The Subjunctive with 'să' — Romanian Grammar

The subjunctive is the verb form introduced by . Think of as "to" or "that": it links two verbs, and it is the everyday Romanian way of doing what English does with a plain infinitive. It is one of the most frequent structures in the language.

How It Is Built

+ a present-tense verb. For most persons the verb looks just like the present: (that I go), (that we go). The one form that changes is the third person (he / she / they), where the final vowel flips - an -ă becomes -e, and an -e becomes -ă:

el lucrează → să lucreze
he works → that he work.
el merge → să meargă
he goes → that he go. (the stem e widens to ea as well)

The two commonest verbs of all have their own third-person forms, worth learning straight off: (that he be) and (that she have).

'Let's' and Purpose

With it forms a suggestion, "let's":

Hai să mergem!
Let's go!

And it expresses purpose, "in order to":

Merg să cumpăr pâine.
I'm going to buy bread.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Romanian course

100 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 8. A few of them, with the words “The Subjunctive with 'să'” is about in bold:

Vreau să merg acasă acum.
I want to go home now.
Lesson 71
Da. Hai să mâncăm mâncare chinezească.
Yes. Let's eat Chinese food.
Lesson 127
Trebuie să merg cu bicicleta până îmi cumpăr o mașină nouă.
I have to ride my bike until I get a new car.
Lesson 301

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