Here are the lyrics to the national anthem of Romania, Deșteaptă-te, române!
Romania national anthem lyrics – English
Wake up Romanians from your sleep of death
Into which you’ve been sunk by the barbaric tyrants.
Now or never, sow a new fate for yourself
To which even your cruel enemies will bow!
Now or never, let us show the world
That through these arms, Roman blood still flows;
And that in our chests we still proudly bear a name
Triumphant in battles, the name of Trajan!
Behold, mighty shadows; Michael, Stephen, Corvinus,
The Romanian nation, your great grandchildren.
With armed hands, with your fire in their veins,
“Life in liberty or death”, they all proclaim!
Priests, lead with holy crosses, for this army is Christian,
Its motto is liberty and its goal all too holy.
Better to die in battle in with eternal glory,
Than to once again be slaves on our ancient lands!
Romania national anthem lyrics – Romanian
Deșteaptă-te, române, din somnul cel de moarte,
În care te-adânciră 𝄆 barbarii de tirani 𝄇!
(𝄆) Acum ori niciodată, croiește-ți altă soarte,
La care să se-nchine 𝄆 și cruzii tăi dușmani 𝄇.
Acum ori niciodată să dăm dovezi la lume
Că-n aste mâni mai curge 𝄆 un sânge de roman 𝄇,
(𝄆) Și că-n a noastre piepturi păstrăm cu fală-un nume
Triumfător în lupte, 𝄆 un nume de Traian 𝄇!
Priviți, mărețe umbre, Mihai, Ștefan, Corvine,
Româna națiune, 𝄆 ai voștri strănepoți 𝄇,
(𝄆) Cu brațele armate, cu focul vostru-n vine,
„Viața-n libertate 𝄆 ori moarte!” strigă toți 𝄇.
Preoți, cu crucea-n frunte căci oastea e creștină,
Deviza-i libertate 𝄆 și scopul ei preasfânt 𝄇.
𝄆 Murim mai bine-n luptă, cu glorie deplină,
Decât să fim sclavi iarăși 𝄆 în vechiul nost’ pământ 𝄇! 𝄇
How many verses does this anthem have?
There are actually 11 verses, so if you were to undertake to learn all the lyrics to the national anthem of Romania you’ve had quite the job. However, only the first, second, fourth and last vesres are sung at offical occasions, so those are the verses we’ve given you above.
And who wrote the lyrics?
The lyrics to Romania’s national anthem were composed by the poet and revolutionary Andrei Mureșanu (1816–1863). The music, meanwhile, was from a popular sentimental folk song. The song, combining lyrics and melody, was written and published during Romania’s 1848 revolution.
More national anthem lyrics
You can find the lyrics to many more national anthems on our website. You may be particularly interested in the anthems of Romania’s Group E opponents at Euro 2024, so here are the lyrics to the Ukraine national anthem, to the national anthem of Belgium, and to Slovakia’s national anthem.