Sentences Without Subjects

English cannot leave a verb without a subject, so when there's no real one it plugs the hole with a dummy word — the empty it in "it's raining," "it's late," the empty there in "there is a problem." These words point at nothing; they're just grammatical filler. Romanian doesn't do this. Because the language already drops real subject pronouns (pro-drop), it certainly doesn't need a fake one — so the verb simply stands alone. Plouă is a complete sentence meaning "it's raining," with no "it" anywhere. E târziu is "it's late," again with nothing in the subject slot. This page is about recognizing and producing these subjectless sentences, and breaking the single habit that English forces on you: hunting for a subject that isn't there.

Weather: the verb is the whole sentence

The clearest subjectless sentences are about weather. In English "it" rains; in Romanian, raining just happens, and the verb sits there in the third-person singular with nothing in front of it.

Notice e cald and s-a făcut frig: even when the verb is a fi ("to be") or a se face ("to become"), English wants an "it" before it and Romanian wants nothing. The condition word (cald, frig) does all the work.

Time: the clock and the calendar

Telling time and naming the day work the same way. English says "it's three o'clock," "it's Monday," "it's late" — three more empty its. Romanian uses bare e / este with no subject.

Distance, conditions, and how you feel

The same pattern covers distances (e departe "it's far"), general states (e liniște "it's quiet"), and — importantly — how a person feels, which Romanian builds with a dative: mi-e frig literally "to-me is cold," "I'm cold." There's still no subject; the person who feels cold is a dative clitic (mi), not a subject. (This dative-experiencer pattern is mapped in full on impersonal constructions.)

Existence: "there is / there are" with no "there"

To say something exists or is present — "there's someone at the door," "there's a problem" — English uses the dummy there. Romanian uses bare e / este (singular) or sunt (plural), with no placeholder, and the verb agrees with the thing that exists. (This gets its own full treatment on existential sentences.)

Be careful not to translate "there" with acolo. Acolo means the literal place "over there," so Acolo e o problemă would mean "the problem is in that spot," not "there is a problem." For existence, use bare e / sunt.

Impersonal expressions: se pare că, trebuie să, merită să

A family of fixed impersonal expressions also has no subject. They open with the verb (or se + verb) and continue with a că- or să-clause.

• se pare că — "it seems that"
• trebuie să — "I/you/we must" (invariable; the person is in the să-clause)
• merită să — "it's worth (doing)"
• se poate să — "it's possible that / one can"

In every one, the English "it" — "it seems," "it's worth" — has no Romanian counterpart. The verb begins the sentence.

And of course: ordinary pro-drop

Finally, remember the everyday reason most Romanian sentences look subjectless: the subject pronoun is dropped because the verb ending already names the person. This isn't a special impersonal construction — it's the default. Vin is "I'm coming"; Mănânci? is "are you eating?" — no pronoun needed.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Romanian has no dummy subject — the English empty "it" and "there" are not translated; the verb stands alone.
• Weather: Plouă, Ninge, E cald, S-a făcut frig — one verb, no "it".
• Time: E ora trei, E târziu, E luni — bare e, no subject.
• Distance / states / feelings: E departe; feelings use a dative — Mi-e frig, Ți-e foame (the person is dative, not a subject).
• Existence: E cineva la ușă, Sunt prăjituri în frigider — no "there"; don't use acolo.
• Impersonals: Se pare că, Trebuie să, Merită să — the verb opens, no "it".
• Most other subjectless sentences are just ordinary pro-drop (Vin!).