Words in this Lesson

om	man
prieten	friend
fată	girl
copii	children, kids
în faţă	in front
brânză	cheese
foarte	very
veche	old (for objects)
stea	star
albastră	blue (f)
frumoasă	beautiful (f)
mâncare	food
bere	beer
mîine	tomorrow
dimineaţă	morning
ceas	watch
Lesson 6: Subjunctive

In other languages if one wanted to say "I want to go" or "He needs to buy", the infinitive form of the second verb would be used (i.e. "to go" or "to buy"). To say these phrases in Romanian the speaker must use a form called the subjunctive. Speakers caught not using the subjunctive are usually dragged into the street and beaten with clubs (ciomege).

Examples of the subjunctive: Trebuie să mergem la Bucureşti. We have to go to Bucharest. Nu pot să vorbesc ungureşte. I cannot speak Hungarian.

As you can see, the subjunctive is  "să + present tense". Just as with the normal present tense, the subjunctive is conjugated so personal pronouns are unnecessary.  

Trebuie să merg	I have to go
Trebuie să mergi	You have to go
Trebuie să meargă	He/She has to go
Trebuie să mergem	We have to go
Trebuie să mergeţi	You (pl) have to go
Trebuie să meargă	They have to go

("Trebuie" is like the French "il faut", meaning "it is necessary").  

You may notice that the 3rd person form (meargă) is a bit different than the normal 3rd person present tense (merge). This change in the 3rd person form will be common when forming the subjunctive, but everything else stays the same.

The rules for this change in the 3rd person are fairly simple. Here are the rules and some examples using "merge", "întreba", and "vorbi"; meaning "to go", "to ask", and "to speak", respectively.  

Change	Condition	Example
e -> ea	middle of word	merge -> meargă
e -> ă	end of word	merge -> meargă
ă -> e	end of word	întreabă -> întrebe
ea -> e	middle of word	întreabă -> întrebe
eşte -> ească	end of word	vorbeşte -> vorbească

Constructions using the subjunctive are usually started with "putea", "vrea", and "trebui". Here are some example sentences containing the subjunctive.

Pot să scriu foarte bine. I can write very well. Nu poţi să citeşti prea bine. You cannot read too well.

Trebuie să vorbim cu el. We need to speak with him. Trebuie să vorbească cu noi. He/She must speak with us. Nu trebuie să plecăm mîine. We don't need to leave tomorrow. El trebuie să plece în seara asta. He needs to leave tonight.* Ea trebuie să plece mîine seară. She needs to leave tomorrow night.*  * The personal pronoun is used here to avoid ambiguity, as "să plece" can imply "he", "she" or "they".

Vreau să merg la Oradea. I want to go to Oradea. Vreau să mergi la Oradea. I want you to go to Oradea. Vrem să mergeţi la Oradea. We want you all to go to Oradea.

Lesson 7: Future

    The future tense in Romanian can be constructed in three different ways, or avoided like the plague/potholes/Al Gore for those of us with lesser linguistic abilities. If you would still like to use it, the constructions are: 1. present tense + time expression 2. 'o' + subjunctive 3. conjugation of "voi" + verb infinitive Confused? Don't worry, we don't expect you to understand yet! Just keep reading....

1. Present Tense + Time Expression

Here is an example of what we're talking about. Mergem la Salonta mîine dimineaţă. We're going to Salonta tomorrow morning. Prietenul meu vine din munţi poimîine. My friend is coming from the mountains the day after tomorrow.

You can see that the verbs (in bold face) are conjugated in the present tense, but the time expressions that follow imply the future tense. Here are some more time expressions that can be used:    

mîine	tomorrow
poimîine	day after tomorrow
răspoimîine	3 days after today
mîine dimineaţă	tomorrow morning
acuma seara	tonight
săptămâna viitoare	next week
luna viitoare	next month
anul viitor	next year
mîine seară	tomorrow evening
seara asta	tonight, this evening

2. 'O' + Subjunctive

Another way to form the future is by combining 'o' and the subjunctive. For example: O să bem apă minerală la casa lui Victor. We will drink mineral water at Victor's house. O să vezi tu însuţi cînd vine.    You will see for yourself when he comes. Nu ştim dacă o să vină şi ea.   We don't know if she's coming too.

3. Conjugation of "Voi" plus verb infinitive

The third way to form the future is by using "voi", a form of the verb meaning "to want"(much like english "I will do this"). Below  you will find the conjugation of "voi" needed for the future tense:    

eu	voi
tu	vei
el, ea	va
noi	vom
voi	veţi
ei	vor

The verb infinitive for "to see" is "a vedea". The 'a' before the word is like the 'to' in english verb infinitves ("to see"). The 'a' may be ignored for now, all we need is voi + vedea. See the examples below.

Voi vedea filmul poimîine.  I will see the movie the day after tomorrow. Nelu va vedea luna plină.  Nelu will see the full moon. Va veni şi Marta. Marta will come too. Nelu şi Lidia vor fi la biserică astăzi. Nelu and Lidia will be at church today.