Verbs: The Infinitive with 'a' — Romanian Grammar

The infinitive is the basic, "to do" form of a verb - the form you look up in a dictionary. In Romanian it is marked by the little word in front of it, exactly like English "to":

a merge
to go
a fi
to be
a mânca
to eat

The Three Endings

The infinitive ending tells you which conjugation group a verb belongs to (this matters for forming the present): -a (), -ea / -e (, ), and -i / -î (, ).

Romanian Prefers 'să' Instead

Here is the surprise for learners: in everyday Romanian the plain infinitive is used much less than in English. Where English says "I want to eat", Romanian usually says "I want that I eat", using the subjunctive with :

Vreau să mănânc.
I want to eat. (not "vreau a mânca")
Pot să te ajut.
I can help you.

So although the infinitive is the citation form, you will hear the -construction far more often (it has its own topic).

Where the Infinitive Does Appear

The future tense uses the bare infinitive, without the : (I will go), (we will leave).
The negative command uses it: (don't leave!).
After the preposition (in order to) and a few fixed phrases.

Voi veni mâine.
I will come tomorrow.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Romanian course

42 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 52. A few of them, with the words “Verbs: The Infinitive with 'a'” is about in bold:

Aș vrea să fii mai cumpătat.
I wish you were more frugal.
Lesson 328
Vreau să cumpăr această plantă. Va arăta minunat în camera mea.
I want to buy this plant. It will look great in my room.
Lesson 384
Joi voi vizita muzeul.
I will visit the museum on Thursday.
Lesson 396

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