Verbs: Perfect Tense — Romanian Grammar

The perfect (Romanian perfectul compus) is the everyday past tense - what you reach for to say what happened: "I ate", "I have seen", "she left". It covers both English "I did" and "I have done".

How It Is Built

Two pieces: a short helper from (to have) + the past participle of the main verb. The past participle is the fixed "-ed / -en" form of the verb, e.g. (eaten), (seen):

(I), (you), (he/she), (we), (you pl.), (they) + participle

am mâncat
I ate / I have eaten
ai văzut
you saw
a plecat
he/she left
am cumpărat pâine
we bought bread

The Participle Never Changes

This is the part that makes Romanian's perfect easy: the participle stays the same no matter who the subject is or what gender they are. Only the little helper changes:

Am cumpărat ouă.
I bought eggs.
Maria a cumpărat ouă.
Maria bought eggs.

Always 'avea', Never 'a fi'

Some European languages use "to be" as the past helper for certain verbs. Romanian does not: the helper is always .

Am fost la mall.
I have been to the mall. (even a fi takes the a avea helper)
Au plecat deja.
They have already left.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Romanian course

60 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 47. A few of them, with the words “Verbs: Perfect Tense” is about in bold:

Am cumpărat o duzină de ouă și o ciocolată și pentru tine.
I bought a dozen eggs and a candy bar for you too.
Lesson 47
Am fost la mall.
I went to the shopping mall.
Lesson 172
Nu te-am mai văzut de nouă ani!
I haven't seen you for nine years!
Lesson 175

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