never does.
Încearcă din nou.
Try again.
nou - din nou is a fixed adverbial. It states the repetition plainly, where iar would add a sigh.
Noul telefon e mai bun.
The new phone is better.
noul - In front of the noun the adjective takes the definite article, and the noun stays bare.
Noi is both "new" (plural) and "we"; nouă is both "new" (feminine) and "nine". Noi suntem noi means "we are new", and it is a perfectly normal sentence. Read the position: a pronoun sits before the verb, an adjective after its noun.
In expressions
Common phrases built around nou — worth learning as whole units.
din nou— again
lit. “from new”