Agreeing and Disagreeing (Sunt de acord, Ai dreptate, Ba da) | Romanian Grammar

This page stocks you with the phrases for taking a side in a conversation — wholehearted agreement, polite hedging, and outright contradiction. Two features set Romanian apart from English here, and both are easy to get wrong. First, "you're right" is a *avea dreptate — "to *have rightness" — not "to be right." Second, when you contradict a negative ("No, you didn't!"), a plain da won't do; you need the contradiction particle ba. The certainty adverbs (sigur, poate, probabil) get their full treatment in affirmation and doubt; here the focus is the conversational moves of agreeing and disagreeing.

Agreeing

Romanian	English	Register
Sunt de acord (cu tine).	I agree (with you).	neutral
Ai dreptate.	You're right.	neutral
Așa e. / Așa este.	That's right / true.	neutral
Exact. / Întocmai.	Exactly.	neutral / formal
Așa cred și eu.	I think so too.	neutral
De acord!	Agreed! / Deal!	informal
Absolut.	Absolutely.	neutral

Sunt de acord cu tine, ar trebui să plecăm mai devreme.

I agree with you, we should leave earlier.

Ai dreptate, n-am observat detaliul ăsta.

You're right, I didn't notice that detail.

— E prea scump. — Așa e, hai să căutăm altceva.

— It's too expensive. — That's true, let's look for something else.

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"You're right" is Ai dreptate — literally "you have rightness" (a avea dreptate). Romanian uses a avea, not a fi, for being right or wrong: Ai dreptate / N-ai dreptate, never Ești drept (which would mean "you're straight/just"). See a fi vs a avea for states.

The verb a avea dreptate conjugates fully: am dreptate (I'm right), ai dreptate (you're right), are dreptate (he/she's right), aveți dreptate (you're right, formal/plural). The opposite is simply the negative: n-ai dreptate (you're wrong) or the stronger greșești ("you're mistaken").

Cred că aveți dreptate, domnule director.

I think you're right, sir. (formal)

Disagreeing

Romanian	English	Register
Nu sunt de acord.	I don't agree.	neutral
Nu cred.	I don't think so.	neutral
Nu prea cred.	I rather doubt it.	neutral, soft
Nici vorbă!	No way! / Out of the question!	informal, firm
Nici gând!	No chance! / Not a chance!	informal, firm
Te înșeli. / Greșești.	You're mistaken.	neutral / direct
Nu neapărat.	Not necessarily.	neutral

Nu sunt de acord, mi se pare o idee proastă.

I don't agree, it seems like a bad idea to me.

— Mergem pe jos? — Nici vorbă, plouă afară!

— Shall we walk? — No way, it's raining outside!

Nu prea cred că o să meargă, dar putem încerca.

I rather doubt it'll work, but we can try.

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Nici vorbă ("no way," lit. "not even a word") and nici gând ("not a chance," lit. "not even a thought") are firm, idiomatic refusals — far more vivid than a flat nu. Both are informal; in formal settings prefer Nu, mă tem că nu or Din păcate, nu.

The ba trap: contradicting a negative

This is the structural feature English lacks. When you answer a negative statement or question with "yes," a bare da sounds like you're agreeing with the negative. To say "yes it is / yes I do" against a negative, you need ba da. To overturn a positive ("no, it isn't"), you use ba nu.

The claim	Your reply	Meaning
Nu vii? (negative)	Ba da, vin.	Yes, I am coming.
N-ai mâncat. (negative)	Ba da, am mâncat.	Yes I have / yes I did.
E corect. (positive)	Ba nu, e greșit.	No it isn't, it's wrong.

— Nu-ți place deloc, nu? — Ba da, îmi place mult!

— You don't like it at all, do you? — Yes I do, I like it a lot!

— N-ai fost niciodată la mare? — Ba da, am fost vara trecută.

— You've never been to the seaside? — Yes I have, I went last summer.

— Deci ești de acord. — Ba nu, tocmai că nu sunt.

— So you agree. — No I don't, that's exactly the point, I don't.

The logic: da simply affirms whatever is on the table, so after a negative it would affirm the negative. Ba flips the polarity first — "on the contrary" — and ba da then asserts the positive. English handles this with stress and intonation ("Yes I am"); Romanian gives you a dedicated word, which is clearer once you trust it.

Hedging: when you're not sure

Often the honest answer is "it depends" or "maybe." These keep a conversation open without committing.

Romanian	English
Depinde.	It depends.
Cred că da.	I think so.
Cred că nu.	I don't think so.
Posibil. / Se poate.	Possibly. / Could be.
Așa și așa.	So-so. / More or less.
Într-un fel, da.	In a way, yes.

— Vine și el? — Depinde dacă termină treaba la timp.

— Is he coming too? — It depends whether he finishes work on time.

— Crezi că o să plouă? — Cred că da, cerul e foarte întunecat.

— Do you think it'll rain? — I think so, the sky is very dark.

Notice the cred că da / cred că nu pattern: Romanian doesn't say cred așa for "I think so"; it pins the da or nu explicitly after că ("that").

Common Mistakes

Calquing "to be right" with a fi instead of a avea:

❌ Ești drept. (meaning 'you're right')

Wrong — this means 'you're upright/just.' Being right is Ai dreptate.

✅ Ai dreptate.

You're right.

Answering a negative question with a bare da:

❌ — Nu vii? — Da. (ambiguous / wrong)

Confusing — a bare 'da' after a negative seems to agree with the negative. Use Ba da.

✅ — Nu vii? — Ba da, vin.

— Aren't you coming? — Yes I am, I'm coming.

Saying "I think so" with a loose calque instead of the că da pattern:

❌ Cred așa. (meaning 'I think so')

Wrong — 'I think so' is Cred că da.

✅ Cred că da.

I think so.

Forgetting the preposition in "agree with":

❌ Sunt de acord tine.

Wrong — 'agree with' needs cu: Sunt de acord cu tine.

✅ Sunt de acord cu tine.

I agree with you.

Key Takeaways

"You're right" = Ai dreptate (a avea dreptate, "have rightness"), never Ești drept. "You're wrong" = N-ai dreptate / Greșești.
Agreement chunks: Sunt de acord (cu), Așa e, Exact; disagreement: Nu sunt de acord, Nu cred, the firm Nici vorbă / Nici gând.
To contradict a negative, use ba da ("yes it is"); to overturn a positive, use ba nu — a bare da is wrong after a negative.
Hedge with Depinde, Cred că da / nu, Posibil — note the explicit că da / că nu after cred.
"Agree with" takes cu: de acord cu tine.

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