Romanian's future with voi uses a person-marked auxiliary followed by the verb's short infinitive without a: Voi lucra mâine de acasă. (I will work from home tomorrow.) The auxiliary carries person and number; the following form is a bare infinitive, not a finite present form.
How do you form the future with voi?
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with the subject, then add the verb's short infinitive without the infinitive marker a. This is the same bare-infinitive pattern introduced in the Romanian infinitive and dictionary form.
| Subject | Auxiliary | Future of a lucra | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | voi | voi lucra | I will work |
| tu | vei | vei lucra | you will work |
| el / ea | va | va lucra | he / she will work |
| noi | vom | vom lucra | we will work |
| voi | veți | veți lucra | you will work |
| ei / ele | vor | vor lucra | they will work |
The lexical verb does not change for the six persons: voi citi, vei citi, va citi, vom citi, veți citi, vor citi (I, you, he or she, we, you, they will read). Because the auxiliary already marks the subject, Romanian can omit a subject pronoun when the context is clear: Vom pleca la opt. (We will leave at eight.)
Why is the verb after voi a bare infinitive?
The dictionary form is normally a merge (to go), but the future construction removes a and keeps the short infinitive merge: Voi merge mâine. (I will go tomorrow.) The form merge here is not the present tense “he or she goes”; its function comes from the future auxiliary before it.
- Use voi + merge: Voi merge la bibliotecă. (I will go to the library.)
- Use vei + vedea: Vei vedea rezultatul. (You will see the result.)
- Use va + fi: Va fi gata până vineri. (It will be ready by Friday.)
- Do not insert a after the auxiliary: Voi merge, not Voi a merge.
- Do not put a present-tense ending after the auxiliary: Vom lucra, not Vom lucrăm or Vom lucrează.
How do you negate it and place clitics?
Put nu before the entire future structure. Unstressed object or reflexive pronouns also come before the auxiliary, so the basic order is nu + clitic + auxiliary + bare infinitive in a negative sentence, and clitic + auxiliary + bare infinitive in a positive sentence. See Romanian negation with nu and the articles on unstressed direct-object pronouns and unstressed indirect-object pronouns for the wider clitic system.
| Function | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| No clitic | Voi întârzia. (I will be late.) | Nu voi întârzia. (I will not be late.) |
| Direct object | Îl voi suna. (I will call him.) | Nu îl voi suna. (I will not call him.) |
| Reflexive | Mă voi întoarce. (I will return.) | Nu mă voi întoarce. (I will not return.) |
| Indirect object | Îți voi trimite adresa. (I will send you the address.) | Nu îți voi trimite adresa. (I will not send you the address.) |
The first row is only a word-order reminder: a natural negative sentence needs a verb, as in Nu voi întârzia. In ordinary writing, some short clitics may also appear in a hyphenated form, such as Nu-l voi suna and Nu-ți voi trimite adresa. The placement remains before the auxiliary.
How do you ask a question?
Romanian does not give the future a special question form. Keep the same auxiliary and bare infinitive, then use interrogative intonation in speech and a question mark in writing: Vei veni mâine? (Will you come tomorrow?) A question word can come first: Când vei pleca? (When will you leave?)
- Yes-or-no question: Vom începe la nouă? (Will we start at nine?)
- Question with a subject: Când va ajunge Maria? (When will Maria arrive?)
- Question with a clitic: Îl vei vedea la gară? (Will you see him at the station?)
- Negative question: Nu vei rămâne aici? (Won't you stay here?)
When do you use this future?
Use the future with voi for a future event or state, especially when you want the clear, person-marked auxiliary pattern. A time expression is optional: Voi termina raportul până mâine. (I will finish the report by tomorrow.)
- A prediction or expectation: Cred că va ploua diseară. (I think it will rain this evening.)
- A decision, promise, or planned action: Voi verifica datele și îți voi răspunde. (I will check the data and reply to you.)
- A future action viewed from a past point: Știam că vei veni. (I knew you would come.) Romanian does not require the English-style backshift here.
- A relative future before another future event: După ce vei termina, vom discuta. (After you finish, we will discuss it.)
- With firm or imperative-like intonation: Vei trimite documentele astăzi! (You will send the documents today!) This force comes from context and intonation, not from a new verb form.
How does voi compare with o să and other future forms?
The future with voi and the future with o să can both refer to an event after the speaking moment: Voi pleca mâine and O să plec mâine both mean “I will leave tomorrow.” The structures are different: voi is followed by the bare infinitive, while o să is followed by a present-subjunctive form, as in o să plec, o să pleci, o să plece. The separate future with o să article develops that pattern.
| Construction | Example | Usage comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Future with voi | Voi pleca mâine. (I will leave tomorrow.) | Standard and especially useful in formal, official, scientific, or administrative writing; also available in careful speech. |
| Future with o să | O să plec mâine. (I will leave tomorrow.) | A very frequent conversational future in the descriptive comparison consulted. |
| Future with am să | Am să plec mâine. (I will leave tomorrow.) | A standard alternative, described in the consulted grammar as common in informal, familiar speech; the first and second plural are less frequent there. |
| Present with future reference | Mâine plec la Cluj. (Tomorrow I am leaving for Cluj.) | The present can refer to a definite near-future plan when the context makes the timing clear. |
These register descriptions are tendencies, not a ranking of correct versus incorrect Romanian. The future with voi is a living Standard Romanian construction and should not be treated as obsolete. The auxiliary forms come historically from a vrea “to want”, but in Voi pleca they form a future construction; compare lexical vor in Ei vor cafea. (They want coffee.) with future vor in Ei vor pleca. (They will leave.)
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Do not use a after the auxiliary: Vei vedea, not Vei a vedea.
- Do not make the lexical verb finite after the auxiliary: Vor lucra, not Vor lucrează.
- Do not move nu after the auxiliary: Nu voi pleca, not Voi nu pleca.
- Do not put an unstressed clitic after the infinitive: Îl voi ajuta, not Voi ajuta-l.
- Do not confuse the auxiliary vor in Vor veni with lexical vor in Vor o cafea; the following construction and meaning identify the difference.
Which sentence uses the person-marked future auxiliary voi?
- Voi lucra mâine.
- O să lucrez mâine.
- Lucrez mâine.
- Am lucrat ieri.
Voi lucra contains the first-person singular future auxiliary voi followed by the bare infinitive lucra. The other options express the future with o să, the present with future reference, and the compound past.
Complete the sentence: Tu ___ la ședință mâine. (You will go to the meeting tomorrow.)
- va merge
- vei mergi
- vei merge
- vei a merge
The second-person singular auxiliary is vei, and it takes the bare infinitive merge: vei merge. Va is third-person singular, mergi is a finite present form, and a merge incorrectly retains a after the auxiliary.
Choose the correct future sentence for “Ana will come tomorrow.”
- Ana voi veni mâine.
- Ana va veni mâine.
- Ana vor veni mâine.
- Ana va vine mâine.
A third-person singular subject such as Ana takes va, followed by the bare infinitive veni: Ana va veni mâine. Voi and vor mark other persons, while vine is a finite present form.
Which sentence correctly says “I will not call him”?
- Nu voi îl suna.
- Îl nu voi suna.
- Nu îl voi sun.
- Nu îl voi suna.
The negative particle comes before the future structure, and the direct-object clitic îl comes before the auxiliary: Nu îl voi suna. The other options misplace the clitic or use the wrong form after voi.
Which statement best describes the future with voi?
- It is a current Standard Romanian future, with a stronger presence in formal and official writing than in casual conversation.
- It is obsolete and should be replaced by o să in all contexts.
- It is a present-tense form because the second verb has no ending.
- It can only describe a plan that has already been arranged.
The future with voi remains a standard, productive construction. The consulted descriptive grammar reports that it is less frequent in current speech and common in scientific, administrative, and official styles, while o să is frequent in conversation; neither form makes the other incorrect.