Ways to say it
| Romanian | IPA |
|---|---|
| flămând | /flə.ˈmɨnd/ |
| i fi foame |
The word flămând is an adjective used to describe someone who is affected by hunger or desirous of food. For a more intense or formal way to say you are famished, you can use Sunt înfometat(ă). In casual conversation, to express extreme hunger, you might use the colloquial idiom Am o foame de lup, which literally means "I have a wolf's hunger."
Which one should you use?
While you can use the adjective flămând to describe yourself, the most common and idiomatic way for a Romanian speaker to say "I am hungry" is mi-e foame, which literally translates to "to me is hunger".
How does it change in a sentence?
As an adjective, flămând must agree in gender with the subject. While the default form is flămând, you should use flămândă if the subject is a female.
How do you pronounce it?
The word is pronounced /flə.ˈmɨnd/. It has two syllables, with the stress on the second syllable.
Did you know?
- The word foame shares a mysterious phonetic history with the word for 'tinder', which is iască.
- While foame means hunger, the Romanian word foamete describes a state of famine or widespread starvation.
Examples in context
- El nu este flămând.He isn't hungry.This sentence is useful for expressing a negative state regarding being hungry with flămând.Tatoeba #2634486 by elenacristina260, translation #2079338 by _undertoad
- Nu eram prea flămând.I wasn't too hungry.This sentence is useful for expressing a past state of not being very hungry with flămând.Tatoeba #10491504 by CataG, translation #2280318 by CK
- Sami era obosit și flămând.Sami was tired and hungry.This sentence is useful for combining two physical states, tired and hungry, using flămând.Tatoeba #10242313 by elenacristina260, translation #7739068 by OsoHombre
- Sunt flămând(ă), hai să mâncăm ceva la restaurantul preferat.I am hungry, let's grab something to eat at our favorite restaurant.
- 6 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Stefan and Ioana are deciding what to eat for dinner.
- StefanEști flămând, Stefan?Are you hungry, Stefan?
- IoanaDa, sunt foarte flămând acum.Yes, I am very hungry now.
- StefanVrei să comandăm o pizza?Do you want us to order a pizza?
- IoanaDa, sună perfect!Yes, that sounds perfect!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hungry” translations and entries flămând, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries fi, flămând, foame, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
