Part 5 * Tense

Buna şi Salut !  How is learning going? I really hope guys that you have learnt all the stuff I have explained till now because today I am gonna start a very important part, Grammar. If you remember my first post, I have mentioned that we are gonna get started with 1^st and 2^nd person mostly. In common language with me and you.

    Ok so considering few of our old examples of sentences, you might get to know that Romanians don’t use obvious pronouns. Now what I mean by obvious pronouns? Consider an example:

I am good – Here “I” is obvious pronoun and can be removed like – am good – still makes same sense.

So pronouns which comes with helping verbs capable of specifying the pronoun (like “am” is capable of specifying “I”) are called obvious pronouns. That’s why most Romanians omit them while speaking to be faster.

Pronouns	Pronume	Helping Verbs
I	Eu	am	sunt	have	am
You	Tu	are	esti	have	ai

So as you see that unlikely English, in Română we have some specific helping verbs for specific pronouns which is why its become worthless to use obvious pronouns. Before we practice, lets have a little recap for whom, who didn’t read one-two trick section in last post.

        So in Română, when you say “one something” you use un if that something is masculine gender and o if that something is feminine gender. Same goes for when you say “two something” you use doi if that something is masculine gender and două if that something is feminine gender.

        Now if the noun is neutar then you use un when its singular and două when its two as neutar behaves like masculine in singular and feminine in plural.

Lets practice:

I am good.

Sunt bine. (bine – good)

You are teacher.

Esti profesor/profesoară. (profesor(m) – male teacher/profesoară(f) – female teacher)

I have one dog.

Am un căine. (căine (m)-dog)

You have one apple.

Ai un măr.

I hope that its clear now why Romanians dont use obvious pronouns and how to use described helping verbs.

        Now its time to move to little verb and tense part which would be really tough as Română has many tenses but luckily we just need to have knowledge about five tenses (one present, two past, two future)

        Present tense will be equal to Present Continuous or Indefinite of English. Past tenses will be in two forms, one like past indefinite or perfect and other like past continous. Future tenses will also be in two forms but you can use either of it as simple Future Indefinite in English.

Ok so lets start with Present (Present Indefinite)

I go. – (Eu) merg.

Here use of obvious pronoun eu is optional as mentioned above. Merg is present tense verb form of to go (a merge) used specifically with eu. Yes, you have guessed right, in Română you use a verb-name to say infinitive form of verb. As for example:

To do – A face, To play – A juca and so on.

Lets have a look on more examples:

You go. – (Tu) mergi.

I do. – (Eu) fac.

You do. – (Tu) faci.

        So as you see the every personal pronoun takes their own form of verb which makes them obvious pronoun. Thats why its hard to learn list of verbs as you have to learn 6 forms for single verb in one tense. Easy Easy for moment we are only talking about me  and you so you just have to learn 2 forms. Rest we will see later.

Past I (Past Indefinite or perfect)

This tense is relatively easy than Present one as it uses only one form of verb for every personal pronoun. Lets have a look:

I went. / I have gone. - (Eu) am mers.

You went. / You have gone. – (Tu) ai mers.

Now in this tense, as main verb form is identical for every personal pronoun. But still pronouns are optional because they can be identified by helping verbs(am, ai).

So yes its gonna be easy to learn as you are already used very these helping verbs and all you need to lear is one form of the main verb.

Past II (Past Continous)

This tense is gonna be same as Present tense in difficulty as every personal pronoun takes different form of verb. For example:

I was doing. – (Eu) făceam.

You were doing. – (Tu) făceai.

So here for moment you need to learn two form per each verb. One for eu other for tu. I am gonna tell you few rules which might help you to make form of verb in this tense. But for that you need to know infinitive form of verb.

Rule no 1 : General

Infinitive form of verb + am – for eu

Infinitive form of verb + ai – for tu

Example:

to go – a merge ( infinitive form)

Merge+am – mergeam (for eu) – I was going.

merge+ai – mergeai (for tu) – You were going.

There are few exceptions of this rule but even then this helps a lot to make verb forms. For example:

Face+am – făceam (for eu) – I was doing.

Face+ai – făceai (for tu) – You were doing.

Rule No 2 : Verbs infinitive form ending in i

Change i into e + am – for eu

Change i into e + ai – for tu

Example:

to know – a şti

Şte+am – şteam (for eu) – I was knowing.

Şte+ai – şteai (for tu) – You were knowing.

Rule No 3: Verbs infinitive form ending in a

Infinitive form of verb + m (from am)– for eu

Infinitive form of verb + i (from ai)– for tu

Example:

to run – a alerga

Alerga+m – alergam (for eu) – I was running.

Alerga+i – alergai (for tu) – You were running.

Future I (Simple future)

For representing future, we use this tense. Its easy as every personal pronoun takes same form and differentiated by other helping verb. Lets have a look:

I will go. - (Eu) voi merge.

You will go. – (Tu) vei merge.

If you could notice, the form of verb is same as in its infinitive form (a merge). This can be taken as rule. In this tense , always the infinitive form of verb is used. Thats why its my preferable future tense over Future II.

Voi + infinitive form of verb – for eu

 Vei + infinitive form of verb – for tu

Future II(Simple future)

This tense is also used to represent simple future and its exact same as Present Tense but we just add o sa before main verb present form. For example:

I will go. – (Eu) o sa merg.

You will go. – (Tu) o sa mergi.

As you can see that form of verbs ( merg, mergi) are same as in present. The only thing you need to add is : o sa  before them.

      So its upto you now that which future tense you decide to use. I am gonna list out few important verbs which you are gonna use real frequently in day to day life with their respective forms of personal pronouns. Learn it really well to make yourself one step up in learning Română :

Present (Present Indefinite or Continuous) / Future II

(Eu)/(Eu) o să	(Tu)/(Tu) o să	VERB	MEANING
Fac	Faci	A FACE	TO DO
Merg	Mergi	AMERGE	TO GO
Fug	Fugi	A FUGI	TO RUN
Ştiu	Ştii	A ŞTI	TO KNOW
*******	*******	*******	*******
Joc	Joci	A JUCA	TO PLAY
Spăl	Speli	A SPĂLA	TO WASH
Cânt	Cânţi	A CÂNTA	TO SING
Alerg	Alergi	AALERGA	TO RUN
Învăţ	Înveţi	A ÎNVĂŢA	TO LEARN
Urc	Urci	A URCA	TO GO UP
Spăl	Speli	A SPĂLA	TO WASH
Dau	Dai	A DA	TO GIVE
Curăţ	Curăţi	ACURĂŢA	TO CLEAN
*******	*******	*******	*******
Vorbesc	Vorbeşti	A VORBI	TO TALK
muncesc	Munceşti	A MUNCI	TO WORK
Citesc	Citeşti	A CITI	TO READ

Past I (Past Indefinite or Perfect)

(Eu) am	(Tu) ai	VERB	MEANING
Făcut		A FACE	TO DO
Mers		AMERGE	TO GO
Ştiut		A ŞTI	TO KNOW
**************		*******	*******
Jucat		A JUCA	TO PLAY
Spălat		A SPĂLA	TO WASH
Cântat		A CÂNTA	TO SING
Alergat		AALERGA	TO RUN
Învăţat		A ÎNVĂŢA	TO LEARN
Urcat		A URCA	TO GO UP
Spălat		A SPĂLA	TO WASH
Dat		A DA	TO GIVE
Curăţat		ACURĂŢA	TO CLEAN
**************		*******	*******
Fugit		A FUGI	TO RUN
Vorbit		A VORBI	TO TALK
Muncit		A MUNCI	TO WORK
Citit		A CITI	TO READ

Past II (Past Continuous)

(Eu)	(Tu)	VERB	MEANING
Făceam	Făceai	A FACE	TO DO
mergeam	Mergeai	A MERGE	TO GO
Fugeam	Fugeai	A FUGI	TO RUN
Steam	Şteai	A ŞTI	TO KNOW
*******	*******	*******	*******
Jucam	Jucai	A JUCA	TO PLAY
Spălam	Spălai	A SPĂLA	TO WASH
Cântam	cântai	A CÂNTA	TO SING
Alergam	alergai	A ALERGA	TO RUN
Învăţam	învăţai	A ÎNVĂŢA	TO LEARN/STUDY
Urcam	Urcai	A URCA	TO GO IN UP
Spălam	Spălai	A SPĂLA	TO WASH
Dam	Dai	A DA	TO GIVE
Curăţam	Curăţai	A CURĂŢA	TO CLEAN
*******	*******	*******	*******
Vorbeam	Vorbeai	A VORBI	TO TALK
munceam	munceai	A MUNCI	TO WORK
Citeam	citeai	A CITI	TO READ

Future I

(Eu) voi	(Tu) vei	VERB	MEANING
Face		A FACE	TO DO
Merge		A MERGE	TO GO
Fugi		A FUGI	TO RUN
Şti		A ŞTI	TO KNOW
*********************		*******	*******
Juca		A JUCA	TO PLAY
Spăla		A SPĂLA	TO WASH
Cânta		A CÂNTA	TO SING
Alerga		AALERGA	TO RUN
Învăţa		A ÎNVĂŢA	TO LEARN
Urca		A URCA	TO GO UP
Spăla		A SPĂLA	TO WASH
Da		A DA	TO GIVE
Curăţa		ACURĂŢA	TO CLEAN
*********************		*******	*******
Vorbi		A VORBI	TO TALK
Munci		A MUNCI	TO WORK
Citi		A CITI	TO READ

So now we are all set. You have verbs and their respective forms so go on and use each and every as much as you can. Now you should also be able to make small sentences using vocabularies you already know. Like:

I wash an apple.

(Eu) spăl un măr.

So open your creative eyes and start building small sentences. I am sure that after having good practice with above verbs, you would start to feel the difference in your level. Good luck !

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