Conjugation types

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There are four basic conjugation types in Romanian.

  • Type 1 — verb infinitive ending in -a
  • Type 2 — verb infinitive ending in -ea
  • Type 3 — verb infinitive ending in -e
  • Type 4 — verb infinitive ending in -i or

There are variations within each class. For instance, some type 3 verbs have past participles ending in -ut while others end in -s. More information on such differences can be found in the respective appendices for conjugation. Types: 1 - 2 - 3 4

Moduri impersonale (Impersonal/Non-personal moods)

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Infinitiv (Infinitive)

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The infinitive is the basic form of a verb that you would find in a dictionary.

Prezent (Present)

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Examples:

Trecut (Past)

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The past infinitive is formed by combining a fi and the past participle of a verb. Examples:

  • a fi iubitto have loved
  • a fi cântatto have sung
  • a fi pututto have been able
  • a fi spusto have said

Gerunziu (Gerundive)

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Examples:

  • L-am auzit cântândI heard him singing
  • L-am auzit cântându-i fetei — I heard him singing to the girl
  • L-am auzit cântându-le fetelor — I heard him singing to the girls
  • Am auzit-o cântându-i prietenului ei — I heard him singing to her friend
  • El cântă folosind cuvinte din limbi străine — He sings using words from foreign languages

As with the participle, gerunds are negated with the prefix "ne-".

Examples:

  • Ea cântă nefolosind cuvinte din limbi străine — She sings without using words from foreign languages

Participiu (Past participle)

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Positive

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Examples:

Negative

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Negative past participles are only used as adjectives. For instance, you can not say "eu am nevorbit" if you mean "I have not spoken." The correct way to say this would be "eu nu am (or n-am) vorbit."

Examples:

Adjectival usage

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Past participles can also be used as adjectives. In these cases, they are declined in the same manner as 4-form adjectives.

  • cântaţisung (masculine plural)
  • vorbităspoken (feminine singular)
  • necântatunsung (masculine & neuter singular)
  • nevorbiteunspoken (feminine & neuter plural)

Supin (Supine)

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The supine is formed simply by adding de before the past participle, although its use without "de" is possible, in which case it acts as a sort of noun.

  • am nevoie de ceva de mâncatI need something to eat
  • dacă aveam de alesIf I had to choose

Moduri personale (Personal moods)

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Indicativ (Indicative)

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Prezent (Present)

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present tense endings
singular plural
first second third first second third
type eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
1.
ex. cânta
- +i +ăm +aţi
cânt cânţi cântă cântăm cântaţi cântă
1. (-ez-)
ex. deranja
+ez +ezi +ează +ăm +aţi +ează
deranjez deranjezi deranjează deranjăm deranjaţi deranjează
2.
ex. vedea
- +i +e +em +eţi -
văd vezi vede vedem vedeţi văd
3.
ex. plânge
- +i +e +em +eţi -
plâng plângi plânge plângem plângeţi plâng
4. i
ex. dormi
- +i +e +im +iţi -
dorm dormi doarme dormim dormiţi dorm
4. i (-esc-)
ex. vorbi
+esc +eşti +eşte +im +iţi +esc
vorbesc vorbeşti vorbeşte vorbim vorbiţi vorbesc
4. î
ex. omorî
- +i +âm +âţi -
omor omori omoară omorâm omorâţi omor
4. î (-ăsc-)
ex. urî
+ăsc +ăşti +ăşte +âm +âţi +ăsc
urăsc urăşti urăşte urâm urâţi urăsc

Examples:

  • eu cântI sing, I am singing
  • tu cânţiyou sing, you are singing
  • eu citescI read, I am reading
  • el citeştehe reads, he is reading

Imperfect (Imperfect)

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imperfect endings
singular plural
first second third first second third
eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
-am -ai -a -am -aţi -au

Examples:

Perfect simplu (Simple perfect, Preterite)

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Oltenia, the main region in which the simple perfect tense is used most.
preterite endings
singular plural
first second third first second third
eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
-i -şi - -răm -răţi -ră

Outside of the region of Oltenia (in South-West Romania) this tense is not commonly used. In most parts of Romania, the Perfect compus (or compound perfect) is preferred. In places where the compus is preferred, when the simple perfect is used, it generally indicates that an action was completed in the very near past.

Examples:

Mai mult ca perfect (Pluperfect)

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pluperfect endings
singular plural
first second third first second third
eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
-sem -seşi -se -serăm -serăţi -seră
note that in all cases except for the 1st person singular, the pluperfect is formed by adding -se- before the preterite ending.

Examples:

Viitorul indicativ (Future indicative)

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Viitor I (Future)
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future auxiliaries
singular plural
first second third first second third
eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
voi vei va vom veţi vor

The above auxiliaries are used with infinitives to form the literary future.

Examples:

  • eu voi cântaI will sing
  • ei vor cântathey will sing
Viitor 2 (Future perfect)
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The future perfect is formed by using the above auxiliaries with fi and the past participle.

Examples:

  • eu voi fi cântatI will have sung
  • ei vor fi cântatthey will have sung
Future (popular)
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The first type of popular future is formed simply by adding "o" to the subjunctive form of a verb.

Examples:

  • el o să cânte ceva pentru noi — he will sing something for us.
  • el o să citească - he is going to read
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present tense of avea
singular plural
first second third first second third
eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
am ai are avem aveţi au

The second type of popular future is slightly more complicated than the first type. It is formed simply by adding the present tense form of avea to the subjunctive form of a verb.

Examples:

  • el are să cânte ceva pentru noi — he will sing something for us.
  • el are să citească - he is going to read

Popular 2 is often used when it would be easy to confuse forms were they in the Popular 1.

Examples:

  • o să mor vs. o să mori — ??? (Spoken, this may cause confusion due to the fact that the "i" in mori would be nearly whispered, making it sound very similar to mor.)
    am să mor vs. ai să moriI am going to die vs. You are going to die
Future in the past
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imperfect tense of avea
singular plural
first second third first second third
eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
aveam aveai avea aveam aveaţi aveau

The "future in the past" is formed with the imperfect tenses of avea (seen above) with the subjunctive form of a verb.

Examples:

  • aveam să cântI was going to sing
  • avea să cânteHe was going to sing
  • aveaţi să citiţi?Were you going to read?
  • aveau să vinăThey were going to come

Conjunctiv (Subjunctive)

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Subjunctives, as in many other languages, suggest an uncertain action or occurrence. When used alone, subjunctives are usually translated with "should."

The subjunctive is identified by the conjunction .

Examples:

  • Present:
    • el cânte ceva pentru noi — he should sing something for us.
    • eu vreau că el cânte ceva pentru noi — I want him to sing something for us.
  • Past:
    • noi să fi stat acasă ieri — We should have stayed home yesterday
    • nu mi-amintesc să fi fost cu tine ieri — I don't remember being with you yesterday
    • nu mi-amintesc să fi văzut acest film niciodată — I don't remember ever seeing this film

Prezent (Present)

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In most cases, the subjunctive forms of verbs in 1st and 2nd persons, singular and plural, are the same as their present tense counterparts. (One exception that comes to mind is the verb a fi, "to be," in which every person and number has another subjunctive form.) In the 3rd person, however, almost all verbs change slightly. The general rule is that ă will change to e and vice-versa. 3rd person subjunctives share one form for plural and singular.

Examples:


Trecut (Past)

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The subjunctive past is formed by combining să fi with the past participle of the verb in question.

Examples:

Imperativ (Imperative)

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The imperative only exists for the 2nd person in Romanian. The 2nd person singular imperative is generally the same as the 3rd person singular present form; aside from this, there is no one rule for forming this imperative. The 2nd person plural imperative is almost always the same as the 2nd person plural present form.

Examples:

In the 2nd person singular, the imperative is not simply negated with "nu". Instead, the infinitive is used. The plural does not go through such a change.

Examples:

For both singular and plural, the word order also changes slightly.

Examples:

  • -mi-o! (give it to me!) → nu-mi-o da! (don't give it to me!)

Perfect compus (Compound perfect)

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auxiliaries for forming the compus
singular plural
first second third first second third
eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
am ai a am aţi au

The above auxiliaries are used with past participles to form the perfect compus.

Examples:

Condiţional (Optative/Conditional)

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conditional auxiliaries
singular plural
first second third first second third
eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
ai ar am aţi ar

Prezent (Present)

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The above auxiliaries are used with infinitives to form the present optative/conditional.

Examples:

  • eu cânta dacă ştiam versurile — I would sing if I knew the lyrics
  • ei ar cântathey would sing

Trecut (Past)

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The past conditional is formed by combining one of the above auxiliaries with fi and the past participle of the verb.

Examples:

  • eu aş fi cântatI would have sung
  • ei ar fi cântatthey would have sung

Prezumtiv (Presumptive)

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presumptive auxiliaries
singular plural
first second third first second third
eu tu el/ea noi voi ei/ele
oi oi o om oţi or

Prezent (Present)

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The above auxiliaries are used with infinitives to form the present presumptive.

Examples:

  • eu oi cântaI might sing
  • ei or cântathey might sing

Trecut (Past)

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The past presumptive is formed by combining one of the above auxiliaries with fi and the past participle of the verb.

Examples:

  • eu oi fi cântatI might have sung
  • ei or fi cântatthey might have sung