To negate a verb in Romanian you place nu directly in front of it. That is the whole rule of placement — nu is strictly preverbal, and nothing comes between nu and the verb except the small object pronouns (clitics) that already cling to the verb. The complication, and what this page drills, is contraction: nu is so tightly bound to the verb complex that it routinely fuses with what follows. Before a vowel it drops its own u and becomes n- (nu am → n-am); before an object pronoun it links with a hyphen (nu îmi → nu-mi, nu îl → nu-l); and nu este collapses to nu-i or nu e. These contractions are not optional flourishes — they are how Romanian is actually written and spoken every day, so you must read and produce them fluently.
nu is strictly preverbal
In English the negator attaches to an auxiliary that may sit some distance from the main verb ("I do not really want to go"). In Romanian nu goes immediately before the verb — or, in compound tenses, before the auxiliary that fronts the verb. It never comes after the verb.
Nu lucrez sâmbăta.
I don't work on Saturdays.
Nu știu unde sunt cheile.
I don't know where the keys are.
Maria nu vine azi.
Maria isn't coming today. (nu sits before the verb, after the subject)
In the perfect compus and the future, nu lands before the auxiliary, because the auxiliary is the front of the verb complex:
Nu am terminat încă.
I haven't finished yet. (nu before the auxiliary am — usually written n-am, see below)
Nu voi merge la ședință.
I won't go to the meeting. (nu before the future auxiliary voi)
Clitics go between nu and the verb
Object pronouns — mă, te, îl, o, ne, vă, îi, le (accusative) and îmi, îți, îi, ne, vă, le (dative) — are clitics: they attach to the verb. When the clause is negated, they sit between nu and the verb. So the order is: nu — clitic(s) — verb.
Nu te văd de aici.
I can't see you from here. (nu — te — văd)
Nu mă deranjează deloc.
It doesn't bother me at all. (nu — mă — deranjează)
Nu ne place filmul ăsta.
We don't like this film. (nu — ne — place)
With two clitics, the dative comes before the accusative, and nu still leads the whole cluster:
Nu ți-l dau înapoi.
I'm not giving it back to you. (nu — ți (dative) — l (accusative) — dau)
The contractions you must know
nu + vowel → n-
Before a verb or auxiliary beginning with a vowel, nu drops its u and contracts to n-. This happens constantly in the perfect compus, whose auxiliary forms (am, ai, a, am, ați, au) all start with a vowel, and with vowel-initial verbs.
| Full | Contracted | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| nu am | n-am | I haven't / I don't have |
| nu ai | n-ai | you haven't / you don't have |
| nu are | n-are | he/she hasn't / doesn't have |
| nu avem | n-avem | we haven't / don't have |
N-am venit ieri pentru că eram bolnav.
I didn't come yesterday because I was ill. (nu am → n-am)
N-are rost să mai aștepți.
There's no point waiting any longer. (nu are → n-are)
N-ați mâncat nimic toată ziua?
Haven't you eaten anything all day? (nu ați → n-ați, with concord nimic)
nu + clitic → nu-mi, nu-l, nu-i…
Before an object pronoun, nu links to it with a hyphen, often shortening the pronoun too. The most common are:
| Full | Contracted | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| nu îmi | nu-mi | (it) … to me |
| nu îți | nu-ți | (it) … to you |
| nu îi | nu-i | (it) … to him/her |
| nu îl | nu-l | … him/it (masc.) |
| nu o | n-o | … her/it (fem.) |
Nu-mi place cum vorbește.
I don't like the way he talks. (nu îmi → nu-mi)
Nu-l cunosc pe omul acela.
I don't know that man. (nu îl → nu-l, with pe-marking)
N-o mai sun, m-am săturat.
I'm not calling her anymore, I've had enough. (nu o → n-o)
nu este → nu-i / nu e
The third-person of a fi ("to be"), este, very commonly reduces. In the negative you'll hear both nu este, the shorter nu e, and the fused nu-i (informal).
Nu e adevărat ce spune.
What he's saying isn't true. (nu e — neutral/informal)
Nu-i nimeni acasă.
There's nobody home. (nu-i = nu este, informal; with concord nimeni)
Nu este permis să fumezi aici.
Smoking isn't allowed here. (nu este — fuller, slightly more formal register)
Putting it together in the perfect
In compound tenses you stack two things at once: nu contracts with the auxiliary and any clitic comes between them. Watch how nu te-am lines up: nu + clitic te + auxiliary am, with te-am itself contracted.
Nu te-am sunat pentru că era târziu.
I didn't call you because it was late. (nu — te — am, written nu te-am)
Nu ne-au spus nimic despre asta.
They didn't tell us anything about it. (nu — ne — au, with concord nimic)
N-am înțeles nimic din ce-a zis.
I didn't understand anything he said. (n-am, concord nimic)
Common Mistakes
Putting nu after the verb on the English auxiliary pattern:
❌ Eu vreau nu să merg.
Incorrect — nu attaches before the verb it negates: Nu vreau să merg.
✅ Nu vreau să merg.
I don't want to go.
Slipping a full word between nu and the verb:
❌ Nu chiar înțeleg.
Incorrect — only clitics may come between nu and the verb; put the adverb elsewhere: Nu prea înțeleg / Chiar nu înțeleg.
✅ Chiar nu înțeleg.
I really don't understand.
Failing to contract nu am (over-careful, sounds unnatural in normal register):
❌ Nu am avut timp. (read as if 'nu am' stayed separate in speech)
Understandable but unnatural — in everyday Romanian this is N-am avut timp.
✅ N-am avut timp.
I didn't have time.
Putting the clitic before nu instead of after it:
❌ Te nu văd.
Incorrect — the order is nu + clitic + verb: Nu te văd.
✅ Nu te văd.
I can't see you.
Forgetting that the feminine o contracts differently (n-o, not nu-o) and where it lands in the perfect:
❌ Nu o am văzut.
Incorrect — in the perfect, o follows the participle: N-am văzut-o.
✅ N-am văzut-o.
I didn't see her.
Key Takeaways
- nu is strictly preverbal — before the verb, or before the auxiliary in compound tenses. It never follows the verb.
- The only things allowed between nu and the verb are clitics, in the order nu + clitic + verb (dative before accusative).
- Before a vowel, nu contracts to n-: nu am → n-am, nu are → n-are, nu ați → n-ați.
- Before a clitic, nu fuses with a hyphen: nu-mi, nu-ți, nu-i, nu-l, n-o; and nu este reduces to nu-i / nu e.
- In the perfect, assemble nu + (clitic) + auxiliary + participle and contract — Nu te-am sunat, N-am înțeles — and remember the feminine o lands after the participle (N-am văzut-o).
Now practice Romanian
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Negation: An OverviewA1 — How Romanian says 'no' and 'not'. The preverbal nu negates any verb (Nu vorbesc 'I don't speak'); nu / ba nu answers 'no'; and — the feature English speakers must rewire — Romanian uses obligatory NEGATIVE CONCORD, where words like nimic, nimeni, niciodată, niciun co-occur WITH nu rather than replacing it (Nu văd nimic 'I see nothing'). This page maps the whole system before the detail pages.
- Negative Concord (Double Negation)A1 — Romanian piles up negatives that all agree, and the verbal nu is non-negotiable. Where English uses one negative ('I never tell anyone anything'), Romanian marks every element negative AND keeps nu on the verb: Nu spun nimănui niciodată nimic. What English calls a 'double-negative error' is the REQUIRED form here. This page teaches the system and how the negatives stack.
- Mistake: Misplacing Clitic PronounsB1 — English speakers put object pronouns after the verb (saw him), so they write *Am te văzut, *Am o văzut, *Mă ajută! as a command. Three constructions cause almost all clitic-placement errors: the perfect compus, the feminine 'o,' and the imperative. Fix those three.
- Mistake: Single NegationA1 — English uses ONE negative: 'I see nothing.' Romanian demands TWO — the verb stays negated alongside *nimic/nimeni/niciodată*: *Nu văd nimic*. Learners write *Văd nimic. The fix: any negative word triggers *nu* on the verb.
- The Perfect Compus: OverviewA1 — An introduction to the perfect compus (am + past participle), Romanian's everyday past tense for completed actions — the only past tense the spoken language uses in practice.
- The Particle 'nici' (not even, neither, nor)B1 — nici is the negative twin of the focus particle și ('even, too'): it covers 'not even' (Nici nu m-a salutat), the correlative 'neither … nor' (nici … nici), and 'me neither' (Nici eu). Whenever nici sits on an argument, the verb still needs nu (Nu vine nici Ion). This page maps all of its jobs and where it sits.