Romanian verbs in past tense

In this lesson of Romanian language you will learn to conjugate some irregular verbs in present tense, conjugate Romanian verbs in past tense, and learn question words.

A fi – to be, this is the most irregular verb in Romanian language, as well as in all other languages. Just memorize its conjugation.

Eu suntI am
Tu eștiYou are
El, Ea esteHe, She is
Noi suntemWe are
Voi suntețiYou are
Ei, Ele suntThey are

And we have to memorize these two Romanian irregular verbs:

A avea – to have

Eu amI have
Tu aiYou have
El, Ea areHe, She has
Noi avemWe have
Voi avețiYou have
Ei, Ele auThey have

A lua – to take

Eu iauI take
Tu ieiYou take
El, Ea iaHe, She takes
Noi luămWe take
Voi luațiYou take
Ei, Ele iauThey take

Romanian past tense

The Romanian past tense considered in this lesson is called “Imperfect”, or just analogue of English past tense that has –ed verb endings. This tense is easier to memorize than present one – you need to memorize only three rules:

For Romanian verbs ending in –A or –E, the stem in past tense looks the same as the verb in infinitive form.

A învăța – to learn, past stem – învăța-

Eu învățamI learned
Tu învățaiYou learned
El, Ea învățaHe, She learned
Noi învățamWe learned
Voi învățatiYou learned
Ei, Ele învățauThey learned

Romanian verbs ending in –i will have –i replaced with –e.

A munci – to work, past stem – munce-

Eu muncamI worked
Tu munceaiYou worked
El, Ea munceaHe, She worked
Noi munceamWe worked
Voi munceațiYou worked
Ei, Ele munceauThey worked




And verbs ending in î will just have –î cut off.

A hotărî – to decide, past stem – hotăr-

Eu hotăramI decided
Tu hotăraiYou decided
El, Ea hotăreaHe, She decided
Noi hotăramWe decided
Voi hotărațiYou decided
Ei, Ele hotărauThey decided

Romanian irregular verbs “A fi”, “A avea”, “A lua”  in past tense

Among these three irregular Romanian verbs, only one is irregular in this past tense – A fi – to be.

Eu eramI was
Tu eraiYou were
El, Ea eraHe, She was
Noi eramWe were
Voi erațiYou were
Ei, Ele erauThey were

And the verbs A avea – to have and A lua – to take are regular here:

A avea – to haveA lua – to take
Eu aveamEu luam
Tu aveaiTu luai
El, Ea aveaEl, Ea lua
Noi aveamNoi luam
Voi aveațiVoi luați
Ei, Ele aveauEi, Ele luau



Memorize Romanian question words

Ce? – What?

Cine? – Who?

Unde? – Where?

Când – When?

De ce? – Why?

Cât? – How?

Cât de mult? – How much/many?

Examples

Ea învăța limba rusă – She learned Russian language (învăța – to learn)

Ele erau ocupați – They were busy (ocupat – busy)

Ce (tu) vedeai acolo? – What did you see there? (a vedea – to see, acolo – there)

Ei beau bere cu mine – They drank beer with me (a bea – to drink, cu – with, mine – me)

Eu nu amintesc când călătoream acolo – I don’t remember when I traveled there (a amintea – to remember, călători – to travel, acolo – there)

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