Verbs and Their Prepositions | Romanian Grammar

A huge share of intermediate errors come from one habit: translating the English preposition that a verb takes. English "think about," "depend on," "laugh at" each have a Romanian counterpart, but the preposition almost never lines up — a se gândi takes la ("to"), a depinde takes de ("of/from"), a râde takes de as well. The preposition is lexically bound to the verb: it is part of the verb's dictionary entry, not a meaning you can reason out from the English. This page lists the high-frequency verb-plus-preposition pairs you must store as single chunks. For a focused drill on the worst transfer traps, see the preposition-transfer error page; here you get the systematic inventory.

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Stop asking "which Romanian word means about / on / at?" That question has no reliable answer. Ask instead "which preposition does this verb demand?" and memorize the verb together with it: a se gândi la, a depinde de, a renunța la. Treat the verb-plus-preposition as one indivisible word.

The core inventory

These are the pairs you will hit constantly. Learn the third column as a unit — never strip the preposition off and re-translate.

Romanian verb	Prep.	English	Chunk to memorize
a se gândi	la	to think about	a se gândi la
a se uita	la	to look at / watch	a se uita la
a renunța	la	to give up / quit	a renunța la
a visa	la	to dream of	a visa la
a participa	la	to take part in	a participa la
a apela	la	to turn to / resort to	a apela la
a ține	la	to care about / be fond of	a ține la
a depinde	de	to depend on	a depinde de
a se ocupa	de	to deal with / handle	a se ocupa de
a se teme	de	to be afraid of	a se teme de
a râde	de	to laugh at	a râde de
a se îndrăgosti	de	to fall in love with	a se îndrăgosti de
a fi de acord	cu	to agree with	a fi de acord cu
a se obișnui	cu	to get used to	a se obișnui cu
a se certa	cu	to quarrel with	a se certa cu

Verbs that take la

La is the preposition of orientation and direction, and a cluster of verbs that point the mind, the eyes, or the effort toward something take it. English uses a scatter of prepositions here — "about," "at," "of," "in" — but Romanian funnels them all into la.

Mă gândesc la tine de fiecare dată când aud melodia asta.

I think about you every time I hear this song.

Nu te mai uita la telefon, vorbim acum.

Stop looking at your phone, we're talking now.

Am renunțat la fumat acum trei ani și mă simt mult mai bine.

I gave up smoking three years ago and I feel much better.

Ține foarte mult la prietenii lui din copilărie.

He cares a lot about his childhood friends.

Note the cluster: a se gândi la (think about), a se uita la (look at / watch TV — mă uit la televizor), a renunța la (give up), a visa la (dream of), a participa la (take part in — participăm la conferință), a apela la (turn to someone for help), a ține la (be fond of). Not one of them would survive a literal translation of the English preposition.

Dacă ai probleme, poți oricând să apelezi la noi.

If you have problems, you can always turn to us.

Verbs that take de

A second cluster takes de. Here the English preposition is "on," "of," "with," or "at" — again, nothing predicts de except the verb's lexical entry.

Totul depinde de cât de repede răspund cei de la bancă.

Everything depends on how fast the people at the bank respond.

Mă ocup eu de bilete, tu ai grijă de cazare.

I'll handle the tickets, you take care of the accommodation.

Se teme de câini de când a fost mușcat ca mic.

He's been afraid of dogs ever since he was bitten as a kid.

Toți au râs de gluma lui, deși nu era chiar atât de bună.

Everyone laughed at his joke, even though it wasn't that good.

The members: a depinde de (depend on), a se ocupa de (deal with / handle), a se teme de (be afraid of), a râde de (laugh at), a se îndrăgosti de (fall in love with), plus the fixed adjective frames interesat de (interested in) and mulțumit de (satisfied with).

S-a îndrăgostit de ea din prima zi de facultate.

He fell in love with her on the very first day of university.

Verbs that take cu

Cu literally means "with," so this cluster is the most intuitive for English speakers — but only partly. A fi de acord cu ("agree with") matches English; a se obișnui cu ("get used to") does not.

Sunt de acord cu tine, dar nu și cu felul în care ai spus-o.

I agree with you, but not with the way you said it.

Încă nu m-am obișnuit cu programul de la noul job.

I still haven't gotten used to the schedule at the new job.

S-au certat cu vecinii din cauza zgomotului.

They quarreled with the neighbors over the noise.

Why you cannot reason your way to the right preposition

Prepositional government is a lexical fact stored with each verb, not a meaning derived from the situation. There is no spatial logic by which "depend" should choose de over pe — de here does not carry its usual "of/from" sense; it is simply the particle this verb's entry attaches. That is exactly why transfer errors are so seductive: the competing Romanian preposition (pe for "on," despre for "about," pentru for "for") is a real word with the right surface meaning. Mă gândesc despre tine feels right because despre genuinely means "about" — but a se gândi does not take despre; it takes la. Reserve despre for verbs of saying and writing (vorbesc despre, o carte despre), where "about a topic" is the actual relation.

Am vorbit despre proiect toată ședința, dar tot mă gândesc la el și acum.

We talked about the project the whole meeting, but I'm still thinking about it now. (despre with 'talk', la with 'think')

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One verb, one preposition, one flashcard. Don't file gândi and la separately — they're one entry. The day you stop translating "think + about" and start retrieving the stored chunk a se gândi la is the day this error stops happening.

Common Mistakes

These are the literal-transfer calques English speakers reach for. Each maps the English preposition directly — and each is wrong.

❌ Mă gândesc despre vacanța de vară.

Incorrect — a se gândi takes 'la', not 'despre'.

✅ Mă gândesc la vacanța de vară.

I'm thinking about the summer holiday.

❌ Depinde pe tine dacă mergem sau nu.

Incorrect — a depinde takes 'de', not 'pe'.

✅ Depinde de tine dacă mergem sau nu.

It depends on you whether we go or not.

❌ Toți au râs la mine când am căzut.

Incorrect — a râde takes 'de', not 'la' (which would mean smiling toward, not laughing at).

✅ Toți au râs de mine când am căzut.

Everyone laughed at me when I fell.

❌ Mă uit pe meci diseară.

Incorrect — a se uita takes 'la': mă uit la meci.

✅ Mă uit la meci diseară.

I'm watching the match tonight.

❌ Nu mă pot obișnui la frigul de aici.

Incorrect — a se obișnui takes 'cu', not 'la'.

✅ Nu mă pot obișnui cu frigul de aici.

I can't get used to the cold here.

Key Takeaways

The preposition a verb takes is lexically bound — store the verb and its preposition as one chunk.
la cluster: a se gândi la, a se uita la, a renunța la, a visa la, a participa la, a apela la, a ține la.
de cluster: a depinde de, a se ocupa de, a se teme de, a râde de, a se îndrăgosti de.
cu cluster: a fi de acord cu, a se obișnui cu, a se certa cu.
Reserve despre ("about") for verbs of saying/writing, never for a se gândi.
The transfer error is seductive because the wrong Romanian preposition has the right surface meaning — overwrite the English chunk with the Romanian one.

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