a little / a bit
Modifying a verb or an adjective. Invariable in this use.
Vorbesc puțin română.
I speak a little Romanian.
Stai puțin!
Wait a moment!
#139 · Adverb
puțin
In Romanian, puțin means “a little / a bit”. It’s the #139 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Puțin is "a little" and "few" — the opposite of mult, and it behaves exactly like it. Rank 139. As an adverb it never changes; as a quantifier in front of a noun it agrees (puțină apă, puțini oameni). Two fixed phrases carry a lot of its use: cel puțin, "at least", and mai puțin, "less".
neutrallittle / few (before a noun)
Here it agrees: puțină apă, puțin timp, puțini oameni, puține zile.
puțin timp
little time
puțini oameni
few people
at least (cel puțin)
A fixed phrase, and one of the commonest homes for the word.
cel puțin o oră
at least an hour
less (mai puțin)
The comparative, and the opposite of mai mult.
mai puțin zahăr
less sugar
little by little (puțin câte puțin)
The fixed doubling for gradual progress.
Puțin câte puțin, înveți.
Little by little, you learn.
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.
puțin100%
Show 1 more form
puțini<1%
Patterns
Invariable when it modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. In front of a noun it becomes a quantifier and agrees: puțin (masc.), puțină (fem.), puțini, puține. Its degrees are mai puțin ("less") and cel mai puțin ("least"), and cel puțin, "at least", is a separate fixed phrase that never agrees.
verb + puțin
A little, a bit — invariable.
Odihnește-te puțin.
Rest a bit.
puțin + noun (agreeing)
Little or few, agreeing with the noun.
puține șanse
few chances
cel puțin
At least — fixed, never agreeing.
Cel puțin sună.
At least call.
mai puțin
Less; the opposite of mai mult.
Costă mai puțin.
It costs less.
puțin câte puțin
Little by little.
Se învață puțin câte puțin.
You learn it little by little.
Examples
Vorbesc puțin românește.
I speak a little Romanian.
puțin - The invariable adverb after the verb. This is the sentence every learner needs on the first day.
Mai stai puțin.
Stay a bit longer.
puțin - puțin measures the extra time. mai adds the sense of continuing.
Am puțină apă.
I have a little water.
puțină - In front of a feminine noun it agrees: puțină. This is where the word stops being invariable.
Cel puțin ai încercat.
At least you tried.
puțin - cel puțin is fixed and does not agree, even though cel normally does.
Mănâncă mai puțin decât mine.
He eats less than me.
puțin - The comparative mai puțin with decât. For countable things it becomes mai puțini or mai puține.
Un pic is the everyday spoken alternative for "a bit" — Stai un pic and Stai puțin mean the same thing. But only puțin agrees with a noun, so it is puțină apă, never *un pic apă without de: un pic de apă.
In expressions
Common phrases built around puțin — worth learning as whole units.
cel puțin— at least
lit. “the least”