English cannot leave a finite verb without a subject. When there is no real subject — in "it's raining," "there is a problem," "it seems that…" — English plugs the hole with a dummy subject, the meaningless it or there. Romanian does the opposite: because it is pro-drop, a verb needs no overt subject at all, and where the meaning is genuinely subjectless, nothing stands in the subject slot. Even more disorienting for an English speaker, the logical subject of many impersonal verbs — the "I" in "I need," "I like," "I feel" — does not become a Romanian subject either. It becomes a dative object: *îmi trebuie, îmi place, mi se pare. This page is a survey of these subjectless and dative-experiencer patterns, and a guide to resisting the urge to insert a dummy *it.
Weather and ambient verbs: subjectless by nature
The clearest subjectless verbs are the weather verbs. In English, "it" rains; in Romanian, raining simply happens — the verb is third-person singular with no subject to be found.
Plouă de azi-dimineață, ia-ți umbrela.
It's been raining since this morning, take your umbrella. (plouă — no 'it')
Ninge tare, drumurile sunt închise.
It's snowing hard, the roads are closed. (ninge — subjectless)
Afară e frig și se întunecă devreme.
It's cold outside and it gets dark early. (e frig / se întunecă — no dummy subject anywhere)
Note e frig ("it's cold"): the verb a fi appears with no subject and an adverb/noun expressing the condition. English forces an "it" before is; Romanian leaves the slot empty. The same holds for time and ambient states: E târziu ("it's late"), E ora trei ("it's three o'clock"), S-a făcut noapte ("night has fallen").
E târziu, ar trebui să mergem acasă.
It's late, we should head home. (e târziu — no 'it')
The impersonal se: "one / you / they"
Romanian's main device for a fully generic statement is the impersonal se, which attaches to a third-person-singular verb to mean "one," generic "you," "they," or "people." There is no subject; the action floats free of any doer. This construction does the work of English's whole family of vague subjects, and it is so important it has its own dedicated page — here we place it in the larger map of subjectless patterns.
Se spune că iarna va fi grea anul ăsta.
They say the winter will be harsh this year. (se spune — 'it is said')
Aici se vorbește română și maghiară.
Romanian and Hungarian are spoken here. (se vorbește — no agent)
Nu se poate să termini totul într-o zi.
It's not possible to finish everything in one day. (se poate — 'one can / it's possible')
The phrase se poate / nu se poate ("one can / it's possible" — "you can't / no way") is a workhorse. Crucially, the impersonal se stays third-person singular and takes no subject: se merge ("one walks"), never *se merg. The full mechanics — and the contrast with the agreeing passive se (se vând case, "houses are sold," where the patient is a real subject) — live on the impersonal se and se-passive vs a fi pages.
The dative-experiencer pattern: "I need" becomes "to me is needed"
Here is the construction that most rewires an English speaker's grammar. A large class of Romanian verbs is impersonal in form — third-person, no nominative subject — and assigns the experiencer (the person who needs, likes, feels) to the dative. The thing needed or liked is the grammatical subject and controls agreement; the person is a dative clitic.
| Romanian (literal) | Everyday meaning | English subject becomes… |
|---|---|---|
| îmi trebuie ("to-me is needed") | I need | dative (îmi) |
| îmi place ("to-me pleases") | I like | dative (îmi) |
| mi se pare ("to-me it seems") | it seems to me / I think | dative (mi) |
| îmi vine să ("to-me comes to") | I feel like / I'm about to | dative (îmi) |
| îmi ajunge ("to-me suffices") | I have enough | dative (îmi) |
| îmi lipsește ("to-me is lacking") | I miss / I lack | dative (îmi) |
Îmi trebuie două ouă și puțin lapte.
I need two eggs and a little milk. (lit. 'to me are needed two eggs' — trebuie agrees with the things needed)
Mi se pare că am mai fost aici.
It seems to me I've been here before. (mi se pare — the experiencer is dative)
Îmi vine să plâng de fericire.
I feel like crying with happiness. (îmi vine să — 'to me comes the urge to')
Îmi lipsește mama când sunt plecat.
I miss my mother when I'm away. (lit. 'mother is lacking to me')
The logic is consistent and worth internalizing: Romanian treats needing, liking, lacking, and "seeming" as things that happen to a person rather than things the person actively does. The grammar mirrors the experience — you are the recipient of the sensation, hence the dative. Watch the agreement carefully: in îmi trebuie două ouă, the verb is plural-able (îmi trebuiau două ouă) because două ouă is the subject, not îmi. Get this and you'll stop saying *eu trebuie for "I need." (The plain verb trebuie in trebuie să plec, "I must leave," is a different, modal use — see below.)
Trebuie / se cuvine + să: necessity and propriety
The modal trebuie ("must, have to") is impersonal in the strict sense: it does not conjugate for person in its core use. You say trebuie să plec, trebuie să pleci, trebuie să plece — trebuie stays fixed and the person shows up only in the să-clause. This is a true subjectless modal: "it is necessary that I leave."
Trebuie să plec, am întârziat deja.
I have to go, I'm already late. (trebuie invariable; person is in 'să plec')
Trebuie să recunoști că avea dreptate.
You have to admit he was right. (trebuie unchanged; 'să recunoști' carries 'you')
The more formal se cuvine ("it is fitting / proper") works the same way and belongs to careful or moralizing register (formal):
Se cuvine să le mulțumim gazdelor.
It is proper that we thank our hosts. (formal — se cuvine + să)
E + adjective + să: evaluating an action
A whole family of impersonal evaluations is built on a fi + an adjective/adverb + a să-clause: e bine să… ("it's good to…"), e greu să… ("it's hard to…"), e posibil să… ("it's possible that…"), e important să…, e păcat să… ("it's a shame to…"). The a fi is subjectless — no dummy "it" — and the să-clause is the logical subject.
E greu să găsești loc de parcare aici.
It's hard to find a parking spot here. (e greu să — subjectless 'a fi')
E bine să bei multă apă vara.
It's good to drink a lot of water in summer. (e bine să + subjunctive)
E posibil să întârzii puțin, e trafic.
I might be a bit late, there's traffic. (e posibil să — 'it's possible that I')
When the evaluation concerns a fact rather than a hypothetical action, the connector flips to că, exactly as with completive clauses: E clar că minte ("It's clear that he's lying" — an assertion). The să/că split from the subordination overview carries over wholesale.
E clar că nu vrea să vină.
It's clear (that) he doesn't want to come. (factual evaluation → că, not să)
"There is / there are": este / e / există
English "there is/are" also gets a dummy "there." Romanian uses bare e / este (or, more emphatic, există, "exists") with no place-holder — and the verb agrees with the thing that exists.
E o problemă cu liftul, nu funcționează.
There's a problem with the elevator, it's not working. (e — no 'there')
Există soluții, doar că niciuna nu e ușoară.
There are solutions, just none of them is easy. (există agrees with 'soluții')
Common Mistakes
❌ Este plouă.
Incorrect — no dummy subject and no extra 'is': raining is just one word, 'Plouă.'
✅ Plouă.
It's raining.
❌ Eu trebuie două ouă.
Incorrect — 'I need' is a dative-experiencer construction: 'Îmi trebuie două ouă' (lit. 'to me are needed two eggs').
✅ Îmi trebuie două ouă.
I need two eggs.
❌ Eu plac cafeaua.
Incorrect — the person liking goes in the dative; the thing liked is the subject: 'Îmi place cafeaua.'
✅ Îmi place cafeaua.
I like coffee.
❌ Trebuie că plec.
Incorrect — the modal 'must' takes a să-clause: 'Trebuie să plec.' ('Trebuie că' would mean 'it must be that…', a different, evidential use.)
✅ Trebuie să plec.
I have to go.
❌ Acolo este o problemă. (as English 'there is')
Mistranslated 'there' — Romanian needs no place-holder: 'E o problemă' or 'Există o problemă.' ('Acolo' would literally mean 'in that place'.)
✅ E o problemă.
There's a problem.
Key Takeaways
- Romanian has no dummy subject: never render empty "it" or "there" with a word. Plouă, e frig, e o problemă — the slot stays empty.
- The impersonal se (se spune, se poate) gives generic "one / you / they" with a subjectless 3sg verb.
- Dative-experiencer verbs turn the English subject into a dative: îmi trebuie, îmi place, mi se pare, îmi lipsește — the thing, not the person, controls agreement.
- Trebuie and se cuvine are invariable impersonal modals: the person lives in the să-clause (trebuie să plec).
- E + adjective + să (e greu să, e bine să) evaluates an action subjectlessly; switch to că for a factual evaluation (e clar că).
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- The Impersonal se (one/you/they)B1 — How Romanian uses se for fully generic statements with no specific subject — the natural rendering of English 'one', 'you', 'they', and 'people'.
- Choosing the Passive: se vs a fiB2 — A decision guide for Romanian's two passives — the se-passive for generic, agentless, habitual statements, and a fi + participle for a specific completed event with a nameable agent.
- The Dative of Interest and Ethical DativeC1 — Romanian sprinkles in datives the verb never asked for — a benefactive MI-am luat o cafea ('I got myself a coffee') or the purely affective ETHICAL dative Să-MI fii cuminte! ('you be good for me!'). These add emotional involvement and have no English equivalent, so translating the clitic literally fails. This page separates the dative of interest, the ethical dative, and the possessor dative.
- The Dative (indirect object, 'to')B1 — The dative marks the recipient or beneficiary of an action ('to/for someone') using the same form as the genitive — with obligatory clitic doubling and a set of verbs whose government you learn one by one.
- Dative Clitic Pronouns (îmi, îți, îi, ne, vă, le)A2 — The dative clitics — îmi, îți, îi, ne, vă, le — mark the recipient ('to/for me'). They power Îmi place, Îți spun, Îi dau; they OBLIGATORILY double a full dative noun (Îi spun Mariei); and 'îi' is a double agent meaning both 'to him/her' and 'them' (acc. masc.).
- Subordinate Clauses: An OverviewB1 — Romanian subordinates almost everything with a finite clause: where English uses an infinitive ('I want TO GO', 'too tired TO WORK'), Romanian uses a să-clause (vreau SĂ MERG, prea obosit CA SĂ lucreze). So mastering subordination is largely mastering when că (factual) versus să (irrealis/subjunctive) introduces the clause — plus the relative and adverbial clauses that fill out the system.