day (a 24-hour period)
The countable unit — the one you count, plan and wait for.
o zi liberă
a day off
trei zile
three days
#65 · Noun
zi
In Romanian, zi means “day (a 24-hour period)”. It’s the #65 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Zi is "day", rank 65 and the most frequent time noun in Romanian. It is feminine, and its four forms all earn their place in the measured data: zi, the definite ziua (which also means "daytime"), the plural zile and the genitive zilei. It also carries the greeting every visitor hears first — Bună ziua.
neutraldaytime (as opposed to night)
Usually the definite ziua, which functions almost as an adverb: ziua lucrez, "in the daytime I work".
ziua și noaptea
day and night
Ziua e cald.
During the day it's warm.
birthday
Short for ziua de naștere, and this short form is what people actually say.
E ziua mea.
It's my birthday.
La mulți ani de ziua ta!
Happy birthday!
in greetings
Bună ziua is the standard polite hello from mid-morning until evening — the formal counterpart of Salut.
Bună ziua!
Good day / Hello.
O zi bună!
Have a good day!
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 3 forms cover about 94% of everyday use — learn these first.
zi41%
ziua29%
zile23%
Show 2 more forms
zilele4%
zilei2%
Noun Forms
- Gender
- feminine
- Countability
- countable
| singular indefinite | zi | |
|---|---|---|
| singular definite | ziua | |
| plural indefinite | zile | |
| plural definite | zilele | |
| genitive dative singular | zilei | |
| genitive dative plural | zilelor |
The definite article is attached to the end: zi + -ua gives ziua, an irregular pairing worth memorising because the regular feminine pattern would predict *zia. The plural is regular: zile, zilele, zilelor.
Examples
Ce zi e azi?
What day is it today?
zi - The bare form after ce. Romanian does not add an article in this question, exactly as English does not.
Bună ziua!
Hello. (formal)
ziua - The definite form, with the article -ua attached to the end. This greeting is one of the biggest single sources of the word’s frequency.
Am stat trei zile acolo.
We stayed there three days.
zile - After a number the noun is bare and plural — never *trei zilele.
În timpul zilei e liniște.
It's quiet during the day.
zilei - The genitive zilei, required after în timpul. This one phrase is where most genitive uses of the word come from.
Zilele trec repede.
The days go by quickly.
zilele - The definite plural. As the subject of a general statement, Romanian needs the definite form where English says "the days" or nothing at all.
Ziua lucrez, seara citesc.
In the daytime I work, in the evening I read.
ziua - A definite time noun used adverbially, with no preposition. The same pattern gives seara, dimineața, noaptea.
Zi is also the imperative of a zice, "say!" — Zi-mi! means "Tell me!", not "Day me!". Context separates them instantly, but the two words are worth meeting together rather than being surprised by the second one later.
In expressions
Common phrases built around zi — worth learning as whole units.
Bună ziua.— Good day. / Hello.
lit. “good the-day”
în fiecare zi— every day
lit. “in each day”
într-o zi— one day, someday
lit. “in a day”