The Romanian compound past, perfectul compus, presents an event as completed in the past. It is the usual tense for telling someone what happened: Am ajuns acasă la ora opt. (I got home at eight o’clock.)
How do you form perfectul compus?
Use a special present-tense form of the auxiliary a avea followed by the past participle of the main verb: auxiliary + participle.
| Subject | Auxiliary | Example with a ajunge | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | am | Eu am ajuns. | I arrived / I have arrived. |
| tu | ai | Tu ai ajuns. | You arrived / You have arrived. |
| el / ea | a | El a ajuns. / Ea a ajuns. | He / she arrived or has arrived. |
| noi | am | Noi am ajuns. | We arrived / We have arrived. |
| voi / dumneavoastră | ați | Voi ați ajuns. / Dumneavoastră ați ajuns. | You arrived / You have arrived. |
| ei / ele | au | Ei au ajuns. / Ele au ajuns. | They arrived / They have arrived. |
The auxiliary set is am, ai, a, am, ați, au. Notice the two special points: first-person singular and plural both use am, while third-person singular uses a, not the main-verb form are. The auxiliary carries person and number; the participle stays unchanged: am ajuns, a ajuns, au ajuns.
- The auxiliary belongs historically and grammatically to a avea, but it does not express possession here. Compare main verb Ea are timp. (She has time.) with auxiliary Ea a lucrat. (She worked / She has worked.)
- Romanian often leaves out the subject pronoun because the auxiliary identifies the subject: Am terminat proiectul. (I / we finished the project.) Context tells whether am means I or we. See Romanian subject pronouns for subject omission and contrast.
- Use ați with plural voi and with polite singular or plural dumneavoastră: Ați trimis documentele? (Did you send / Have you sent the documents?)
How do you form the past participle?
Many participles follow the infinitive ending, but stem changes and several patterns for verbs in -e mean that the participle should be learned with each new verb.
| Infinitive type | Frequent participle ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -a | -at | a lucra → lucrat; a cânta → cântat |
| -ea | -ut | a vedea → văzut; a apărea → apărut |
| -e | -ut, -s, or -t | a cere → cerut; a merge → mers; a rupe → rupt |
| -i | -it | a dormi → dormit; a veni → venit |
| -î | -ât | a coborî → coborât; a urî → urât |
Do not make the participle agree with the subject in perfectul compus. A man and a woman both say Am venit, and a group says Am venit. Agreement belongs to adjectival and passive uses of participles, not to this compound tense.
Which common participles must you learn?
Learn frequent participles as vocabulary, especially when the stem or ending is not predictable from a simple rule.
| Infinitive | Participle | Compound-past example |
|---|---|---|
| a fi (to be) | fost | Am fost acasă. (I was / have been at home.) |
| a avea (to have) | avut | Am avut timp. (I had / have had time.) |
| a face (to do, make) | făcut | Ai făcut cafea. (You made / have made coffee.) |
| a vedea (to see) | văzut | A văzut filmul. (He or she saw / has seen the film.) |
| a merge (to go) | mers | Am mers pe jos. (I / we walked or went on foot.) |
| a scrie (to write) | scris | Ați scris mesajul. (You wrote / have written the message.) |
| a spune (to say, tell) | spus | Mi-a spus adevărul. (He or she told me the truth.) |
| a pune (to put) | pus | Au pus masa. (They set / have set the table.) |
How do you make the compound past negative?
Put nu before the entire auxiliary-plus-participle group: Nu am plecat. (I / we did not leave / have not left.)
| Affirmative | Full negative | Negative with optional elision |
|---|---|---|
| am lucrat | nu am lucrat | n-am lucrat |
| ai lucrat | nu ai lucrat | n-ai lucrat |
| a lucrat | nu a lucrat | n-a lucrat |
| ați lucrat | nu ați lucrat | n-ați lucrat |
| au lucrat | nu au lucrat | n-au lucrat |
Both the full form and the elided form are standard possibilities before these vowel-initial auxiliaries. The hyphen in n-am, n-ai, n-a, n-ați, and n-au records the omitted u of nu; it does not change the tense or meaning. For the wider negative pattern, see Romanian negation with nu.
Where do clitic pronouns go?
An unstressed object or reflexive pronoun normally comes before the auxiliary and joins it where spelling requires a hyphen; feminine singular direct-object o is the important exception and follows the participle.
| Clitic use | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Direct object before the auxiliary | clitic + auxiliary + participle | L-am văzut pe Radu. (I / we saw Radu.) |
| Indirect object before the auxiliary | clitic + auxiliary + participle | I-am scris Mariei. (I / we wrote to Maria.) |
| Feminine singular direct object o | auxiliary + participle + -o | Am văzut-o pe Ioana. (I / we saw Ioana.) |
| Reflexive clitic before the auxiliary | reflexive + auxiliary + participle | S-a întors acasă. (He or she returned home.) |
| Negative with a pre-auxiliary clitic | nu + clitic + auxiliary + participle | Nu l-am văzut. (I / we did not see him.) |
| Negative with feminine singular o | nu + auxiliary + participle + -o | Nu am văzut-o. (I / we did not see her.) |
- The spellings m-a, te-a, l-am, mi-a, i-a, s-a, and și-a reflect a clitic next to the auxiliary; they are not new participles. Compare M-a sunat. (He or she called me.) and Mi-a răspuns. (He or she answered me.)
- With negation, nu comes first, then a pre-auxiliary clitic: Nu m-a sunat. (He or she did not call me.) and Nu și-a cumpărat un bilet. (He or she did not buy himself or herself a ticket.)
- For the full object system, including the post-participle exception -o, see unstressed direct object pronouns. For forms such as s-a and și-a, see Romanian reflexive pronouns.
Can anything come between the auxiliary and participle?
Yes. Short adverbs such as mai, și, cam, and tot can stand between the auxiliary and participle, while the auxiliary and participle still form one compound tense.
- Am și lucrat. (I / we worked too.)
- Ai cam întârziat. (You were a little late.)
- Am tot așteptat. (I / we kept waiting.)
- Nu am mai văzut-o. (I / we have not seen her again / anymore.)
When do you use perfectul compus?
Use perfectul compus for a past event viewed as completed; it is the most frequent Romanian tense for reporting completed past actions.
| Use | Example | Natural English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| A completed event at a stated past time | Am plecat ieri. | I left yesterday. |
| A sequence of completed events | Am intrat, am salutat și m-am așezat. | I came in, said hello, and sat down. |
| A completed event with present relevance | Am pierdut cheia. | I have lost the key. |
| Experience up to now | Am văzut filmul de două ori. | I have seen the film twice. |
Romanian does not use a separate present-perfect form contrasting formally with a simple past in the way English does. Depending on context, the same Romanian compound past can therefore correspond to English I did or I have done: Am citit cartea. can mean I read the book or I have read the book.
Keep the contrast with the imperfect modest at this stage: perfectul compus presents a completed event, while the imperfect commonly presents an ongoing, habitual, or background past situation. In Când am intrat, Ana citea. (When I came in, Ana was reading.), am intrat marks the completed entry and citea supplies the ongoing background. Continue with the Romanian imperfect or the focused compound past versus imperfect comparison.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not use main-verb are as the third-person singular auxiliary: Ea a venit, not Ea are venit.
- Do not conjugate both parts. Only the auxiliary changes: eu am văzut, tu ai văzut, ei au văzut. The participle remains văzut.
- Do not put the infinitive marker a before the participle: say Am lucrat, not Am a lucra.
- Do not place ordinary negation between the auxiliary and participle: use Nu am văzut, not Am nu văzut.
- Do not place feminine singular object o before the auxiliary in this tense: use Am văzut-o, not O am văzut.
Which sentence means “They came yesterday” as a completed event?
- Ei veneau ieri.
- Ei vin ieri.
- Ei au venit ieri.
- Ei veniseră ieri.
Third-person plural takes the auxiliary au, and the participle of a veni is venit: Ei au venit ieri. The time word ieri places the completed event in the past.
Complete the sentence: Noi ___ un mesaj ieri.
- a scris
- am scris
- ai scris
- au scris
First-person plural noi takes am. The participle scris does not change, so the complete form is Noi am scris un mesaj ieri.
Which participle completes Am ___ cafea from the verb a face?
- făcut
- făcea
- face
- făcând
The past participle of a face is făcut: Am făcut cafea. The other options are an imperfect form, an infinitive or present form, and a gerund.
Choose the correct sentence meaning “I did not see her.”
- Nu o am văzut.
- Nu am o văzut.
- Am nu văzut-o.
- Nu am văzut-o.
Negation comes before the auxiliary, and feminine singular direct-object o follows the participle with a hyphen: Nu am văzut-o.
What does the tense contrast show in Când am intrat, Ana citea?
- Both verbs describe future events.
- Am intrat is a completed entry; citea is ongoing background.
- Am intrat is habitual; citea is a single completed event.
- Both verbs are forms of perfectul compus.
The compound past am intrat presents the entry as completed. The imperfect citea presents Ana’s reading as already in progress when that event occurred.