Numbers 1 to 19 go straight before the noun, but from 20 onwards you must put de between the number and the noun. This also applies to any bigger number ending in that range, like 100 or 1000.
Examples
- Sunt zece cărți pe masă.
- There are ten books on the table.
- Am douăzeci de ani.
- I'm twenty years old.
- Costă treizeci de lei.
- It costs thirty lei.
- Este ora două.
- It's two o'clock.
The mistake to avoid
Learners say "douăzeci ani" — anything 20 or above needs de.
Where this fits in
Numbers, days, time, Romanian A1: Count, talk about days and months, give the time, and handle numbers in real situations.