Appendix:Romanian verb conjugation

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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 -î

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}

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

Examples:

• a iubi — to love
• a cânta — to sing
• a putea — to be able
• a spune — to say

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

• a fi iubit — to have loved
• a fi cântat — to have sung
• a fi putut — to have been able
• a fi spus — to have said

Examples:

• L-am auzit cântând — I 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 her 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

Examples:

• cântat — sung
• vorbit — spoken

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:

• necântat — unsung
• un cuvânt nevorbit — an unspoken word
• o melodie necântată — an unsung melody
• cuvintele nevorbite — the unspoken words

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

• cântați — sung (masculine plural)
• vorbită — spoken (feminine singular)
• necântat — unsung (masculine & neuter singular)
• nevorbite — unspoken (feminine & neuter plural)

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 mâncat — I need something to eat
• dacă aveam de ales — If I had to choose

Examples:

• eu cânt — I sing, I am singing
• tu cânți — you sing, you are singing
• eu citesc — I read, I am reading
• el citește — he reads, he is reading

Examples:

• eu cântam — I was singing
• tu cântai — you were singing
• eu citeam — I was reading
• el citea — he was reading

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:

• eu cântai — I sang
• tu cântași — you sang
• eu citii — I read
• el citi — he read

Examples:

• eu cântasem — I had sung
• tu cântaseși — you had sung
• eu citisem — I had read
• el citise — he had read

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

Examples:

• eu voi cânta — I will sing
• ei vor cânta — they will sing

The future perfect is formed by using the above auxiliaries with fi and the past participle.

Examples:

• eu voi fi cântat — I will have sung
• ei vor fi cântat — they will have sung

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

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 mori — I am going to die vs. You are going to die

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 cânt — I was going to sing
• avea să cânte — He was going to sing
• aveați să citiți? — Were you going to read?
• aveau să vină — They were going to come

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 să.

Examples:

• Present:
  • el să cânte ceva pentru noi — he should sing something for us.
  • eu vreau că el să 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

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:

• el cântă → el să cânte
• el deranjează → el să deranjeze
• el vine → el să vină
• el citește → el să citească
• el urăște → el să urască

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

Examples:

• el cântă → el să cânte → el să fi cântat
• el vine → el să vină → el să fi venit

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:

• el cântă (he sings) → cântă! (sing!)
• el vorbește (he speaks) → vorbește! (speak!)

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:

• cântă! (sing!) → nu cânta! (don't sing!)
• vorbește! (speak!) → nu vorbi! (don't speak!)

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

Examples:

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

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

Examples:

• eu am cântat — I have sung
• ei au cântat — they have sung

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

Examples:

• eu aș cânta dacă aș ști versurile — I would sing if I knew the lyrics
• ei ar cânta — they would sing

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

Examples:

• eu aș fi cântat — I would have sung
• ei ar fi cântat — they would have sung

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

Examples:

• eu oi cânta — I might sing
• ei or cânta — they might sing

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 cântat — I might have sung
• ei or fi cântat — they might have sung

• Appendix:Romanian first conjugation
• Appendix:Romanian second conjugation
• Appendix:Romanian third conjugation
• Appendix:Romanian fourth conjugation