Negative commands

A Romanian negative command tells someone not to do something: Nu atingeți exponatele! (Do not touch the exhibits!) The form depends on whether you address one familiar person, several people, or one person formally. For one familiar person, the key pattern is nu plus the verb's infinitive without a: a atinge becomes nu atinge.

How do you form a negative command?

For tu, put nu before the bare infinitive; for voi or formal dumneavoastră, put nu before the second-person plural present form.

1. Start with the dictionary form, such as a veni or a hotărî. The initial a is the infinitive particle, not part of the singular negative command.
2. For one familiar person, remove that particle: a veni gives veni, and a hotărî gives hotărî.
3. Place nu before the remaining verb: Nu veni! (Do not come!) and Nu hotărî! (Do not decide!).
4. For several people or one formal addressee, use nu plus the voi form: Nu veniți! (Do not come!).

Why does the singular negative look like an infinitive?

The singular negative is built from the infinitive without its particle a, so it does not usually copy the affirmative tu imperative or the tu present. This gives useful contrasts such as Mergi! (Go!) versus Nu merge! (Do not go!), and Râzi! (Laugh!) versus Nu râde! (Do not laugh!).

Do not add the infinitive particle after nu: Nu cânta! is correct, not Nu a cânta!. The same construction works with reflexive infinitives, but the reflexive pronoun changes position; a se duce gives Nu te duce! (Do not go!). See the Romanian infinitive and dictionary form for the dictionary-form terminology.

Which irregular forms should you learn separately?

Several frequent verbs have special affirmative singular forms. Their negative singular still follows the general nu plus bare infinitive pattern, so the affirmative and negative may look very different. The plural and formal negatives use the ordinary plural form with nu.

Remember the especially useful pair Fii calm! (Stay calm!) versus Nu fi zgomotos! (Do not be noisy!). The negative has fi, not the affirmative fii. Likewise, Vino! becomes Nu veni!, and the reflexive Du-te! becomes Nu te duce!.

Where do short pronouns go in a negative command?

In a negative command, an unstressed object or reflexive pronoun comes after nu and before the verb. This is the reverse of the affirmative imperative pattern, where the pronoun follows the verb and is joined with a hyphen: Îmbracă-te! (Get dressed!), but Nu te îmbrăca! (Do not get dressed!).

In negative clusters, forms such as nu-ți and nu-i may be written with a reduced clitic, while fuller forms such as nu îți and nu îi are also used. The important placement rule is stable: nu comes first, the clitic comes next, and the verb follows. For the wider reflexive system, see Romanian reflexive pronouns.

How can you make a negative request more polite?

A bare negative imperative is not automatically rude. It can be a normal safety instruction, invitation, warning, or firm order; the relationship, intonation, setting, and expressions such as te rog or vă rog affect its force. In a service interaction or with an unfamiliar person, a request frame with the present subjunctive is often a useful alternative.

The frame vă rog să nu is explicitly polite and uses the formal dumneavoastră form inside the subjunctive clause: Vă rog să nu intrați. (Please do not enter.) By contrast, Nu intrați! is the same plural/formal negative imperative and can be neutral or firm depending on the situation. The imperative itself is not a fixed label for rude speech. See the present subjunctive with să, polite pronouns, and neutral, formal, and conversational Romanian for the related choices.

Mistakes to avoid

• For one familiar person, do not keep the infinitive particle: write Nu veni!, not Nu a veni!.
• Do not replace a singular negative command with the ordinary present: Nu merge! means Do not go!, while Nu mergi is a present-tense form whose meaning depends on context.
• Do not use the affirmative irregular form after nu: Vino! becomes Nu veni!, and Fă! becomes Nu face!.
• Do not place a clitic after the verb in a negative command: use Nu mă ajuta! and Nu te duce!, not a postverbal clitic pattern.
• Do not assume that a plural-form negative is automatically formal or automatically impolite: Nu intrați! can address voi or one dumneavoastră addressee, and context supplies the register.