Annotated Formal Email

A Romanian formal email is almost a ritual. It opens and closes with fixed phrases that have barely changed in a century, it addresses the reader with dumneavoastră (the deferential "you," which behaves grammatically like a plural even for one person), it softens every request into the conditional (Aș dori — "I would like"), and it strings its sentences together with a set of Latinate connectors — referitor la, în ceea ce privește, în urma — that signal "this is written, official Romanian, not a chat message." Learning these markers is what lets you write an email to a landlord, a university office, or a company that reads as competent rather than as a translated text message.

This page presents an original formal email — a tenant writing to a property-management company about a contract and a repair — then annotates the grammar of formal correspondence: the deferential pronoun and its agreement, conditional politeness, the fixed salutations, the voi-future, nominalizations, and the formal connectors.

The email

Line by line

Stimată doamnă / Stimate domn — the fixed opening

Formal Romanian opens with Stimate (to a man) or Stimată (to a woman), an adjective meaning "esteemed," agreeing in gender with the addressee. It is the standard equivalent of "Dear Sir/Madam" but more literally "Esteemed...":

Note the vocative: a man is addressed as domnule (not domn) and the surname keeps its base form; with titles you say domnule director, doamnă profesoară. The comma after the salutation is standard, and the body of the email begins on the next line.

Vă scriu / dumneavoastră — the deferential "you" and its agreement

The single most important grammatical fact about a formal email is that you address the reader as dumneavoastră, the deferential second person. Crucially, dumneavoastră takes plural verb and pronoun forms even when you are writing to one person. This is the Romanian equivalent of French vous or German Sie, but the agreement pattern is what trips up English speakers, who have only one "you."

So the verb is plural, the clitic object pronoun is vă (you, pl.), and the possessive is dumneavoastră:

The clitic vă contracts to v- before a vowel: v-aș fi recunoscător ("I would be grateful to you"), v-aș ruga ("I would ask you"). This elision is obligatory in writing, not optional.

Aș dori / v-aș fi recunoscător / v-aș ruga — conditional politeness

Formal Romanian does not make requests in the present indicative. It cushions them in the conditional (aș, ai, ar, am, ați, ar + infinitive), exactly as English uses "I would like" instead of "I want." This is the politeness engine of the whole email:

Note the layered politeness in v-aș fi recunoscător dacă ați putea: the conditional appears twice — once in the main clause (aș fi) and once in the dacă clause (ați putea). English does the same ("I would be grateful if you could"), so this structure transfers cleanly.

Referitor la / în ceea ce privește / în urma / conform — the formal connectors

This is where formal Romanian announces itself. A small set of Latinate prepositional phrases organize the text, and each governs a specific case or structure:

• referitor la
  • accusative ("regarding, with reference to"): referitor la contract. A near-synonym is cu privire la ("with regard to").
• în ceea ce privește
  • accusative ("as regards, as far as ... is concerned"): în ceea ce privește reparația. This is a topic-shifter, launching a new subject.
• în urma
  • genitive ("following, in the wake of"): în urma discuției telefonice. Note the genitive: discuției, not discuția.
• conform
  • dative ("in accordance with"): conform solicitării dumneavoastră ("in accordance with your request").

Vă voi contacta — the formal voi-future

Like news and official prose, formal correspondence uses the voi-future (voi, vei, va, vom, veți, vor + infinitive): vă voi contacta ("I will contact you"). In casual speech a Romanian would say o să te sun ("I'll call you"), but in a business email the crisp voi-future is the register-appropriate choice. Notice the clitic vă sits before the auxiliary: vă voi contacta, not voi vă contacta.

Vă transmit atașat o copie / primirea / înțelegere — nominalizations

Formal Romanian, like formal English, leans on abstract nouns derived from verbs. The email is full of them: primirea ("the receipt," from a primi "to receive"), înțelegere ("understanding"), solicitării ("the request," genitive of solicitare), discuției ("the conversation"). Saying confirmați primirea ("confirm receipt") rather than confirmați că ați primit ("confirm that you received") is what makes the prose compact and official.

Cu deosebită considerație — the fixed closing

The email closes with one of a handful of set sign-offs, ranked roughly by formality:

The phrase rămân la dispoziția dumneavoastră ("I remain at your disposal") is a near-obligatory pre-closing courtesy, and Vă mulțumesc anticipat ("Thank you in advance") is the standard way to thank someone for a request not yet fulfilled.

Common Mistakes

Using singular verb/pronoun forms with dumneavoastră:

Mismatching the gender of the opening adjective:

Making requests in the bare present instead of the conditional:

Failing to elide vă to v- before a vowel:

Using the wrong case after în urma / conform:

Closing a formal email with a casual sign-off:

Key Takeaways

• Address the reader as dumneavoastră: plural verb (scrieți), clitic vă (→ v- before a vowel), possessive dumneavoastră — even for one person.
• Open with Stimate (masc.) / Stimată (fem.), agreeing in gender; close with Cu stimă or Cu deosebită considerație.
• Soften every request with the conditional: Aș dori, V-aș ruga, Ați putea?.
• Organize the text with Latinate connectors that take case: referitor la / cu privire la + acc., în urma + gen., conform + dat..
• Use the voi-future (vă voi contacta) and nominalizations (primirea, înțelegere) for the compact, official register.