all right / OK (în regulă)
A fixed phrase, and the dominant use. E în regulă answers "is everything fine?".
E în regulă.
It's all right.
Totul e în regulă?
Is everything OK?
#112 · Noun
regulă
In Romanian, regulă means “all right / OK (în regulă)”. It’s the #112 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Regulă is "rule", feminine, rank 112 — but the measured data hides the real story. The bare form outnumbers every other by six to one, because most of its use is not about rules at all: în regulă means "all right". E în regulă is how Romanians say "It is fine", and that one phrase carries the word.
neutralrule
A rule of a game, a house, a language.
regulile jocului
the rules of the game
Așa e regula.
That's the rule.
as a rule / usually (de regulă)
An adverbial meaning "normally".
De regulă, ajung la opt.
As a rule, I arrive at eight.
the exception (excepția de la regulă)
The fixed pairing with excepție.
excepția care confirmă regula
the exception that proves the rule
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 2 forms cover about 91% of everyday use — learn these first.
regulă78%
regula13%
Show 3 more forms
regulile5%
reguli3%
regulilor<1%
Noun Forms
- Gender
- feminine
- Countability
- countable
| singular indefinite | regulă | |
|---|---|---|
| singular definite | regula | |
| plural indefinite | reguli | |
| plural definite | regulile | |
| genitive dative singular | regulii | |
| genitive dative plural | regulilor |
A regular feminine noun in -ă: regulă, regula, reguli, regulile. The lopsided counts are a use effect rather than a grammar one — the bare regulă dominates because în regulă and de regulă both keep it article-free.
Examples
E în regulă, nu-i nimic.
It's fine, it's nothing.
regulă - The dominant use. The noun stays bare inside the phrase — never *în regula.
Sunt în regulă, mulțumesc.
I'm all right, thanks.
regulă - The same phrase about a person. It reports that you are fine, not that you are lawful.
Care sunt regulile?
What are the rules?
regulile - The definite plural. care, not ce, is used when asking which of a known set.
De regulă nu beau cafea seara.
As a rule I don't drink coffee in the evening.
regulă - de regulă opens the sentence as an adverb. seara is a definite time noun used adverbially.
E o regulă simplă.
It's a simple rule.
regulă - The literal sense with the indefinite o, and the adjective agreeing in the feminine.
În regulă is one unit and the noun never takes an article inside it: E în regulă, not *E în regula. The phrase is about being fine, not about rules — answering Ce faci? with Sunt în regulă is normal Romanian.
In expressions
Common phrases built around regulă — worth learning as whole units.
în regulă— OK, all right; fine
lit. “in order”
Corpus examples
, .
No, it's fine.
?
Is everything okay?