Romanian uses the passive when the receiver of an action is more important than its agent, or when the agent is unknown or unmentioned. The core pattern is a form of a fi plus an agreeing past participle: Scrisoarea a fost trimisă de Ana. (The letter was sent by Ana.)
How do you form the Romanian a fi passive?
Make the active direct object the passive subject, put the transitive verb into the same tense or mood of a fi, and make its past participle agree with that new subject.
- Start with an active transitive clause: Ana a trimis scrisoarea. (Ana sent the letter.)
- Make the former direct object the subject: scrisoarea is feminine singular.
- Choose the needed form of a fi: the compound-past passive for this singular subject uses a fost.
- Add the past participle and agree it with the subject: trimisă. The agent can follow in a phrase with de or de către, but it can also be omitted.
| Active clause | Passive clause | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Ana a trimis scrisoarea. (Ana sent the letter.) | Scrisoarea a fost trimisă de Ana. (The letter was sent by Ana.) | The object becomes subject; trimisă agrees with scrisoarea. |
| Studenții au citit materialele. (The students read the materials.) | Materialele au fost citite de către studenți. (The materials were read by the students.) | The agent is optional; the neuter plural subject takes the feminine-plural participle form citite. |
| Ei vor pune cărțile la loc. (They will put the books back.) | Cărțile vor fi puse la loc. (The books will be put back.) | The future form of a fi is vor fi; puse agrees with the feminine plural subject. |
The former subject does not control agreement. In Scrisoarea a fost trimisă de Ana, the feminine singular form trimisă agrees with scrisoarea, not with Ana. Review the Romanian past participle for participle forms and the present of a fi for the irregular auxiliary.
How does the passive work across tenses and moods?
Keep the passive participle in the required gender and number, while the form or auxiliary sequence of a fi carries the tense, mood, person, and number. The examples use feminine singular scrisoarea; plural subjects change both the auxiliary and the participle where required.
| Tense or mood | Passive form | Meaning or use |
|---|---|---|
| Present indicative | Scrisoarea este citită. | The letter is read / is being read. |
| Imperfect indicative | Scrisoarea era citită. | The letter was being read / used to be read. |
| Perfect compus | Scrisoarea a fost citită. | The letter was / has been read. |
| Pluperfect indicative | Scrisoarea fusese citită. | The letter had been read. |
| Future indicative | Scrisoarea va fi citită. | The letter will be read. |
| Future with o să | Scrisoarea o să fie citită. | The letter will be read. |
| Present conditional | Scrisoarea ar fi citită. | The letter would be read. |
| Perfect conditional | Scrisoarea ar fi fost citită. | The letter would have been read. |
| Present subjunctive | Vreau ca scrisoarea să fie citită. | I want the letter to be read. |
| Past subjunctive | Este posibil ca scrisoarea să fi fost citită. | It is possible that the letter was read. |
In the third-person singular present, the full form este is neutral and the shorter e is also common: Scrisoarea e citită. (The letter is read.) The shorter form does not change the passive pattern. In compound forms, do not confuse a fost in a passive such as a fost citită with an active compound verb: the participle citită and the subject agreement identify the passive construction.
How does the past participle agree?
The participle agrees with the passive subject in gender and number. Masculine singular often has the basic form, feminine singular commonly adds -ă, masculine plural may have -i, and feminine or neuter plural commonly has -e; the exact participle is learned with the verb.
| Subject | Passive example | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine singular: biletul | Biletul a fost trimis. (The ticket was sent.) | trimis |
| Feminine singular: scrisoarea | Scrisoarea a fost trimisă. (The letter was sent.) | trimisă |
| Masculine plural: studenții | Studenții au fost chemați. (The students were called.) | chemați |
| Feminine plural: scrisorile | Scrisorile au fost trimise. (The letters were sent.) | trimise |
| Neuter plural: documentele | Documentele au fost trimise. (The documents were sent.) | Neuter plural uses the feminine-plural agreement form trimise. |
Agreement is different in an active compound tense: Ana a trimis scrisoarea and Studenții au trimis materialele keep trimis invariant because the clauses are active. A passive subject, not the agent phrase, triggers agreement.
Where do agents, negation, and clitics go?
The usual order is subject, auxiliary sequence, agreeing participle, and then the optional agent phrase or other material: Raportul a fost verificat de experți ieri. (The report was checked by experts yesterday.) Romanian can move a phrase for focus, but the agreement rule stays the same.
- Use de or the more explicit de către for the agent: a fost scris de Maria and a fost citit de către toți studenții. Neither phrase is required when the agent is not relevant.
- Put nu before the auxiliary group: Raportul nu a fost verificat. (The report was not checked.) Do not put nu between a and fost.
- An unstressed indirect-object clitic comes before the first auxiliary and joins it where spelling requires: Nu i-a fost trimis raportul. (The report was not sent to him or her.)
- The same boundary applies in other forms: Să-i fie trimis răspunsul până mâine. (Let the answer be sent to him or her by tomorrow.) and I-ar fi fost trimis răspunsul. (The answer would have been sent to him or her.)
When should you choose passive, active, or se?
Romanian does not require a passive whenever English uses one. Choose the construction that matches the information you want to foreground: an active clause when the agent matters, an a fi passive when the receiver is the topic, and a se or other impersonal construction when no particular agent is expressed.
| Focus | Romanian example | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Known agent | Organizatorii vor deschide expoziția mâine. | The organizers will open the exhibition tomorrow; active voice keeps the agent prominent. |
| Receiver or result of an action | Expoziția va fi deschisă de organizatori mâine. | The exhibition will be opened by the organizers tomorrow; deschisă agrees with expoziția. |
| Agentless passive-like announcement | Conferința se va organiza la București. | The conference will be organized in Bucharest; the third-person se construction leaves the agent unexpressed. |
| Impersonal report | Se spune că expoziția începe mâine. | People say that the exhibition starts tomorrow; se spune has no grammatical patient subject. |
The se form is not a mechanical substitute for every a fi passive: depending on the verb and context, se can be reflexive, reciprocal, passive-like, or impersonal. Use the Romanian subjunctive with să and past subjunctive when a requirement or subordinate clause calls for them, rather than forcing a passive into an English-shaped sentence.
How can a passive form also describe a state?
A form such as închisă can be a passive participle describing an event or an adjective describing a resulting state. The morphology alone does not always decide between the readings.
- An event reading is favored by an agent or a time phrase: Ușa a fost închisă de portar la ora opt. (The door was closed by the doorman at eight.)
- A resultative or adjectival reading is favored by a state context: Ușa a rămas închisă. (The door remained closed.)
- Without extra context, Ușa a fost închisă can describe either a completed closing event or the resulting closed condition. Add the agent, event details, or a verb such as a rămas when the distinction matters.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not use a avea for this passive: Scrisoarea a fost trimisă, not Scrisoarea a avut trimisă.
- Do not leave the participle invariant just because the agent is masculine or plural: Scrisorile au fost trimise de studenți, not trimis.
- Do not make the agent the grammatical subject: Scrisoarea a fost trimisă de Ana has scrisoarea as subject and Ana inside the agent phrase.
- Do not assume the English passive must be copied. A Romanian active clause or an impersonal se construction may be more natural when the agent is known, generic, or not worth naming.
Which sentence is an a fi passive with a feminine singular subject and an expressed agent?
- Ana a trimis scrisoarea.
- Scrisoarea a fost trimisă de Ana.
- Scrisoarea se trimite Ana.
- Scrisoarea a trimis de Ana.
Scrisoarea is the passive subject, a fost is the compound-past form of a fi, and trimisă agrees with the feminine singular subject. De Ana names the agent.
Complete the sentence: Documentele ___ de secretară.
- a fost trimis
- au fost trimis
- a fost trimise
- au fost trimise
Documentele is neuter plural, so the auxiliary is plural au fost and the participle has the feminine-plural form trimise.
Which sentence means “The invitations would have been sent”?
- Invitațiile ar fi fost trimise.
- Invitațiile vor fi trimise.
- Invitațiile ar fi trimis.
- Invitațiile au fost trimisă.
The perfect conditional passive uses ar fi fost plus the agreeing participle. Invitațiile is plural, so the participle is trimise.
Choose the standard negative sentence meaning “The report was not sent to him or her.”
- Raportul nu a fost trimis i.
- Raportul i-nu a fost trimis.
- Raportul nu i-a fost trimise.
- Raportul nu i-a fost trimis.
Nu comes before the auxiliary group, and the indirect-object clitic i comes before a: nu i-a fost trimis. The masculine singular subject raportul takes trimis.
Which sentence is an impersonal alternative with no grammatical patient subject?
- Organizatorii au anunțat rezultatul.
- Rezultatul a fost anunțat de organizatori.
- Se spune că rezultatul apare mâine.
- Rezultatul a fost anunțată de organizatori.
Se spune că rezultatul apare mâine means “People say that the result will come out tomorrow.” It reports an unspecified source impersonally; the other grammatical choices are active or a fi passive, and the last has incorrect agreement.