Romanian verbs in present tense

In the English language infinitive form of the verb starts from the particle “to” (e.g. to work, to play, to do, etc.) and in the Romanian language it is similar, but all Romanian verbs in the infinitive form start from the particle “a”: a fugi, a începe, a dansa, a scrie. Romanian verbs have 4 conjugations. They are identified by verb endings:

1^st conjugation – [-a]: a lucra – to work, a iua – to take*, a mânca – to eat, a studia – to study, a invata – to learn.

2^nd conjugation -[-ea]:  a vedea – to see*, a bea – to drink, a crea – to create, a avea – to have*, a cădea – to fall.

3^rd conjugation – [-e]: a scrie – to write, a merge – to go, a crede – to believe, a pune – to put, a conduce – to drive.

4^th conjugation – [-i]/[- î]: a citi – to read, a sări – to jump, a veni – to come*, a construi – to build, a gândi – to think.

*- irregular verbs

Conjugation of Romanian verbs in the present tense

Let’s consider how to conjugate Romanian verbs in the present tense in each of these conjugations.

A lucra – to work (1^st. conj.)

Eu lucrez	I work
Tu lucrezi	You work
El, Ea lucrează	He, she works
Noi lucrăm	We work
Voi lucrați	You work (plural)
Ei, Ele lucrează	They work

The pronouns Ei, Ele both mean “They”. However, Ei is used when one speaks about men or men with women, and Ele is used when one speaks only about women.

A crea – to create (2^nd conj. )

Eu creez	I create
Tu crezi	You create
El, Ea creeaza	He, She creates
Noi creăm	We create
Voi creați	You create (plural)
Ei, Ele creează	They create

A scrie – to write (3rd conj.)

Eu scriu	I write
Tu scrii	You write
El, Ea scrie	He, She writes
Noi scriem	We write
Voi scrieți	You write (plural)
El, Ele scriu	They write

A vorbi – to speak, a fugi – to run (4th conj.)

There are verbs in this conjugation that have postfix –sc at conjugation with Eu (I) and Ei, Ele (they) and the suffix –es with Tu(you) and El, Ea(he, she). There is no exact rule to determine whether a verb has this suffix or not.

Eu vorbesc	I speak	Eu fug	I run
Tu vorbești	You speak	Tu fugi	You run
El, Ea vorbește	He, she speaks	El, Ea fuge	He, she runs
Noi vorbim	We speak	Noi fugim	We run
Voi vorbiți	You speak	Voi fugiți	You run
Ei, Ele vorbesc	They speak	Ei, Ele fug	They run

In this lesson, we considered only regular Romanian verbs in the present tense. In the next lesson, we will consider irregular verbs and other constructions. Now let’s consider some examples.

Examples

Eu vorbesc limba Română – I speak Romanian language (limba – language, Română – Romanian)

El scrie o scrisoare – He writes a letter (scrisoare – letter)

Noi dormim puțin – We sleep a little (puțin – a little)

Ei construiesc  o casă – They build a house (casă – house)