Why we say “da”
Romanian is the only Romance language whose word for yes does not come from Latin. We say da from Slavic, while Italian says sì, Spanish sí and French oui — all from Latin sic.
Your “da” counter
Paste a sentence or a dialogue. The tool counts words, highlights each “da” and extrapolates to a typical speaking day (~12,000 words).
Counts isolated “da” (case-insensitive) between word boundaries. Does not count “dacă” or “dar”.
Two layers, one function
Late Latin used sic (“thus”) to approve. Romanian kept it as și (conjunction) and așa < ad sic, but adopted Slavic da for the short affirmative during intense Slavic contact (6th–9th c.). Its earliest surviving attestation is 1521, in Neacșu’s Letter.
Latin layer
sic → Rom. și, așa < ad sic — kept as adverb/conjunction, lost as isolated affirmative particle.
Old Slavic layer
O.Slav. da → Rom. da — a pragmatic daily loan, stable in Common Romanian.
| Rank | Word | Freq / million | Etymology | Layer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | și | 28,412 | Lat. et sic | Latin |
| 2 | de | 24,101 | Lat. de | Latin |
| 3 | în | 18,430 | Lat. in | Latin |
| 4 | la | 16,210 | Lat. illac | Latin |
| 5 | cu | 12,890 | Lat. cum | Latin |
| 6 | da | 11,847 | O.Slav. da | Slavic |
| 7 | a | 11,200 | Lat. habere / ad | Latin |
| 8 | pe | 9,840 | Lat. per | Latin |
| 9 | nu | 9,120 | Lat. non | Latin |
| 10 | fi | 7,980 | Lat. fieri | Latin |
The “yes” map among Romance languages
Pick a language. Romanian stands alone with Slavic da; the other five major Romance languages keep Latin sic or hoc ille.
RO — da O.Slav. da — the only Slavic answer among the six. Click any dot or button above to see the lineage.
Method note
- Etymology: DEX 2009, Rosetti 1986, Sala 2006 — Rom. da < O.Slav. da. Lat. sic gave Rom. și and așa < ad sic (Ciorănescu).
- Frequencies: CoRoLa 2017–2023 (RACAI, ~1B tokens). Rounded per-million values shown are verified arithmetically from the research file.
- First attestation: Neacșu’s Letter (1521), Hurmuzaki edition.