The Romanian present subjunctive with să

The present subjunctive is a verb form introduced by să. It commonly follows another verb or an impersonal expression to show a wish, request, ability, necessity, or possible action: Vreau să învăț română. (I want to learn Romanian.)

How do you form the present subjunctive?

Put să before the present-tense form that agrees with the subject. Third-person singular and plural use the same subjunctive form. This form often differs from the present indicative.

For eu, tu, noi, and voi, most verbs use the same form as in the present indicative. The main exception is a fi, whose full paradigm appears below. The marker să and the surrounding construction identify the subjunctive. In the third person, compare indicative el merge with subjunctive să meargă. The forms el / ea and ei / ele share să meargă. Romanian often omits the subject pronoun when the context is clear; see Romanian subject pronouns.

What changes in the third person?

The present indicative provides a comparison, but it does not give a universal conversion formula. A third-person indicative ending in -ă often corresponds to subjunctive -e. A third-person indicative ending in -e often corresponds to subjunctive -ă. Learn stem changes and irregular verbs individually.

Some common patterns change more than a final vowel: lucrează becomes să lucreze, and construiește becomes să construiască. Forms ending in -ie, such as scrie, can remain identical in the indicative and subjunctive. The marker să and the surrounding construction identify the mood. See stem changes in the Romanian present tense for the wider pattern.

Which irregular forms should you learn first?

High-frequency verbs follow more than one pattern. Learn the full six-person set for each high-frequency verb, especially a fi, a avea, a da, and a lua.

Compare these full paradigms with the broader common irregular present verbs. Keep the diacritics in forms such as să fii, să aibă, să dăm, and să mănânce.

When do you use să after another verb?

Use the subjunctive after frequent verbs of wanting, preference, permission, request, advice, ability, and knowledge. The subject can be the same as the first verb or different.

The subject of the second verb is often understood from context: Vreau să vii means I want you to come. If you need to state that subject explicitly for contrast or clarity, use ca before it and put să after it: Vreau ca tu să vii, nu ca el să vină. (I want you to come, not him.)

How does it work after impersonal expressions?

Impersonal expressions also commonly take să plus a present form. They express necessity, evaluation, possibility, or recommendation without a normal personal subject in the first clause.

How do you negate it and place short pronouns?

Put nu and unstressed pronouns between să and the verb. In a negative group, nu comes before the pronoun: să nu-mi spui (not să-mi nu spui).

Short object or reflexive pronouns stay close to the verb after să: să-l văd (to see him / it), să-i spun (to tell him / her), and să mă opresc (to stop). For the wider placement rule for nu, see Romanian negation with nu.

Why does o să use the same forms?

The future frame o să is followed by the same present-tense forms used after să, but the meaning is future rather than desire, request, or necessity: Mâine o să merg la București. (Tomorrow I will go to Bucharest.) See the future with o să for its full formation and use.

The frame can also contain nu and short pronouns: Nu o să-mi uit pașaportul. (I will not forget my passport.) In speech and writing, n-o să is also used as a contracted negative form. Do not read o să merg as “I want to go”: here o să marks the future.

Does să always translate as an English infinitive?

No single English form matches every Romanian să clause. Depending on the matrix verb and context, English may use to plus a verb, an -ing form, a finite clause with that, or a modal expression. Translate the whole construction, not să by itself.

The verb a putea allows another Romanian construction: both Pot să vin and Pot veni are standard ways to say I can come. The a putea pattern does not apply automatically to every verb that takes să. Use the construction required by each matrix verb.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not use the third-person indicative automatically: Ea vrea să meargă, not Ea vrea să merge.
• Do not add să before an English-style infinitive with no agreement: use Vreau să citesc, not Vreau să a citi.
• Do not put nu after a short pronoun: să nu-mi spui, not să-mi nu spui.
• Do not confuse future o să merg with the present subjunctive in a wish or request; the surrounding construction gives the meaning.
• Do not assume that one irregular pattern predicts another: learn să fiu, să am, să dau, să iau, and să merg as forms of their individual verbs.